dispatches from the new world of work

Wrapped Up on January 3

The votes are in, and on the third day of the year I'm ready to award the "Quote of the Year Award 2010," yes, with 362 days to go. (360 at the time of this Post.)

It has long been my contention that, while there is surely such a thing as "towering competence," I nonetheless believe that the overwhelming majority of the Wall Street Geniuses are worth their weight in a lot less than gold—horse manure occurs as I gaze out my office window to my Tinmouth VT barnyard.

An excellent article by an excellent author marked the cover of the first 2010 issue of the New York Times Magazine; namely "What's a Banker Really Worth," by Steven Brill. It is an excellent (and dense, lengthy) read, and by no means a hatchet job.

While the article is astonishingly balanced, the defendants keep failing to take the Fifth Amendment. One banker who spoke to Brill said, defending the need to continue sky-high compensation, and, additionally, not defer it:

"A lot of our folks have second and third homes and alimony payments and other obligations that require substantial current cash."

No, with a nod to Dave Barry, I'm not making this up.

The sentence not only takes the 2010 quote of the year award, but it also goes into the dictionary as Definition #1 of "They just don't get it."

Any further explanation or editorialization would be gratuitous.

Repeat: "A lot of our folks have second and third homes and alimony payments and other obligations that require substantial current cash."

Tom Peters posted this on 01/05/10.

Comments

Just, wow. He'll survive regardless. If he's paid his taxes, there's an appointment at Treasury for him.

Posted by Randy Bosch at January 5, 2010 4:16 PM

I'm feeling the pinch right now more than ever in my short 5 year self-employed career. I assure you my worry is not with my second or third home or alimony. Making enough to pay the mortgage on my only home and my tax bill would be good enough for me at present. What planet are these bankers from? It certainly isn't the one I live on.

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 5, 2010 6:39 PM

Unfortunately, this isn't new, just coming under more scrutiny with the bad economy, TARP funds, etc... I'm with Trevor (albeit probably deeper in debt) making my mortgage, car payment, and other debt payments is hard enough. But my company had no problem eliminating our bonuses! Guess I chose the wrong career...

Posted by Patrick M at January 5, 2010 6:59 PM

"If your in a hole stop digging" springs to mind.

If this kind of thing carries on my fear is that some nutter will try a more direct form of action against some of these people.

I certainly wouldn't want to be in charge of building security at a bank next time we have anti globalisation protests.

The only second home I'll ever know is the igloo I could probably build in the garden today! ( snow like this is a bit of a rare occurance in the "ponsy, wet, Southern wus" half of England!!!)

Posted by PaulH at January 6, 2010 2:16 AM

It didn't even make me blink with incredulity, this and many more like it demonstrate in spades the need to protect the boys club, for that is indeed what it is! Their reality is most unlike any other I have ever encountered or indeed would want to.

Do I really think it will change?

As you say Tom "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

Happy New Year to everyone.

Posted by patrick at January 6, 2010 3:02 AM

When leaders are corrupted by such entitlement issues...they need to go.

Great quote. Unbelievable really.

Posted by Craig (BadLeader) at January 6, 2010 6:31 AM

Sell the second and third homes. Problem solved.

Posted by Conor Kenny at January 6, 2010 11:23 AM

That's right up there with Patrick Ewing's famous: "Sure, we make a lot of money, but we spend a lot, too."
Good stuff.

Posted by Jason Martin at January 6, 2010 11:38 AM

Uh, not really, Jason. Last time I checked the teams of the NBA didn't need a bailout. Ewing's point is actually meaningful in that the players are spending and contributing to the economy. But the central point is that banks, even investment banks such as Goldman Sachs which became in essence a commercial banks to get bailout funds while holding no deposits, are being buoyed by taxpayers to pay for their second and third mortgages. What about the mortgages of the American people? We should not have to pay for their gambling excesses and multiple hundreds of billion dollar failures so they can live large.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 7, 2010 2:01 AM

Reminds of this column by Joe Nocera In the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/business/24nocera.html

Posted by Stephen Garner at January 10, 2010 2:51 PM