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<p>I’ll refrain from commenting.</p>
<p>structured products are the trendy thing to hate right now. Before it was just “bankers” used as a catch-all for anybody trying to sell a newspaper. Funny how sentiments can travel across the Chinese wall from Bankers to Traders, while information can not.</p>
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<p>Given that we’re both in the financial services industry, Gomestar, you and I both know that not all bankers (or banks or banking functions) are created equal.</p>
<p>But frankly, I don’t hold either a) the people who spoon off sliced and diced garbage loans onto my grandparent’s pensions or b) the people who use market power and information asymmetries to trade pieces of paper in a zero-sum game using borrowed money, from the federal government in very high regard.</p>
<p>In fact, I hold them in very low regard. There’s actually very few professions I hold in lower regard.</p>
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<p>Chinese wall? Ha. Repealing Glass-Steagall was idiotic.</p>
<p>Cornell offers a CMB securitization class, which my daughter is in this semester. Her professor just asked her if she would TA next year. </p>
<p>I was one of the pioneers in securitization many years ago. It maybe easy to hate, but I was very proud of the work I did and how it made housing affordable to a lot more people back then. The interesting thing is I never told my daughter what I did long time ago, and the fact that she may follow my foot step is kind of cool to me. I have no regrets, and never for one moment did I ever feel like I was doing anything unethical. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have done it. I did leave one firm because I didn’t like the way they were doing business. I am sure my daughter will do what’s right also.</p>
<p>“… I didn’t like the way they were doing business.”</p>
<p>hmm… did it rhyme with Stair Burns.?..</p>
<p>No, it was worse. It was owned by a major insurance company, and it went out of business. </p>
<p>I was asked not to show certain scenarios with negative returns, and to change output of computer output.</p>
<p>That sounds truly horrible</p>
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<p>I don’t have any theoretical problems with securitization. When it is done the right way it can be an effective way for people to purchase a level of risk appropriate to their appetite. </p>
<p>And yes, it did decrease the costs of home ownership, but absent the bubble years which don’t really count, the effects paled in comparison to say, the establishment of the FDIC, FNMA, or the passage of the CRA act. Its benefits have been mostly targeted at improving liquidity to banks. But even then, I would much rather have the Danish system of MBS which gives individuals much more market power over institutions that are much bigger than them.</p>
<p>What I do have a problem with are all of the synthetic CDOs and highly structured ‘bonds within bonds’ which have the sole purpose of obscuring the true credit risk to the often less-sophisticated purchasing institution. The assumptions and scenarios that yield a good rating on these products tend to be pretty thin, and it’s pretty easy to divert their attention from any such concern. </p>
<p>And, well, if you are the low man (or woman) on the totem pole on the sales desk, you’re not going to think twice about the security that your boss asks you to sell. Especially when you just want to close so you can go out to your Lower East Side club later that night with all of your friends and spend hundreds of dollars on alcohol while flaunting your latest watch or handbag that cost you four figures. </p>
<p>I also have a huge issue with the way Wall Street is currently structured. There’s little to no benefit to the economy for commercial banks (e.g. institutions that borrow short and invest long) to house any sort investment banking (e.g. underwriting IPOs or debt offerings), proprietary trading (e.g. buying and selling securities on leverage), or insurance activities (e.g. making credit default swap agreements). </p>
<p>In fact, there are many disadvantages (to the greater economy) for commercial banks to engage in any of those other activities (or conversely, for any of those other institutions to behave more like a commercial bank), and those disadvantages certainly outweigh any positives.</p>
<p>As a result of this structure we have witnessed the emergence of highly interconnected institutions that are ‘too big too fail’ that have fleeced middle America since the 1980s, back to the time of the Savings and Loan Crisis. Essentially sucking capital out of communities across America and reinvesting it in the bubble of the month. And people wonder why the median family income has stagnated for the last thirty years.</p>
<p>And somehow we’ve developed a culture amongst our students that they should be proud to be working for this system. At the end of the day, finance, and especially consumer lending, needs to be treated like what it really is – a public utility for households to make major life investments. And not a casino for the smart and well-connected to make out-sized profits off of the rest of America.</p>
<p>And keep in mind, I work for a bank.</p>
<p>I don’t really know about the banking stuff, but Ithaca is supposed to be the most beautiful place ever!</p>
<p>Looks like Cornell does offer similar advantages landing a job in finance compared to Duke (or maybe Duke is a bit higher but…)</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that because of Cornell’s sheer size, its undergraduates don’t get as much attention as those of Duke’s or similar sized colleges thereof. How was your experience at Cornell–I tentatively plan to major in Econ and Math (or one of the hard sciences)?</p>
<p>And I want to clarify, I like Cornell. I’m in no way bashing on this great university. I’m only trying to decide where to go. And Cornell does have a great dining program, bar none.</p>
<p>i chose cornell over duke 
got into both regular decision. </p>
<p>cornell’s a lil bigger, which i liked. cornell is the MOST BEAUTIFUL CAMPUS ever, which i loved. duke’s is great, but not any match for cornell’s.
cornell’s ivy league, which i loved. </p>
<p>duke, however, is awesome parties and social life! amazing sports omg. </p>
<p>cornell has the sports but can also fit the academically motivated. </p>
<p>i felt a better fit at cornell, and want to pursue computer science, so cornell was the choice for me.</p>