Is Wall Street Bluffing?
According to the Los Angeles Times, some Wall Street firms don’t care if a new job applicant went to business school or studied finance. The applicant probably didn’t even have to graduate from high school. The firms are much more interested in how the young man or woman plays poker. That’s right, sometime during the job interview, the interviewer takes out a deck of cards and deals.
According to the Los Angeles Times, some Wall Street firms don’t care if a new job applicant went to business school or studied finance. The applicant probably didn’t even have to graduate from high school. The firms are much more interested in how the young man or woman plays poker. That’s right, sometime during the job interview, the interviewer takes out a deck of cards and deals. Another demonstration of Wall Street’s love affair with poker is that at least one trading firm has their new traders play poker for one full day a week.
Many of those who apply for investment jobs are good at poker because of their experience playing online and watching on television. What is the typical personality of someone who spends hours alone at home playing poker with other people who are alone in their homes? He or she doesn’t exactly sound like a “people person.” In televised poker tournaments, the players who are successful are often dressed like cowboys or sport heavy jewelry like Mr.T used to wear. In this time of precarious finances, would you want these people to handle your money just because they once won a big pot with a six-high-straight?
Some financiers take this poker thing quite seriously. Aaron Brown, an executive director at Morgan Stanley has written a book called “Poker Face Wall Street.” In it, he advises investors to embrace risk, not avoid it. Isn’t that what got America in so much trouble? Is that what we need now, more risk and less caution? Are these “experts” so unhappy with the economy making somewhat of a comeback that they want to see it fall apart again? Try telling the autoworkers in Detroit that risk should be what guides their pension plans again. They’d be tempted to run you over with that new Camaro.
Some point to the fact that people like Bill Gates, H.L, Hunt, and Kirk Kerkorian liked to play poker when they were younger. They probably also liked to sleep, but nobody is pointing to a good mattress as the key to riches. I have the feeling that there were other things besides playing poker with his buddies that made Bill Gates one of the most successful people in the world. It’s just possible that in addition to knowing that a flush beats a straight, Gates is inventive, smart, and creative.
I’m not saying that game playing can have no part in preparing one for success. If you were to ask President Obama about games, I have the feeling he’d say that basketball teaches the player about preparation and teamwork, and about winning and losing. I’d have to agree, but I still wouldn’t ask Charles Barkley to invest my money for me.
About those poker playing investment traders: While there is something to be said for people having the experience of gambling with their own money before they gamble with a client’s, I don’t want someone who’s investing my money to think of it as a game.
Poker might not even be the best game that prepares a young trader for his profession. How about leapfrog? That teaches people how to jump over others, not caring if they knock them over. That could be a game that helps Wall Street types to get ahead. Tic-tac-toe teaches you that some people will play the same game over and over again even if nobody wins. That’s perfect training for grinding out commissions over and over again. One of my favorites is the preschool game of “Duck, Duck, Goose.” I have no idea how this game could prepare someone for Wall Street, but I’d still love to see a video of those guys in their three piece suits, telling their assistants to hold their calls while they run in a circle calling out, “Duck, Duck, Goose.”
Theoretically, a poker face makes it impossible for anybody else to know what you’re holding. Then you can bluff and finally you can put all the money in the pot. They call that “big time poker.” A little while ago, that kind of manipulation was called, “selling sub-prime mortgages and worthless paper.”
Lloyd Garver has written for many television shows, ranging from “Sesame Street” to “Family Ties” to “Home Improvement” to “Frasier.” He has also read many books, some of them in hardcover. He can be reached at lloydgarver@gmail.com. Check out his website at lloydgarver.com and his podcasts on iTunes.
Signs Of The Times
We are all aware of signage wherever we go. Signs are impossible to escape or ignore.
We are all aware of signage wherever we go. Signs are impossible to escape or ignore.
Although many people consider signs as blight upon the land, eyesores to the beauty seeker (as then-1st Lady Lady Bird Johnson noted when she insisted that billboards be barred along Interstate highways), they are a necessity for commerce.
Who would possibly know that Native American artifacts (hand made, in Asia) could be purchased two exits down the road if “Cactus Pete” weren’t allowed to draw tourists in to his snake oil emporium?
Without billboards, nobody would have ever bought and enjoyed one of those wonderful Stuckey’s pecan rolls.
