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Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

nytimes.com

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Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

#261

Post by yummyfajitas »

danssig wrote: post #255
yummyfajitas wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you define what you mean by "overpaid"? Is it merely a complaint that CEOs are paid more than you wish they were, or something else? Meanwhile the rest of us produce vastly more than, say, 20 years ago, yet wages remain mostly flat. This claim betrays a misunderstanding of how productivity is measured, and how workers are compensated for their productivity (i.e., comp is wages + benefits, not wages). Wages + be…

>Could you define what you mean by "overpaid"? I already did. We can now prove that revenue has actually decreased per dollar paid to a CEO. One might say that that that is because salaries have gone up, but for everyone else wages have stayed mostly flat. So by what possible logic would CEOs now make more money for accomplishing less? And why wouldn't these same factors apply to anyone else? >This claim betrays a mi…

We can now prove that revenue has actually decreased per dollar paid to a CEO...CEOs now make more money for accomplishing less?

Your metric is a ratio and it does not prove that CEO's accomplish less.

For example, suppose a CEO doubles revenues (did you mean profit?) from $1B to $2B and their pay increases from $10M to $30M. They have accomplished more, but revenue/pay has gone down.

In my career I've made an uncountable number of jobs unnecessary through automation. But did I capture any of this productivity boost?

Most likely. Pay for programmers has skyrocketed, unlike pay for ordinary workers.

Besides, the productivity of the few people you failed to replace has also gone up. If you make 8/10 jobs redundant, should the pay of the remaining 2 increase commensurately with their drastically increased productivity?

Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

#262

Post by mjwalshe »

jarek wrote: post #259
mjwalshe wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did in the 1920's the first ever car bomb (a horse drawn cart) was used against the NY stock exchange. I belive you can still see the shrapnel scars on the buildings facade.

Can you quickly recount what has changed in lower Manhattan since the 1920s?

The history of NYC is not my strong point I surgest a trip to a library.

You could look at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_bombing

Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

#263

Post by cheatercheater »

suprememoocow wrote: post #32
svanderwaal wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm wondering if any of that work has been made available, eg. as an open source project? There's a standard practice among tech/web companies to share innovation on the infrastructural level, but I cannot name one example of a bank innovating openly in that way. Perhaps they do publish academic papers about their innovations?

I've been contracting in the finance industry in London for seven years (at four firms) and although financial companies are some of the biggest users of open-source software, it's almost unheard of for firms to contribute back to open-source projects. There are a few progressive companies but unfortunately I've not worked at any of them. Many firms have a strict policy of disallowing any source (open or not) from le…

Given your experience, what would you say are the top 5 techs that are being used in this area in London? I was looking at the job market a while back but it's not very transparent. How do you best go about finding a job of this kind?

Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

#264

Post by polyfractal »

jrwoodruff wrote: post #154
steve8918 wrote: post #49

It's interesting how the tone of this article is almost exactly the same as the one about the Microsoft employee that recently quit Google. Something happens to companies as they get larger, where the culture of a company starts dying from a death-by-a-thousand-cuts, and then they start promoting the wrong people into upper management that seem to really poison a very good company culture. It sounds like Goldman Sach…

Goldman survived for 140 years without promotion problems. My personal theory is these problems - corporate profit before clients, short-term gains, lack of long-term vision - is a symptom of our current culture and, more broadly, the shifting information landscape. 100 years ago, few people even knew what the DOW index was, let alone followed it daily.

Funnily enough, the Dow was a relatively unimportant indicator until the Great Depression, when the media seized upon it as something to watch on a daily basis. It was originally intended not to be checked more than a few times a month, and only as a brief snapshot of the economy.

It's importance in popular media and culture is vastly overblown. The rising and falling of the Dow on a daily basis is basically worthless from an economic point of view - it's just noise.

Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

#265

Post by polyfractal »

danssig wrote: post #255
yummyfajitas wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you define what you mean by "overpaid"? Is it merely a complaint that CEOs are paid more than you wish they were, or something else? Meanwhile the rest of us produce vastly more than, say, 20 years ago, yet wages remain mostly flat. This claim betrays a misunderstanding of how productivity is measured, and how workers are compensated for their productivity (i.e., comp is wages + benefits, not wages). Wages + be…

>Could you define what you mean by "overpaid"? I already did. We can now prove that revenue has actually decreased per dollar paid to a CEO. One might say that that that is because salaries have gone up, but for everyone else wages have stayed mostly flat. So by what possible logic would CEOs now make more money for accomplishing less? And why wouldn't these same factors apply to anyone else? >This claim betrays a mi…

I post this link every time this topic comes up:

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/11/kaplan_on_the_i.htm...

EconTalk interviewed Kaplan about this very subject. His research shows that CEO's pay has _not_ risen faster than any other "highly skilled labor", such as doctors, lawyers, etc. If you listen to the podcast, it is a very convincing set of data backing up his conclusion.

Instead, hedge fund managers are the ones that have absolutely rocketed out of the stratosphere in terms of inflating pay.

Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

#266

Post by white_devil »

pdonis wrote: post #197
white_devil wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I try to be a good person. I try to be honest. I try to stand up for people. But I couldn't help her. For a year I gave as much moral support as I could without the inner circle knowing. But the politics were too thick and toxic to touch. You "could not" help her? That's not exactly true, is it? It's just that if you had, there would have been negative consequences for yourself , and so, you didn't. Thanks for the…

> You "could not" help her? That's not exactly true, is it? It's just that if you had, there would have been negative consequences for yourself, and so, you didn't. I think the question isn't so much whether he could have tried to help her, as whether it would have done any good. The end result might well have been no improvement in her situation and a drastic worsening of his. In other words, negative consequences f…

> the question isn't so much whether he could have tried to help her, as whether it would have done any good.

How about letting her know what was up, thus preventing several months of intense stress and anguish followed by the eventual burn-out?

She deserved to know she was being used as some sleazy douchebag's pawn in his games of office-politics.

The OP claims he tries to be a good person and do what's right. Well, actions speak louder than words.

Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

#267

Post by Miky »

gregschlom wrote: post #239
Miky wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you more clearly define what you mean by “wrong,” please?

Writing "Mr." in French is incorrect. The correct form is "M." "Mr." is English for Mister "M." is French for Monsieur. I've seen this mistake made even in letters from banks and mobile phone companies. I cringe every time I see it.

I was just trying to say that if using “Mr.” is becoming the norm in French, then it is becoming correct. I don't know if this is actually the case.

Re: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

#268

Post by danssig »

polyfractal wrote: post #265
danssig wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Could you define what you mean by "overpaid"? I already did. We can now prove that revenue has actually decreased per dollar paid to a CEO. One might say that that that is because salaries have gone up, but for everyone else wages have stayed mostly flat. So by what possible logic would CEOs now make more money for accomplishing less? And why wouldn't these same factors apply to anyone else? >This claim betrays a mi…

I post this link every time this topic comes up: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/11/kaplan_on_the_i.htm... EconTalk interviewed Kaplan about this very subject. His research shows that CEO's pay has _not_ risen faster than any other "highly skilled labor", such as doctors, lawyers, etc. If you listen to the podcast, it is a very convincing set of data backing up his conclusion. Instead, hedge fund managers are t…

I'm afraid you've been tricked. CEOs used to make 40-70 times as much as the average worker. Now it can be hundreds of times. All the while, revenue per dollar of CEO salary has gone down. The cat is out of the bag. Everyone who defends the status quot in regards to CEO pay is either benefiting from it (and wishes to continue) of suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
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