The Nation: The Suffering of Wall Street Wives

[marmar]

The Suffering of Wall Street Wives
posted by Jon Wiener on 10/25/2008 @ 4:09pm


"Wall Street wives are finding that they must defer dreams and fancy things," the L.A. Times reported in a page one story on Saturday. One wife, who had been looking forward to her husband's retiring with "$10 to $12 million," told the Times she was "so angry" with the stock market meltdown, which was "not in her plan." The husband made $400,000 last year, "but there are no reports yet on what will happen to 2008 bonuses and options."

The same day a page one story in the New York Times reported on yard sales at foreclosed homes in working class neighborhoods in California: "three-year-old Marita Duarte's tricycle was sold by her mother, Beatriz, to a stranger for $3 - even as her daughter was riding it." The mother had lost her job as a floral designer two months ago, and now the house has been lost.

On Wall Street the average income is $365,000, according to the Times, "although top-flight managers typically make many millions more." Wall Street wives described to L.A. Times reporter Geraldine Baum "the pain of walking through malls and boutiques -how it hurts knowing they can't grab a few things for themselves that might catch their fancy."

Meanwhile in working class Manteca, California, south of Sacramento, another family was selling their kids' toys at another yard sale. Constantino Gonzalez's problem? He lost his construction job, Patricia Leigh Brown reported. "We need to eat," he told his kids about why their toys were being sold. "I can't cover the sun with my finger. So why lie?"

Back on Wall Street, one wife described "bitterly" the "lavish gifts" they had given to others - like the $5,000 diamond-and-platinum ring her husband had given his sister when she got married, along with a week at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. "I wish I had that money now," the wife told the Times.


http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/376093/the_suffering_of_wall_street_wives?rel=hpbox

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Oh, my heart pumps purple panther piss for 'em, poor dears

I hope these bitter formerly-filthy-rich women read about their sisters and have an awakening, but I ain't holdin' my breath.



Tansy Gold

[amdezurik]

2. I like that old saying...

eat the rich

[classof56]

3. World's smallest violin playing "My Heart Cries for You"

:nopity:

[hobbit709]

4. To them I say

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. This thread was made for the violen gif! lol!

[Odin2005]

5. The world's smallest violin is playing the world's saddest song for these numbnuts.

:nopity:

[Lyric]

6. Fucking morons. When times are hard here, it is the thought of

the gifts that we have given to other people that SUSTAINS us. Those memories of the ways we've helped other people are a large part of what makes both of us feel better about the hell we're going through *now*. If not for the soul-soothing knowledge that we made a big difference in the happiness and security of the people we love, I'd be an utter emotional wreck right now.

Regretting generosity is just an ugly, ugly thing to me. That horrifies me more than anything else in that article.

[HopeFor2006]

7. Heart breaking....

:sarcasm:

[kojak]

8. Can't believe how insulated these people are

Jesus H. Christ. People are losing everything because of these jackasses and they're complaining that they're going to lose the jacuzzi, vacations, and the maid? Living on $200K a year is soooo tough. I've barely made that in my lifetime and I'm in my 30's. Sheesh.

[renate]

9. I just read the LAT article that is referred to

One of the women moved here from India 20 years ago, expecting her life to improve--which is great, that's what brings energetic, creative people to America (or did). I think it's perfectly natural for her to be frustrated that in all that time, her situation hasn't actually gotten any better. And the other woman in that article is very positive about, and accepting of, the changes in her and her husband's lifestyle.

It IS disappointing, and difficult, to have your plans for your future change so drastically. These women and their husbands weren't committing any crimes or robbing people in dark alleys--they had high incomes that they didn't expect to have come to an end. Who among us doesn't want our lives to be easier and less stressful in the future? It's what gets people out of bed and on the way to work every day. They aren't materialistic to want a little wiggle room for a cup of coffee, or for a house with a yard, for that matter. One of the women is worried about health insurance; she had a mastectomy while she was pregnant.

Of course these families are far from the only ones in the country who've had to make tough financial adjustments without much warning, but I have as much sympathy for them as I would for anybody else whose future was suddenly so drastically changed.