And, on a smaller (sizewise) scale, if not for signs we wouldn’t know where to find the local optometrist office, or how to get to a garage sale, or which houses are up for sale.
The thing is, signage has gone through a huge makeover since the economic belly flop.
Outdoor advertising rentals have dwindled noticeably; wherever I go, more and more billboards are consigned to proclaim the ominous message, “Advertise Here.”
For instance, since the inception of the motorized vehicle and paved roads, a staple of billboards have been those that advertise automobiles. However, with the doldrums manufacturers have gone through in recent years, roadside car adverts have nose-dived.
Restaurants, which often rely upon travelers “just passing through” to increase foot traffic, no longer have the extra income to pay for billboards announcing their presence.
Case in point: The original Dixie Truckers Home, just down I-55 apiece from Normal, up to a few scant years ago was a continuous beehive of activity, with an almost always full restaurant any time of the day or night. Go there now, even during peak mealtimes, and at best maybe 25% of the tables are occupied.
Not so long ago people waited in line at the Dixie’s gas pumps; now it’s rare to see two vehicles total in the “automobiles only” fueling area.
Even the tarmac where semi drivers park while they rest up, shower, and eat used to be crowded at any given time, but these days has very few if any 18-wheelers.
Another observation is a reduction in realtor billboards. Perhaps the most ego-driven line of business short of television newsreaders, for decades it seemed as though every third billboard had some agent’s 15’ high picture smiling down at the passersby.
Now, these home brokers aren’t turning around enough properties to cover the expense of such self-satisfying indulgences.
(FYI: Even in the best of times, if a realtor has enough disposable income to afford a billboard, he or she is already making too much money.)
It isn’t as if houses aren’t being put up for sale. Good gawd, I see “For Sale” signs virtually everywhere.
Often, a given block might have two or three, or more, houses on the market.
What has caught my attention is the fact that most homeowners are eschewing the old school of thought that because it’s too difficult to sell a house on one’s own, one must engage a real estate broker or agent.
I have been noticing not just an upswing in houses up for sale, but most of the signs are of the generic variety.
Many other folks go with For Sale By Owner (FSBO). This is essentially a clearinghouse that provides a source for buyers to search without being hassled by some “enthusiastic” salesperson desperate for a commission. FSBO also assists the homeowner with the ins and outs of selling property.
The rates charged by FSBO for its services are generally less than half of the commissions and fees typically assessed by the realtor.
In this current economic environment, people are finding it increasingly difficult to make payments on a house and maintain same. So, they’re putting their homes on the market.
But, the market is extremely soft, and maximizing return on their investment in property has become increasingly difficult.
Say you have a house that sells for $250,000. Out of that, you’re probably going to shell out on average a 6% commission, or $15,000, to a realtor.
As the seller, you’re already ahead of the game with FSBO at 2% ($5,000).
By acting as your own agent, you can deal the property down to $240,000 and still come out ahead.
It just comes down to simple arithmetic and common sense – if you eliminate fees and commissions by cutting out the middle man, you can charge less yet have a more profitable return, while at the same time expand the pool of interested, qualified buyers.
Then, once we all sell our homes we can live in our cars or SUVs, traversing the North American highways, exploring all the beauty and sights of the continent that we’ve missed while tied to a job just so we could pay off those freakin’ mortgages.
Thus, the increased numbers of travelers will push forward a need for more billboards, resulting in a boon for that segment of the economy.
And, such mobility shall surely benefit roadway eateries and rest havens, such as the Dixie, which shall flourish yet again from the escalation in traffic…
Ain’t America great?
Shalom.
(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator. A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast. Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)
Malls
I finally figured out today why malls are so popular, not that I had particularly wondered about it before. The answer hit me all of a sudden, out of the blue, and probably not as I might have expected to receive such an epiphany.
