How to Cover Wall Street

The American flag in the above picture means a lot to me. It’s painted on the building of my former place of employment: A sports bar named Tully’s in Amherst, NY. It was at Tully’s where I met a friend named Eddie…who now works at Goldman Sachs in New York City. Eddie is really my only tangible link to Wall Street, and I’m grateful for that.

So, every time I hear about Wall Street cutting jobs or cutting salaries, all I think of is Eddie. A 25-year-old guy who works his tail off about 50 hours a week–and even more since the financial crisis made its landfall.

Eddie and I never really talk about how much money he makes. And yes, maybe he got into the business to make money. But, who can blame him?

Certainly not me, as the stress from lack of journalism jobs and lack of sufficient pay currently weigh heavily on my mind.

My take on the money situation is simple. With all the talk about cutting bonuses, just think of how the majority of people working in the financial sector really had nothing to do with what has happened.

Seriously, think about it for a little. How many “regular” Wall Street employees are we going to steal bonuses away from?

It’s starting to remind me of that old-school episode of ‘The Simpsons,’ where Homer realizes he isn’t getting a Christmas bonus from the Nuclear Power Plant and thus, takes a job as a mall Santa (to help pay for Bart to get his tattoo removed).

I certainly don’t think everyone on Wall Street needs hundred-thousand dollar bonuses. But, there IS blame to go around. Does Eddie (or anyone who just got into the financial world) deserve to be punished because of actions that became so ingrained into the everyday functions of investing? Absolutely not. Eddie didn’t live beyond his means like those facing foreclosure. And Eddie didn’t spend his initial post-college years racking up inordinate amounts of credit card debt. He shouldn’t have to pay for the mistakes of others.

I don’t know why I feel sorry for all the smart, hard-working, regular men and women on Wall Street. Aside from the reason in Greg’s post below, I just see bad things happening. We’ve all heard how smart men and women work on Wall Street instead of taking jobs like teachers, doctors, etc. But, isn’t now the time we want the smartest people working there? I foresee this just driving them away.

Yes, maybe the bonuses should be cut. I mean, some of these activities have really, really messed up our country. But how can we fairly take bonuses away from those that caused it? And is being “fair” even an option? Is docking pay for every employee really the only reasonable way to achieve this?

[Image Courtesy: All America City].