Lehman Bros. files for Chapter 11

[Eric P]

well, they legally have to.

all german citizens must love non-white people.

it's an addendum to the "all nazi stuff is illegal"

[DJ_Tet]

Average Wall Street salary is $400K/ year (Goldman-Sachs employees had average $600K/ year), average New York salary is $60K/year.

be careful to not assume that all people who work in the city get those 400k/year salary, because that's not the case - those figures are skewed by the super high end earners.

95% of the people who will hurt from this are just average people doing the daily work to run these places.

It's like when they announce things like "Goldman bonus this xmas averages $800k!" and people assume that means everyone got an 800k bonus - lolllllll.... lol lol lol lol. NO. It's because the top level bonuses are so -insane- that it drags the averages up. Also - they don't include NO BONUS in those figures!

The people you are chastising and laughing at are already set up for life, it's the regular people who are well and truly shafted.

But yes, there's going to be a glut of unemployed people fighting for -very- few places right now. The next few days will be testing what with the last two brokerages about to announce their results. :/

No doubt, it's the same way when they talk about 'average' sports salaries.  They really should be talking about 'median' salaries and bonuses.

Of course, most people don't know the difference between average and median, and the 'average' is always more sensationalist so the media runs with that.  The average is really a meaningless number when talking about salaries and bonuses.

[y2kev]

Median is literally the middle figure.

[jiji]

I'm looking at moving to New York right now. Would this be a bad time? (I'm a PHP/database guy, CS degree).

[Eric P]

i think that'd be pretty safe

just check things like monster and craig's list to get a feel for the jobs with your skill set

even unemployment agencies need database techs

[Human Snorenado]

I know McCain is too dumb to understand even a lick of economics but hey - what are Presidental advisors for!

You dumb bastard, the guy who he had tabbed as Secretary of the Treasury, Phil "Nation of Whiners" Gramm, has a lot of responsibility between being a senator and lobbyist for the shitty state of the financial sector today.

[Kestastrophe]

It's like when they announce things like "Goldman bonus this xmas averages $800k!" and people assume that means everyone got an 800k bonus - lolllllll.... lol lol lol lol. NO. It's because the top level bonuses are so -insane- that it drags the averages up.

Up until a few years ago it was even worse because companies were not required to expense stock option packages that they offered to management for compensation.

[Van Cruncheon]

ms results? slashed workforce? what 'choo talkin' 'bout willis?

[Van Cruncheon]

oh, morgan-stanley.

goldman-sachs and morgan-stanley were MUCH more diversified than merrill-lynch, bear-stearns, or lehman bros. did anybody really think they'd fall? the other three crashed and burned for obvious reasons -- heavy, middle/high-risk investments in financials, and a company-wide bet on mortgage/housing-heavy portfolios.

[Van Cruncheon]

THERE IS ONLY ONE MS THAT MATTERS

AND THE XFE SHOULD KNOW THIS

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I know McCain is too dumb to understand even a lick of economics but hey - what are Presidental advisors for!

You dumb bastard, the guy who he had tabbed as Secretary of the Treasury, Phil "Nation of Whiners" Gramm, has a lot of responsibility between being a senator and lobbyist for the shitty state of the financial sector today.

You mean Mr. Enron?

[Human Snorenado]

I know McCain is too dumb to understand even a lick of economics but hey - what are Presidental advisors for!

You dumb bastard, the guy who he had tabbed as Secretary of the Treasury, Phil "Nation of Whiners" Gramm, has a lot of responsibility between being a senator and lobbyist for the shitty state of the financial sector today.

You mean Mr. Enron?

Yup.

[Brehvolution]

lol now all the financial people can know what it is like to get bumped from a job on the farm for 'lack of experience'.

[Kestastrophe]

goldman-sachs and morgan-stanley were MUCH more diversified than merrill-lynch, bear-stearns, or lehman bros. did anybody really think they'd fall? the other three crashed and burned for obvious reasons -- heavy, middle/high-risk investments in financials, and a company-wide bet on mortgage/housing-heavy portfolios.

Not only that, they were also very highly leveraged. Kudos to MS for beating their earnings estimate.

I think their are some striking similarities between the credit crysis and the Drexel Burnham Lambert fallout in the 80s, minus of course the illegal activities (that we know of).

[Kestastrophe]

GM has been shit for awhile now, and I actually think that Rick Wagoner has done a pretty good job of keeping the dinosaur afloat. If there are firms that have significant exposure to GM, I have to think that they deserve everything they have coming. As for the overall financial fallout, I have no idea. I don't think it would be that significant in terms of liquidity, but it would cause alot of layoffs.

*edit*
I thought GMAC was the only part of GM not hemorrhaging cash?

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

goldman-sachs and morgan-stanley were MUCH more diversified than merrill-lynch, bear-stearns, or lehman bros. did anybody really think they'd fall? the other three crashed and burned for obvious reasons -- heavy, middle/high-risk investments in financials, and a company-wide bet on mortgage/housing-heavy portfolios.

Not only that, they were also very highly leveraged. Kudos to MS for beating their earnings estimate.

I think their are some striking similarities between the credit crysis and the Drexel Burnham Lambert fallout in the 80s, minus of course the illegal activities (that we know of).

I'm sure there are illegalities afoot.  All that cheap credit that came in rapidly, you know someone took a piece of it for themselves.

[Van Cruncheon]

i can't wait to free fall into SOCIALIST ISLAND with my GOLDEN PARACHUTE!

[max_cool]

85 billion divided by 300 million = 283.333333

and I never even invested in AIG.