Wall Street Layoffs Could Surge Past 200,000

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK – Traders and investment bankers might have more to worry about than dwindling bonus pools this year as mass firings on Wall Street are set to hit a record.

The fallout from this year's global credit crisis has claimed jobs on all corners of Wall Street, from hedge fund managers to floor traders and beyond. More than 110,000 have lost their jobs so far this year, and some industry experts forecast it could come close to 200,000 before the year is over.

Even the financial industry's biggest name isn't immune. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's biggest investment bank, made plans on Thursday to cut 3,200 positions from its staff of 32,000. Barclays Capital is in the midst of purging 3,000 jobs as part of its takeover of Lehman Brothers, and Bank of America Corp.'s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. is sure to add thousands more.

Major U.S. financial companies are getting rid of redundancies caused by this year's rapid-fire consolidation. They are also adapting to an environment of more regulation, less risk, and dwindling profits.

"Wall Street the way we know it is frankly gone," said Dr. Michael Williams, dean of the graduate school of business at Touro College in New York. "This was inevitable because there's just not enough money out there to support the huge staffs these banks and investment banks had before."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_bi_ge/wall_street_layoffs

[Turbineguy]

1. According to my guestimates

the market need a trillion per year new money to support those employed by "the market"

[wordpix]

18. that's a lot of wind generators, solar panels, light rail & 100 mpg cars

Can't wait for Obama and a Dem Congress. ;-)

[bemildred]

2. Damn shame that.

They have been such a help to the rest of us.
:sarcasm:

[Psephos]

19. Good dog, here's a bikkie

Keep hearting those biscuits, because pallet-loads of taxes (and all the things that money could have bought) just went supernova.

How many billions you figure the actual hit on tax revenue will be?

And just for spit and and a kick, how many of those 200,000 are support, office, administrative, and other low- and mid-level working people? Like, maybe, 150,000? Or more? Damn shame that, too. But although it's true that's Very Sad(TM), it's worth it so people like us can enjoy the schadenfreude rush. Almost as good as amyl poppers. lolz3rs

Here, catch another bikkie, before they're all gone...

[girl gone mad]

20. I don't get it.

Are we supposed to feel sorry for an industry that's brought our economy to the brink of ruin?

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. Apparently, according to the previous poster, we are.

Now can I have a bikkie, whatever the hell that is, too? :silly:

[Psephos]

35. here ya go

http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/BIKKIE

or

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bikkie

(definition #2)

[Rockholm]

27. This industry has fueled much growth....

Now, it is in retreat and the blame game continues.

[customerserviceguy]

34. I'm going to feel sorry

for the collateral damage. There are a lot of people in NY who will lose restaurant jobs, support for the arts will suffer, and there will be less tax revenue coming in, so social services will be cut. There will be ripple effects felt throughout the tri-state economy. Generally, the very largest cities escape much of the damage from recession, but this time the epicenter of the disaster is in NYC.

[Psephos]

38. Exactly n/t

[Romulox]

26. Mind pointing me to the posts you've made in support of GM, Ford, or Chrysler

and all of their support staff?

[Psephos]

37. No problem - I've posted frequently in support of domestic autoworkers

Here are a few of the most recent...just scroll for "Psephos"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3542676#3543174

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3538854#3539092 (two posts in this thread)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3512014

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3478680

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3442530

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3395503

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3388308

etc., etc.


My original post was sarcastic. Collapse of jobs on Wall Street means the loss of many billions in tax revenues. NYC and State get more than 20% of their revenues from Wall Street. Tens of thousands of non-fatcat support staff will lose their jobs, too. And then, the loss of private spending by now-unemployed wealthy people will ripple down through all the businesses (many of them small) where they will no longer be shopping for goods and services.

But a lot of "progressives" think only in cartoonish themes of "rich assholes" getting their due, and think the collateral catastrophic effects of all that now-missing tax revenue, middle-class job loss, and debilitation of local economies is worth it. If they even think of it at all.