I finally figured out today why malls are so popular, not that I had particularly wondered about it before. The answer hit me all of a sudden, out of the blue, and probably not as I might have expected to receive such an epiphany. There I was slowly being sprinkled/splattered/covered with the paint Zack was spraying liberally upon our new carport (still under construction). The weather was warm and windy. I was perched on a scaffold high enough from the ground that stepping off backwards would definitely have left a mark (or worse). My arms were tired from holding the paint can high — attached to the tube of the sprayer —which was attached to Zack. I was trying to anticipate and intuit Zack’s every move, read his mind, stay out of his way, and see that neither of us tripped over the electric cord. I was holding everything high, because Zack can’t do all this himself, doesn’t have the upper body strength he had before he fell ill, nor the balance nor dexterity. He was reaching as high and for as long at a stretch as his recovering arms and hands would allow. (Talk about a challenge. But he insisted on doing this. And honestly, I doubt I could have persevered to do it alone). When Zack tired, we took breaks. The painting has continued for days. It’s this kind of stubborn independence that’s allowed Zack to come back from the complete paralysis of Guillain-Barre. His ambitious projects and recovery are wearing me out.
Oh yes, malls. I’m getting there. I was as protected as possible from the paint. This grew more and more uncomfortable as the day warmed. One bandana covered any stray hair (under my cap). This almost worked. If I had sideburns, they would have been white by the end of the day —and from paint, not gray from the stress of being the trusty assistant to a demanding boss (a close second). As it is, the hair just over my ears was painted, in the area where Dagwood has those trademark “wings”. Another bandana protected my complaining sinuses from fumes. After a week of massive allergies (brought on by exposure to fungicide (rose spray —no good deed goes unpunished), I was taking no chances. My arms were bare and almost chalky white after hours on the job as painter’s helper. (Zack fared worse than I did). Large sunglasses kept my eyeballs from harm. It took fifteen minutes to clean paint flecks from those glasses when we finally stopped each day, and they aren’t pristine even now. If you’d like to learn more about the best methods of cleaning flecks from skin and hair, just ask.
Malls. My mind wandered, trying to escape the unpleasant sensation of wet paint speckling my skin. No matter which way Zack pointed the sprayer, the wind brought a shower of white upon our heads. Murphy’s Law. I wished I were at a mall. The thought popped unexpectedly and unbidden into my head.
I don’t even much LIKE malls. Well, maybe once every season or two. Last Mother’s Day, after over a year of caring for Zack in hospitals and at home, I was doing almost all my shopping on the Internet. I barely left the house except to take him to physical therapy or run to the grocery store or some other local errand. Leaving town to visit a mall or large store was out of the question. My daughter and son decided I deserved a shopping spree. Poor Becca, being the closest geographically, was the obvious choice to accompany me. (Josh turns to mush after a few minutes in a mall. Even if he lived nearby, he would NOT have taken me shopping. It wouldn’t have made for a pleasant holiday for any of us).
Last year, Becca and I left “my patient” alone for the first time since his hospitalization. We prepared food and glasses of sweet tea, left everything in the fridge, ready to eat or drink. Zack wasn’t totally helpless at that point. And he wasn’t ready to use power tools, so we figured he’d be bored but reasonably safe. (I wrote about this shopping spree). Becca and I were away for 9 hours, driving for almost two, round trip. We shopped. We ate. We shopped some more. I out shopped my daughter, but it was unavoidable. Zack survived. I made up for lost time, purchased everything necessary to survive a year or more in style (or at least presentable when I “clean up good.” That was the last time I leisurely visited real brick and mortar stores for MY needs, a year ago. This Mother’s Day all I asked was that Becca to help me list some things to sell on EBay. Forty-three things, to be exact. Several of these items were mistakes I made by ordering online during my “confinement”. Mother’s Day came and went, and the painting resumed.
And so there I was, paint raining down on me, thinking of malls. And I know why. Malls provide mindless escape, more interactive than a movie. You can walk and window shop and eat and visit (if you aren’t alone). You can buy things or not. It’s possible to try on outfits for upcoming events or those that will never happen, imagine entire scenarios of sartorial needs that might prove the old adage of anticipation being better than reality. You needn’t think seriously of anything more than what money you might spend. A shopping person is not painting, doing chores or projects, caring for pets or lawns or flowers or loved ones.
And this, dear friends, is why we have malls.
Gene Ellis, Ed.D is a Bosque County resident who returned to the family farm after years of living in New Orleans, New York, and Florida. She’s an artist who holds a doctoral degree from New York University and is writing a book about the minor catastrophes of life. Check out Genie’s blog at http://rusticramblings.wordpress.com/