[Demeter]

10. In India, She COULD Live Like That

Given the relative pay scales and unemployment, she could live like a princess. Perhaps they will return.

[bklyngrl60]

14. I agree. Obviously, there was terrible corruption at the very top but the majority

of i-bank employees, were just that, very very well paid employees. Their business was money and they all had advanced degrees and a work ethic. You don't get to be an investment banker working 9-5, 5 days a week. People with these jobs routinely worked 14 hour days, most weekends and likely travelled at least 2 weeks a month. The only thing that made it worth it - was, frankly, the money. The only way you could GET people to do this kind of work - was to pay them very well. You don't know me - I haven't posted very long - but trust me, it wasn't work that just anyone could do.

Many somebodies fucked up - my feeling is lack of government oversight is probably the biggest contributor; that's what our government was supposed to do and Greenspan admitted this just last week - HE failed. His economic model failed miserably. It's a mistake to paint an entire industry and every person working in it with a broad brush. Their big mistake was assuming this would go on forever - they spent what they earned and in the short term, honestly, they lived the way most of us lived with just more expensive stuff. And while the house of cards has now collasped on the consumer driven economy, the spending that the upper upper middle class did - in many ways DID trickle down; they money they spent bouyed tons and tons of industries and businesses - it just wasn't sustainable and that was the problem.

A foreclosure is a foreclosure - it doesn't matter if the house was 1,000 sf or 10,000 sf - when the money runs out, it runs out.

[marmar]

18. "in many ways DID trickle down"

Kool-Aid. Successful economies trickle UP. People in the working and middle classes spend more of their income, and there are a lot more of them than the upper middle class and the rich.

[bklyngrl60]

30. I didn't drink any kool-aid..

I probably shouldn't have posted because honestly, I don't have the emotional energy to debate all the nuances and causes of our current financial collaspe. But I would postulate that successful economies work BOTH ways - up & down. However, I do want to make the point that you're viewing the same coin from the other side, if you think *spending* is the key to a good economy. A *spending* aka consumer economy will NEVER work and will NEVER be sustainable, whether it's working class & middle class or the wealthy. That's the point. Having more money to buy more shit that we don't need, will not be an improvement over what we have now. That's JMHO.

[closeupready]

23. But in the end, this "work that not just anyone can do" - how did it contribute to the economy?

If all it did was help prop up major corruption at the top of these investment banks, then does it matter how complicated that work was, or how specialized your knowledge needed to be? In other words, does it make your work more noble if you need a Ph.D. to do it? It does not. Totally no connection.

Serious question since you imply you had some connection with i-banking:

Do you think people involved in this business were proud of their work, and if so, what specifically were they proud of having achieved, and also, when they look back on what they did, does the impact to the economy of the larger deals they were working on figure in how they assess the worth of the work they were performing? Thanks in advance.

[bklyngrl60]

32. Nope. Just an observer...

I have some relatives through marriage who we've never been 100% sure what *exactly* they do - you're right in that respect. For many years I was a legal secretary in NYC & LA for corporate attorneys.

I think the system became super-duper corrupt fairly recently. Greenspan's wacky idea that Wall Street would regulate itself because it was in their own self-interest to do so, eh, not such a great idea it turns out. He also failed - again IMO - to keep the housing prices stable. I will never ever understand why he did not increase interest rates in 2003 - 2004 when prices were spiking 100 - 150%. That invited a 'hole nuther level of corruption - which many point to squarely as the centerpiece of the collaspe. Inflated housing prices. also it seems that *credit* can be a very dangerous things. The current crisis is the next level of implosion from the savings & loan crisis in the 80's.

OK..but to your question..it's so abstract that again, I dont have the emotional energy to really give you a well thought out essay.