[Romulox]

39. I am humbled. My SINCERE apologies. nt

[Psephos]

44. None needed - I should have used a sarcasm tag. :) n/t

[bemildred]

40. Why are you annoyed with me?

Have not a large number of other Americans been given their pink slips? I worked in the money business for a number of years, it paid great, but I never had any illusions about it being sustainable. I fully realize that the shit has hit the fan, and we are all going to pay, but so what? Am I supposed to spout happy talk? What am I supposed to say? Gosh, I'm so sorry for all those people who used to make shitloads of money? Gosh, I'm so sorry they will get to pay "lower taxes" now? What's your point? Why should I not be sorry for people that never got a damn thing in the first place?

[Psephos]

42. When a wise man points at the moon, the fool looks at his finger. - Sufi saying

If you worked in the money business, then you understand that Wall Street employs, at minimum, half a dozen support people for every high-flier. They are all middle-class people, almost all of whom commute from the boroughs.

I assume you also understand that more than 20% of NY state and city tax revenue comes from Wall Street.

I imagine you also realize that when a wealthy person spends (injects) money into a business for a service or a product, that money funds the employment of others to provide those services and products.

I'll guess you know that downstream transactions flow from one business or provider to the next. On average, each upstream dollar rolls over seven to ten times as it flows through the economy. Usually, it's taxed at each transition.

Wealth is created, not transferred, and the net downstream creation exceeds that of the upstream insertion. Economic transactions are not a zero-sum system. Economic activity begets more economic activity...just as love begets more love.

I'm not defending greed, overpaid assholes, or materialism. I am defending all the other people - the large majority - who will suffer job loss, business failure, deterioration of community, local governments in straits, and renewed pressure on asset centers (especially banks) as real-estate prices retreat.

You're a smart person, Bemildred. It's easy to see in previous posts. But when you let ideological delight over the demise of Wall Street's top echelons blind you to the serious misery that will soon befall hundreds of thousands of other, non-fatcat, people, you lose that projection of smart. Instead, you look a lot like the very people whose downfall has brought you such cheer.

[bemildred]

45. Saying "tough shit" is not cheering. Actions have consequences. Inaction has consequences.

The cheering is all in your head, not mine. You're projecting. It is not "ideological delight", it is cold blooded observation that all this was predicted to happen BECAUSE of the fatuous economic and management policies this nation has pursued these last 40 years, and that it is much too late now to fix it with either bits of ideological babble or a big pile of fiat money. Being realistic is not "cheering". I am well aware of the misery, and well aware of who caused it, and what their motives were.

[ben_meyers]

3. What about the cocaine dealers?

Huh, nobody worried about them? Not one mention, typical MSM bias.

[truedelphi]

5. I bet they are hurting too

The long hours and the absolute risk taking behavior that you see on Wall Street goes hand in hand with the desire to rev up your physical processes as well.

[Phred42]

4. Phuck WallStreet - what about the rest of us

[NeoConsSuck]

7. NY State is getting killed

they obtain 20% of their tax revenues from Wall Street. In the fourth quarter, they obtain 30% of their tax revenues from Wall Street. That is tax revenues that are gone and are not coming back any time soon, if ever.

Many middle class state workers are going to lose their jobs, many services to lower income people are going to be cut or dropped altogether.

The capitalists land softly in their golden parachutes, the rest of us are left to clean up their effing mess.

[wvbygod]

9. Why not just raise the taxes a little on the existing workers?

It's for a good cause and nearly all New Yorkers are socially minded. I also suspect there
are many rich people in NY that can afford higher property taxes and other elevated fees for
things like boats and other perks.

[WriteDown]

12. Have you ever lived under NYC taxes?

Reason I moved from Long Island. I just couldn't afford to live there anymore. My cousin lives with his wife with his mother-on-law in Freeport, but I did not have that luxury.

[NeoConsSuck]

21. Exactly.

Gov. Patterson is in a bind. NY State already taxes it's businesses at one of the highest rates in the country. Raise taxes now, and more businesses move out of the state, further eroding the tax base.

This subprime calamity is going to be a life changing event for many people on this planet. No country is going to be spared, and NY State is the first indicator of what's coming.

[Romulox]

25. I'm going to postpone my handwringing until Manhattan looks like Detroit or Cleveland.

:hi:

[Coventina]

6. Does this mean that real estate values in Manhattan will go down?

Well, probably not low enough to come into my price range.

But it was a nice thought for half a second....

I'd love to live in Manhattan....maybe in my next life....

