<p>So says Barney Frank. The remaining ones will never be the same with significantly curtailed operations. Fed oversight.</p>
<p>Bloomberg.com:</a> Exclusive</p>
<p>What about GS/JP?</p>
<p>Goldman and JP Morgan? Where have you been the past few weeks buddy?</p>
<p>Barrons, what's your particular axe?</p>
<p>By this train of thought there have been less than a handful of ibanks for a long time. Why quote a politician who is trying to build his approval ratings saying what so many seem to want to hear? Those with depth of knowledge know the banks are very much still there, they're just slightly disguised.</p>
<p>I'd hate for all the potential talent on this board to believe ibanking is disapearing as a career option. It most certainly is not. The industry will get some needed reforms and will be structured and regulated differently, but the role of the ibank has not gone away by any stretch of the imagination.</p>
<p>There is no axe, it's wholesale looting.
End</a> of the Wall Street investment bank - Times Online</p>
<p>My axe here, for more years than this current problem has been around, has always been that Ibanks are at their core working only in their own profit interest which is unacceptable for firms that are supposed to offer expert professional advice. They stopped doing that somewhere back in the 70's when the drive to expand seemed to take hold. That has led to the last three major recessions counting the current one which could be the worst one yet. While doing so they dupe people into believing they are the know- alls, master of the universe, the best and the brightest when at heart they are con artists. </p>
<p>I have forecast this day for some years now and this was the Big One. The neutron bomb leaving buildings without people.</p>
<p>"I have forecast this day for some years now and this was the Big One"</p>
<p>Self-delusion is just funny. :D</p>
<p>About as funny as all those empty buildings in Manhattan right now. Let's fill them with real companies now. Inventors, scientists, engineers, doctors, real merchants, come on in!</p>
<p>Investment Banking is here, standalone investment banks may no longer be here.</p>
<p>As someone mentioned before: GS, MS, JPM, Citi, BofA, etc</p>
<p>About as funny as watching former bankers carrying out there world in a cardboard box along with their worthless stock certificates. I hope they were not borrowing on that company stock they had. Talk about a vice to the head. Ouch.</p>
<p>Mildly disgusted that you're so happy about the demise of so many people's life savings and careers. Many of them are 22 year olds right of college with no where to turn to at this point - no money, no exit opportunities, etc. Don't think for a second that the fall of these "fake companies" won't effect you. </p>
<p>Your "real companies" wouldn't be there without the credit supplied by some of these banks.</p>
<p>Lurker, this is the talk on The Street today. Paulson and crew, not to mention the administration, has done a poor job of explaining the bailout. Much of America believes it's designed to preserve jobs on Wall Street. A credit crunch would result in mass job reductions in most industries, loss of credit for 95% of home and car purchases and general chaos in the economy. Not to mention that the bailout involves favorable interest rates for Americans.</p>
<p>Don't be so hard on those who are gleeful. I say these times are a good wake up call for many to see how they are perceived. That the blame for the mortgage debacle falls to WS in most minds is a head scratcher for me but so is the fact that so many Americans love Palin! It's all about what we can relate to and most of America does not relate to the workings on WS.</p>
<p>Also, the 22 year olds will rise like the Phoenix's they are! It's the 40 year old with 4 kids in private school that have problems.</p>
<p>Most of the people blaming WS are not in the Palin crowd. They are educated business people who might have had some direct dealings with WS. Like myself. (GS, Lehman, Bear, DB, Citi, etc) And many corporate chiefs. And economists. About the only ones not getting the message must be on WS. Perception??? That's like saying Saddam had a problem with perception. Sheeesh. I guess they do need a reality check. Maybe when common people start showing up with pitchforks and torches you'll get the hint.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What about GS/JP?
[/quote]
Technically these will no longer be 'investment banks' by the legal definition of the term so the thread is correct. They're both making the voluntary decision to have themselves reclassified as traditional banks. This means that they'll be subjected to much tighter regulation, higher capital requirements and, in short, won't be able to do many of the things that they've historically done.</p>
<p>What exactly is your business Barrons? The educated business people I know and live among are not blaming any one faction for the recession or Wall Street's problems.</p>
<p>"Most of the people blaming WS are not in the Palin crowd. They are educated business people who might have had some direct dealings with WS. Like myself. (GS, Lehman, Bear, DB, Citi, etc) And many corporate chiefs. And economists. About the only ones not getting the message must be on WS. Perception??? That's like saying Saddam had a problem with perception. Sheeesh. I guess they do need a reality check. Maybe when common people start showing up with pitchforks and torches you'll get the hint."</p>
<p>If you are an educated businessman who knows about the intricacies of finance and the economy, I am at a loss of why and how you can't perceive the importance of credit in US and worldwide economy and what the implications of a credit crunch are.</p>
<p>There is a world of difference between providing needed credit and fueling crazy speculation. One is good and needed to continue, the other bad. Problem is the banks are not satisfied with the money to be made doing needed credit and always move into pushing speculative bubbles. We need an Ibank sector about the size we had in the 70's. There were too many MD's to feed in the current WS configuration.</p>
<p>For example--complex financial engineering nobody really understood:</p>
<p>"But credit default swaps -- complex derivatives originally designed to protect banks from deadbeat borrowers -- are adding to the turmoil.</p>
<p>"This was supposedly a way to hedge risk," says Ellen Brown, the author of the book "Web of Debt."</p>
<p>"I'm sure their predictive models were right as far as the risk of the things they were insuring against. But what they didn't factor in was the risk that the sellers of this protection wouldn't pay ... That's what we're seeing now."</p>
<p>Brown is hardly alone in her criticism of the derivatives. Five years ago, billionaire investor Warren Buffett called them a "time bomb" and "financial weapons of mass destruction" and directed the insurance arm of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to exit the business."</p>
<p>
[quote]
Lurker, this is the talk on The Street today. Paulson and crew, not to mention the administration, has done a poor job of explaining the bailout. Much of America believes it's designed to preserve jobs on Wall Street.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Much of America is stupid. Presumably, the people on this board are in the upper echelons of intelligence. </p>
<p>The vast majority of people working in investment banks were not involved in the areas that have been the cause of the economic demise and think it's simplistic to cast them all as equal villains; gleefully rooting for their ruin like you're somehow better than them.</p>
<p>Is this the same Buffett that couldn't wait to jump into GS?</p>
<p>Always interesting to check into this board!</p>
<p>Yes Barrons, there were some instruments that never should have been. Have you, however, seen what clients had to sign to participate? No one went into these arenas without understanding the risks. There are qualifying net worths for even the most basic hedge fund. There is such confusion here. Now derivatives caused the problems?</p>
<p>This has been one of the most interesting weeks I can remember. Pundits from every unqualified corner have weighed in to create panic. Most of America is in total confusion about why we would have a bailout. Politicians who never heard of derivatives before last week are now experts. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, most jobs on Wall Street will continue. Those not prone to panic have made a small fortune in the market in days picking up stocks temporarily devalued by irrational panic. And so it goes......</p>