But I think it can't be overlooked that in the past 30 years millions of Americans became Investors, through IRAs, 401Ks, Roths, Money Market accounts. Everyone had something to gain by gains on Wall Street. Unemployment was at a very healthy 3-4%. Now unless you really *are* a socialist/communist - personal investment is pretty much the only way you're going to be able to retire in the USA; I dont see us going back to a system of corporate pensions - but maybe if they can put the healthcare system through quickly and most people opt out of their workplace insurance - it's possible. Social security was never meant to be a person's ONLY retirement revenue - it was supposed to be a safety net for the poor and a subsidy for the middle class.

And for the record, yes I think many people were proud of their work. I think that's a little unfair and smacks of that scene in Pretty Woman with Richard Gere as a Mergers & Acquisition hound and the elderly ship builder. It's an oversimplification.

My point was nothing is all good or all bad. I have to tell you I dont agree with all of Obama's economic choices. I think his position on ethanol subsidies is wrong - but it's the reason he won (and will win) Iowa. Again, not all rich people are bad. Not all poor people are good. I reject those kinds of generalizations.

[closeupready]

33. Thanks for that. I'll respond tomorrow,

as I need some sleep but you make some interesting points I want to respond to. Cheers.

[JimWis]

11. Must really be tough to live on only $ 400,000 per year. And then

on top of that, getting no bonus. I feel so bad for them. :sarcasm:

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. heartbreaking!

Back on Wall Street, one wife described "bitterly" the "lavish gifts" they had given to others - like the $5,000 diamond-and-platinum ring her husband had given his sister when she got married, along with a week at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. "I wish I had that money now," the wife told the Times.
:nopity: <----------first time using the violin gif

[SalmonChantedEvening]

15. My wind errr heart! yes heart!

Is breaking for them.

[OhioChick]

16. Cry me a River...

:nopity:

[TahitiNut]

17. It makes my heart go pitter-patter to hear of the courage, love, and commitment ...

... of such terrific help-mates. They'd do any man of any third-world country proud as they demonstrated the resolve and tenacity that comes from partnering against a cruel world.

:puke: (Reminds me of my first wife.)

[Neshanic]

19. I am crying as I type this. Oh the Humanity for the Wall Street wives.

[JitterbugPerfume]

20. when I get my social security raise in Jan.

maybe I can donate something to make their life a bit easier:sarcasm:

[upi402]

21. shodden

freuda

sp?

[JanMichael]

22. boo fucking hoo

seriously. 2009 is going to suck for everyone. No exceptions.

[TheWatcher]

24. I'm sure they can find plenty of Cake to Eat.

:nopity:

[Sugar Smack]

25. This almost reads like the Onion

without the contrasting perspective of the working class.

[Mari333]

26. They can pray to Leona for guidance in these dark hours...

[Sugar Smack]

27. Or Michele Duvalier.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,963564,00.html

[sakura]

28. My sister in law is one of these people...

... a trophy wife, not a Wall St. wife, but close enough. They live in suburban Connecticut, and moved away from Westport to an even more exclusive suburb because the schools were not "good enough." (note: Westport's schools are damn good.) Recently they've experienced a bit of a downturn, which to them has been epic: in phone calls we get to hear about how expensive it is to have the big-ass boat, how the Jaguar is in for service again and it's just too darn expensive to keep up, how they won't be able to go on three vacations this year, etc.

But even better is when she tells me about something great she's done for her kids (a specific type of lesson, or clothing, or whatever), and ends by telling me it's too bad it's so expensive that my husband and I won't be able to afford it for our son.

Ugh...

[arcadian]

29. This thread is looking like the strings section for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[Patriought]

31. Here's a ray of sunshine...

Look at it this way...

Should we enter another great depression, these plutocrats will be much less prepared to deal with the effects than the rest of us.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I, and probably you will starve... But still, every cloud has a silver lining.

(am I a cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-my-face sort of a guy, or what?!?)

[vanderBeth]

34. *sigh*

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[The Inquisitive]

35. I use to live in Greenwich CT

In fact, I spent a fair amount of my childhood there. No where in the world will you find so many oblivious and insulated people clustered together into a single community. Thank god my parents decided they couldn't take it any longer and moved. I shutter to think what kind of person I would have become if I had spent the second half of my teenage years there.