Comments on: B.S.: R.I.P. 3/16/08 http://blog.cakefinancial.com/2008/03/17/bs-rip/ Cake Financial helps you increase your ability to grow your retirement funds. Join Cake Financial today for Free! http://www.cakefinancial.com Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:00:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Steven A. Carpenter http://blog.cakefinancial.com/2008/03/17/bs-rip/#comment-8 Steven A. Carpenter Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:53:42 +0000 http://blogtest.cakefinancial.com/2008/03/bs-rip-31608/#comment-8 Um, yes, J.A.G. my misuse of "genteel" was my improper public schooling on display. I was not intending to bring religion into the Bear Stearns debate. Shalom alechem. Now, on the employee side, you are correct that many of Bear's executives and traders who grossly overcompensated. I don't cry for those folks. But don't forget that thousands of support staff, who had been working there for years and were counting on pensions, lost everything. That is tragic. It is always the least-publicized roles at companies that experience misfortune (like Enron) and have life-altering change heaped upon them. Um, yes, J.A.G. my misuse of “genteel” was my improper public schooling on display. I was not intending to bring religion into the Bear Stearns debate. Shalom alechem.

Now, on the employee side, you are correct that many of Bear’s executives and traders who grossly overcompensated. I don’t cry for those folks. But don’t forget that thousands of support staff, who had been working there for years and were counting on pensions, lost everything. That is tragic. It is always the least-publicized roles at companies that experience misfortune (like Enron) and have life-altering change heaped upon them.

]]> By: just.a.guy http://blog.cakefinancial.com/2008/03/17/bs-rip/#comment-7 just.a.guy Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:23:51 +0000 http://blogtest.cakefinancial.com/2008/03/bs-rip-31608/#comment-7 Was that a Freudian slip, using the world "ungentile" to describe Bear's dealings with others behind closed doors? Did you actually mean "ungenteel"? Whereas, of course: gen·teel [jen-teel] –adjective 1. belonging or suited to polite society. 2. well-bred or refined; polite; elegant; stylish. 3. affectedly or pretentiously polite, delicate, etc and... gen·tile [jen-tahyl] -adjective 1. of or pertaining to any people not Jewish. 2. Christian, as distinguished from Jewish. Oh, and the private wealth management guys at Bear (the kind who sites like Cake are designed to augment if not replace)? They're all getting 2X annual production signing bonuses (that average ~$2 million) from guys like UBS, Morgan Stanley, etc... So don't shed a tear for that particular end of their business. Was that a Freudian slip, using the world “ungentile” to describe Bear’s dealings with others behind closed doors?

Did you actually mean “ungenteel”?

Whereas, of course:

gen·teel [jen-teel] –adjective
1. belonging or suited to polite society.
2. well-bred or refined; polite; elegant; stylish.
3. affectedly or pretentiously polite, delicate, etc

and…

gen·tile [jen-tahyl] -adjective
1. of or pertaining to any people not Jewish.
2. Christian, as distinguished from Jewish.

Oh, and the private wealth management guys at Bear (the kind who sites like Cake are designed to augment if not replace)? They’re all getting 2X annual production signing bonuses (that average ~$2 million) from guys like UBS, Morgan Stanley, etc…

So don’t shed a tear for that particular end of their business.

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