“Barack Obama’s time as an organizer in Chicago has figured prominently in his life story, though it is clear that the benefit of those years to Mr. Obama dwarfs what he accomplished,” is how the New York Times describes its long story on “Obama’s Organizing Years.”
Wall Streeters should recognize this phenomenon pretty easily. Firms like Goldman Sachs make a big deal of being good corporate citizens. Many of its partners are heavily involved with charity work, and the mini-ballers follow suit in lesser ways. The firm itself has been known to turn down the lights and even ask people to leave early during summer months when power-usage gets dangerously high. Steve Schwarzman has started giving away money to schools and libraries to raise his public stature.
But for all the time and money spent on doing-good, it’s unclear hope much good actually gets done. Much of it appears to be largely symbolic. But we suspect the real explanation for the prominence of charity and community service in the financial indicator is that these things are social-status indicators among a certain class of people. Being “involved” is a way to indicate that they are a certain type of person (generally, “liberal with leisure time”) with a certain attitudinal disposition (basically, “full of caring”). In short, what community service accomplishes has very little to do with those who are allegedly being helped. Instead, the real beneficiaries are the do-gooders who get to feel good about themselves, hobnob with their bosses, meet potential mates of their own social class, and brag to friends about the good they are doing.
In New York this can have real social and potential financial implications. Prominent giving gets you entrance to parties and social circles that might otherwise exclude you, raising your visibility to your bosses and potential clients. In short, this kind of status signifying has real material benefits.
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- Use the Bloomberg command
NH BLG_DEALBREAKER <GO>
to access Dealbreaker
Summary: “I, John Carney, am justifying my existence as someone who does not give a shit.”
anyone know why fannie is down so much?
12:36…FNM CN
You make a good point,Carney.The giving can either be directed towards individuals or as most liberals do, to causes or institutions.
Well given this and Carney’s 4th of July blurb it may be about time to bid adios to DB. We [or at least I] come here for the insight and humor (and to some degree Bess’s musings), certainly not for a fox news like blog.
-C
More Bess, less Carney please. He is desperately pandering to a certain element that is dumb and irrelevant I prefer good comedy.
I’m not sure its “liberal with leisure time”. Its well documented that conservatives give significantly more to charity than liberals. This may have a religious bent or something, but it still holds. Liberals will talk a good talk, but don’t actually accomplish anything. Thats what government is for after all.
The “largesse”, especially concerning the hedge fund world, is done as a distraction from the obscene profits and immoral behavior of the principals. Who is going to complain about multi-billion dollar payouts when the 20 million dollar gift gets more coverage? It is a ruse once used by the robber barrons, and decidely different from the noblesse oblige that existed in the patrician class in between. There is a reason these super-secretive men, bordering on the paranoid, get blanket coverage for the Robin Hood Foundation, for example.
Its okay, give C a few more months to get settled into his 1st year analyst role. Let him get his 1st bonus check and then lets see how he votes. That ivy tower liberalism will wear off pretty fast….
Theres always Daily Kos in the meantime, C.
I do not know what you are trying to accomplish with this post but it is completely obnoxious.
Maybe you are right that the real beneficiaries of service are “the do-gooders” because I always walk away from service with a little more perspective and thankfulness for the opportunities I was given and gifts that I received. But to say that people just do it to advance their career or enter new social circles is completely jaded.
There is a soup kitchen downtown where I have met quite a few people that work in various facets of the finance sector. Some are banking analysts, MDs, or work in a backoffice capacity. No one has ever advertised what they do, who they work for, or what their title is (I probe for details). To say they are there at 7:30 on a Saturday morning to get into a social cirle seems a bit contradictory.
1:55: Soup for breakfast? ugh.
Grass roots organizing and such can be positive in providing examples of working together to achieve stuff, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Personally, while I do some donating and volunteering, I do the most benefit by voting for and donating to candidates who campaign on increasing my taxes and spending on needed programs
In addition, I too am becoming a bit annoyed by Carney’s potshots at Obama. Given that Manhattan will vote overwhelmingly for Obama and given Goldman, Lehman, Merrill, Citi, Citadel, etc employees have given more money to Obama than McCain, I imagine a lot of your readers are getting annoyed as well
Any good ideas for “charities” I can donate to so as they may allow my lower pedigree into their daughters panties?
MOMA?
Save the Whales?
Habitat for Humanity?
Thanks.
@1:26
Are you the type that throws punches at guys that look at a girl you are with?
I figured chics dig guys that are a little aloof so I didnt want to seem too fawning.
Then again I guess both methods work.
-C
@1:55 What kind of soup, and more importantly until what time do they serve breakfast at that establishment?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Look at how fickle and absurd all you liberal assholes are. See how quickly you’ve turned on Carney because he had the audicity to post a 4th of July message and who now is critical of jerkoffs like Schwartzman and tells the truth about the do-gooders.
Maybe you should side with ABC News about wearing American flag pins too: http://www.snopes.com/rumors/noflags.asp
I’ve noticed that the most popular threads on db are the ones about sex, drinking, eating, and other subjects that have little to do with finance.