[bloomington-lib]

8. living in Manhattan would be awesome but

With all of the jobs being lost and loss of tax revenue do you think New York will stay the same? Probably back to the dirty 70's. But don't get me wrong, I'd love to live there however it turns out.

I bet this hurts cities in general. The urban revitalization that's been going on for a while will slow way down making downtowns less appealing.

[Art_from_Ark]

11. The dirty '70s

Grafitti-covered, beat-up subway cars, abandoned housing units with "flowers" and other "home scenes" painted in the windows, pushers selling "lockerroom" from portable street stands and offering free cigar-sized reefers laced with god-knows-what...

[WriteDown]

13. I lived there during the late 70's....

One of the reasons I am actually a Giuliani fan. People would not believe how the city has changed since then. The subways were quite the adventure back then.

[Art_from_Ark]

14. I didn't live there during the late '70s

but I spent a lot of time there. I even remember seeing people picketing movie theaters that were showing "The Warriors"

[WriteDown]

15. It was nuts....

You definitely did not want to walk around too late at night. Even in the "safe" parts of the city. Its been Disneylandified a bit, but at least its somewhere you can bring your family now.

[Art_from_Ark]

16. I remember getting out of Port Authority Bus Terminal

at something like 1:00 in the morning, and walking to a hotel several blocks away. There definitely were a lot of unsavory characters lurking about. :scared:

[flamingdem]

43. I liked NYC better in the 70s and 80s now it's too gentrified

I think a change will do it good.

[brer cat]

10. Now, this is what I call

"trickle down economics." Congratulations to the R's for finally making it happen!

[wordpix]

17. time to start growing your own garden and I'm not kidding

[TomClash]

23. To all of you who think its funny or great

when workers get laid off, consider this: most of the people who get the ax are support people, not traders - middle and working class Dems from the boroughs.

We have a blind, black Dem Gov, who's getting fucked by this. So far the people are standing by him pretty strong.


The traders, though, can go fuck themselves sideways.

[Romulox]

24. So, are you crying for all the out of work Buggy Whip makers?

:eyes:

[TomClash]

31. No, I'm crying for the people I know who have been laid off

If you don't care about laid off workers, maybe you're in the wrong party.

[Rockholm]

28. Those think think will not affect them are sadly mistaken.

When the massive layoffs start on Wall Street, the traders and the analysts and the portfolio managers are the LAST to go. The support staff and everything that supports this large organizations...these are the people that get let go. These are the people that spend money that drives the economy. When Sally the admin (who makes 75K a year is let go, the downstream effect of her losing her job is remarkable.

Just like the people who cheered when real estate started tanking, they are thrilled and excited that the financial markets are falling. Obviously, the neither own a home or have a stake in the financial market. Stop the cheerleading, people.

[truedelphi]

41. I get your popint. ANd no middle income worker should have his or her job loss

Celebrated by someone else.

But for years, so many of us could see the hand writing on the wall. We built our economy for the last 40 years on the enforced notion of cheap goods and on industries involved with paper shuffling. Merging a profitable business into the larger business that ate up the workers' pensions and then laid off the workers to boot. The executives setting up those deals made fortunes and thought that somehow that work could go on for ever and ever.

Globalization, trickle down, free markets and freer markets. Nothing of substance being produced - that is now happening over in the Far East, not here.

The Fat Cats, those who thought they were above the rest of us - well what human being wouldn't feel a tinge of glee that finally the creeps at the top were getting a taste of what it is like to face reality. And for once the reality is something those creeps have had a hand in.

[closeupready]

29. Don't they bear some personal responsibility for this though?

??

[workinclasszero]

30. What goes around, comes around

Wall Street ALWAYS cheered whenever an American company announced a massive lay off or off-shoring of American jobs.

Now its their turn. How do ya like the unemployment line ASSHOLES???

[blueclown]

32. Sad to see all the people here celebrating these job losses.

The vast majority of workers that will become unemployed had very little to do with our problems now.

[Waiting For Everyman]

33. Looks like the "service economy" model needs rethinking too.

Most people knew that wouldn't work. Oh, except Rethugs.

[DS1]

36. Greenwich, CT. and Upper Saddle River, NJ. just collectively sharted themselves