ResourceWise

Comparing Wall Street Compensation to the NBA

Mark, you're comparing apples with oranges. The negative impact of NBA players being overpaid is limited to fans (ticket price) and shareholders (ROI) of these clubs. The negative impact of the toxic weapons of mass financial destruction created and unleashed by players in the financial markets covers the globe. I agree that Cuomo should not just chase Merrill's top dogs, but needs to widen his net to cover the top dogs in all those NY based financial institutions that have contributed to this global carnage.

Fear and Greed: Premise for Capitulation and Overreaction

The financial markets must serve society in a manner that minimizes the chances of an economic Chernobyl. In its current form the markets are a collection of camouflaged time bombs that can be triggered off by any intelligent fool that has access to it – including the hedge funds and private equity funds that aren’t regulated but can play in the market and destroy value to create wealth for themselves. Their licence to steal needs to be revoked. There is a huge ocean of debt (estimated by some at $7.5 Trillion!) whose toxicity is still unknown. Unfortunately the same players and entities that are center stage in the bailout are now being empowered by society to fix the problem. I think the rules of the game need to be re-written and brutally enforced so that greed can be tempered by fear, rather than feeding on it.

Stale Ideas Killed AIG, Lehman

When board members and CEOs fail to recognize problems facing their company - it is either hubris or laziness. If they understood their role as the trustees of shareholder wealth they would behave differently i.e. look at problems with open eyes and listen for solutions with open years. Employees at all levels within such organizations have ideas and solutions that never see the light of day - because most senior management live in a bubble, which when it bursts releases them to float away on their golden parachutes.