It’s no wonder a lot of you Wall St hotshots are losing your jobs. You have no decent values and your minds are scattered.
@2:56
Zzzzzzzz.
Now, more importantly, what wonderful and fantastic feats of gluttony and/or sexual perversion are taking place today that we can discuss?
@Johnny 3:13,
@2:56 here. You just reinforced what I posted. Thank you.
@ 3:18
Thank you for noticing. Lighten up a little. You’ll live longer.
We could always discuss the masterful display of skill and physical prowess that some of us were lucky enough to witness, a match that will surely go down as one for the ages.
Volley after volley, drop after drop, two foes reunited till only one was left standing to capture the crown.
(I am of course speaking oney Island hotdog eating contest. C)
See everything ever written by David Brooks for further information on this issue.
@3:22,
Masterful it was. Indeed. I’ve tried to eat hot dogs the way those guys do, but I am no match for their prowess.
BTW, there was a chick standing right next to the two finalists, who moments earlier was choking down dogs too until she ran out of steam and gave up. Did you see her? What a woman.
This site seems kind of dead today. Only a handful of posts here and there. Same for most of last week. Is everybody depressed or something? On Vacation maybe? Laid off perhaps? Hung over?
How about some action? Where’s TGFD/TOGFD? He was always good for stirring up some shit. I haven’t seen him lately.
@3:22
Wow, I’m no Freudian but I approve:
http://flickr.com/photos/nearmoderndisaster/2639300971/
Kudos we already melded gluttony and sexual perversion in one fell swoop.
btw @1:47 No first year analyst’s bonus here, but we do have something called a partners share.
-C
(before I get guff about posting often today, still slacking waterside, so DB it is.)
Please don’t mention TGFD/TOGFD again. He was a stealth presence on the site yesterday after BSD posted that he hoped TGFD/TOGFD would never come back. I so much prefer that he stays gone.
It’s too bad Obama didn’t leave Harvard and become a doughebag wingnut financial blogger.
@4:10,
@3:56 here. Thanks for the reply. The site is still dead. You have any better ideas to get it energized? TGFD/TOGFD certainly did that. Too much inbreeding on the site gets it dull.
Just a recap: Sex and insanity sell on db. Just in case you forgot.
This thread has by far the largest number of posts for today. 31 counting this one. It’s not about finance either. Lot of threads today, but not many posts.
Bess, set Shwartzman’s house on fire or something. Liven things up a bit.
Carney is probably right in terms of the motivation for some people’s giving. After all, humans are humans, so sometimes we give for reasons having to do with ego, image, or to distract from other things.
But to the recipient, it does not matter what the reason is. Do you care that your stripper does not really like you? Uhm, no, so long as you get the benefit of seeing her assets.
If you are some kid who gets a scholarship because Joe Hedge Fund Blow paid for it, he benefits. Or if some Street employee is doling out turkey trays at a shelter–well maybe he is selfish because he FEELS good, a personal benefit–but his presence and effort are still of value.
People across the spectrum, whether Wall Street types, mega church evangelicals, sandal wearing liberals, might give for numerous reasons including quite self serving ones. But the result of the giving is still good.
A farmer might plant a seed to make mega profits on high crop prices… pure greed, but the result, more food, is a good thing.
In fact that is kind of the essence of capitalism, that a certain amount of self interest brings about greater good.
The bottom line is Obama has only done two things = community organizing and being a senator (twice). How is that a resume fit to be president? He has no experience in anything managerial or business-wise and his senatorial careers are thin. I’m a headhunter and I couldn’t place him anywhere….and this is the guy who’s supposed to run the country?
I hate Bush but at least he was the Governor of Texas. And held other random jobs his daddy got him…but Obama hasn’t done anything. Nice guy. Speaks well. No experience.
2.56 – screw you. The reason a lot of “Wall Street hotshots” are losing their jobs is because we let the poors have some money. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again for a looong time. How do you like your trailer?
@4:39am,
I’m the 2:56 poster from yesterday. It’s not “because we let the poors have some money” that the Wall St hotshots are losing their jobs. It’s more like the layers of failed derivative leveraged bets that the hotshots made on that money lent to the poors that are now costing the hotshots their jobs.
I hope for everyone’s sake that it doesn’t happen again for a “looong” time. BTW, the trailer’s fine. How’s yours?
@9:09: Politicians aren’t supposed to have careers. If they were any good at anything they’d have done that, instead of spending the best productive years of their lives climbing the greasy pole at taxpayer expense.
If you ever look at the former ‘careers’ of UK MPs it goes: failed lawyer, failed lawyer, failed journalist, failed lawyer, party activist, failed journalist, failed lawyer… I doubt the US is much different. Looking for business expertise in politicians is like looking for wings on bottom-dwelling fish.
People often complain to get to the top of a democracy you need to be rich. This misses the point. To get to the top of a democracy you need to be rich *and* have a single-minded dedication to producing absolutely nothing of value for years on end. You need either a rich family or a ‘business’ that is actually a state enterprise masquerading as a business (more popular among Berlusconi-style European politicians).