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Join Wall Street. Save the world

washingtonpost.com

31–40 of 105 posts

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His bonus will make up for that.

Aren't bonuses performance-based? From what I hear, that is what provides an incentive for finance-types to fuck over everyone, including their own clients.

You could say that about all incentivized pay, i.e. salespeople, developers rewarded for hitting milestones, etc.

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#32
post #21
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of the activities that take place on Wall Street are fairly harmless. Some might even be considered socially productive.

Yeah it's just the other activities like the occasional overleveraging that destabilizes the global financial markets and causes depressions. Or, leveraged buy-outs that fuck the rank and file of a company out of their contractually agreed upon pensions.

How much social harm is caused by buggy software? Was Windows 95 a "fuck the world" on the part of Microsoft's programmers?

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#33
post #23

His logic is simple: The more he makes, the more good he can do. It may be his logic, but it's not mine. And it doesn't have to be yours, either. I believe "doing good" is something to be done all the time. If you wait until the time is right or the conditions are right or you have enough money or time or something else, you will probably never get around to doing good. And even if you do, how much good will not get…

Agreed in general that you don't need to be a millionaire to do good. But his words "The more he makes, the more good he can do" still makes sense. He is using the word "more" and talking purely in terms of financial ability. In order to do good, money comes second because you have to be *willing" first. But once money comes in the picture, it makes it a hell of a lot easier for someone who makes $100K compared to someone who makes $50K.

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#34
post #2

How can you get into HFT without a degree from an elite school?

It depends what aspect of HFT you want to get into, but experience can generally trump accreditation. That is you won't get hired out of uni, but you can get hired somewhere working on similar tech where you get to prove your worth before transitioning into HFT.

That said if you want to make 100k there's plenty of tech roles outside of HFT where you can make that amount.

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#35
High frequency trade and similar "financial instruments" are mostly created to enable banks to create even more empty, debt driven money. So although it is nice that this guy gives some money to charity, his everyday job leads in the long run to financial crises and to poverty that cannot be equalized by all wallstreet workers giving money to charities.

Besides, the article sounds like some expensive Public Relation action from wallstreet companies. I guess they have hard time to find decent employees...

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#36
post #15

I am very suspicious of people who say they enter Wall Street to save the world. That said, I also believe most charity events are very economically inefficient. Rather than get a dozen musicians together for a discounted concert at a small concert hall, wouldn't it be more efficient to ask them all to donate one days worth of sales from performing at arenas? Rather than get a hundred bankers together for a $250/head…

I believe that what you are suggesting is what the first subject of the article is doing.

Exactly. But I'm still leery of when people join Wall Street for altruistic reasons. :-)

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#38
post #23

His logic is simple: The more he makes, the more good he can do. It may be his logic, but it's not mine. And it doesn't have to be yours, either. I believe "doing good" is something to be done all the time. If you wait until the time is right or the conditions are right or you have enough money or time or something else, you will probably never get around to doing good. And even if you do, how much good will not get…

[deleted]

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#39
This is so stupid.. so instead of working to make the world a better place let's speculate on everything, trying to rip of as much as we can so then we can give our money away. It's like working as a lumberjack and then use your wages to plant other trees, you will never be able to replant what you destroyed previously

Re: Join Wall Street. Save the world

#40
post #32
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's just the other activities like the occasional overleveraging that destabilizes the global financial markets and causes depressions. Or, leveraged buy-outs that fuck the rank and file of a company out of their contractually agreed upon pensions.

How much social harm is caused by buggy software? Was Windows 95 a "fuck the world" on the part of Microsoft's programmers?

Good point. We should ban computers too.
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