Snakes and Ladders: Investment Banking on the Brink

[marmar]

from Der Spiegel:



For decades, investment bankers have held the key to untold riches -- but now they're being laid off by the tens of thousands. As the crisis forces the industry to search for a new identity, is it ready to mend its ways?

The suicide victims chose a location with symbolic significance. Last fall, only a few weeks apart, a businesswoman and a banker went to the Coq d'Argent, an upscale restaurant and hot spot in the world of London high finance, located on the top floor of a shopping complex, to end their lives.

The woman put down her purse and jumped from the restaurant's cozy rooftop terrace. The banker, an investment specialist, jumped into the building's atrium around lunchtime.

The "City," the casual term the financial center uses in reference to itself, was shocked. The suicides are the most glaring expression of an apocalyptic mood that seems to have gripped all of London. Hospitals are reporting a high incidence of patients with alcohol problems, while top restaurants are fighting for every customer. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/investment-banking-faces-massive-layoffs-and-identity-crisis-a-877710.html

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[tama]

2. ...

"Money is like saltwater," he says. "The more you drink, the thirstier you get."

[mbperrin]

3. So when MILLIONS of manufacturing jobs are eliminated BY investment bankers, I need to smile and nod

But when the bankers feel despair, I'm supposed to, too?

(I know that the poster is not saying this, just the piece posted, so this is in no for you, marmar.)

I can really only work up one response for those poor poor investment bankers:

[ret5hd]

5. This thread was worth the time for this video alone.

[rhett o rick]

4. Greed killed the golden goose. nm