Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:02PM

hahaha holy shit..crisis lockdown mode.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:05PM

Needs more sirens.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:06PM

Gas Bag. This was never an issue.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:07PM

You know what is good in a fluid situation?
SHAM-WOW! It works both wet and dry.

short fluoridation, long Precious.Bodily.Fluids.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:16PM

Has anyone told GasBag his number is going to be zero this year? What you got here Charlie is a big fat zero...

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:17PM

Good stuff Gasbag. Please keep us posted on the ever-fluid situation with Detroit hand-jobs. Nobody else seems to know what the fuck. Willing to set you up with 20 G's in Vegas this weekend if you can call it next few days. Show us what you GOT!

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:20PM

Jesus Charles, how many sirens does it take to break one of your news flashes! Tone it down!

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:22PM

Government pay scales for wall street employees. Hahahaha

What are you going to do if you work at an ibank? Start a hedge fund?

Fucked.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:34PM

too visually stimulating; didn't read

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:39PM

very funny...the last time i saw that many sirens I was [insert wacky comment here]

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:39PM

Fuck John Mack. He destroyed a great company. Is there any MS employee who's been around long enough to have worked significant time under both regimes who has any doubt at this point that we would be much better off if Phil Purcell were still CEO?

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:41PM

More Standing Ovations on Trading Floor- Stat!!!

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:46PM

the last time i saw that many sirens I was when GasBag and I were arrested after a game of "Toyota Tipping" in Chelsea.. I am off the roids now however..

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:49PM

Everyone who got taxpayer money via pal Paulson should not get a bonus, especially while firing thousands of people. And they should also cut the dividends to 0.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:50PM

Take that, Thain. Good luck getting a bonus now.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:52PM

Re. Phil Purcell, I don't think so...He was an insecure idiot that drove a host of brilliant people from that firm. Also, fashioned himself a 100mm Golden parachute, and awarded his flunky, Steve Crawford, 40mm for 4 months work as co-President. Purcell sucked.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 3:57PM

Next time I hope to see 24 sirens.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 4:10PM

Bess is a true innovator.

Sure, CNBC may have the Decabox

http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/10/14/the_decabox_mak.html

but we have the Dodecasiren! You go, girl.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 4:13PM

Too fluid...didn't read

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 4:43PM

Government pay scales for wall street employees. Hahahaha

What are you going to do if you work at an ibank? Start a hedge fund?

Fucked.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 4:48PM

Purcell promoted idiots and sycophants and spent way too much time and effort fighting off potential rivals for his job, but his basic strategy was sound. Keep leverage down, only allow limited money and limited risk to prop desks and exotic crap, keep leverage down. It made us look worse by comparison to Goldman in the credit bubble years, but we probably wouldn't have posted a single quarter of losses or any meaningful write downs if we'd stuck to it. John Mack comes in, immediately takes leveraged WAY up, farms out tons of money to prop desks and structured credit and associated toxic garbage right as the credit bubble was going into overdrive and just fucking buried the company.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 5:31PM

Also don't forget that among the "brilliant" people Purcell forced out were Vikram Pandit and John Havens. That looks pretty good in retrospect. Perella was the other big name. He hasn't destroyed any major companies as far as I know, but has Perella Weinberg done anything at all of any note ever since being founded? It's starting to seem pretty clear that Perella was way over the hill when the Purcell fracas caused him to quit.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 9:37PM

16: Been at MS long enought to see merge, Mack ouster, Purcell regime and now Mack is back. Have no doubt that if Purcell was still here we would have never made it past September if we even lasted that long. He was running MS into the ground without the help of the mortgage issue.

Posted by guest , Dec 08, 2008 10:11PM

Purcell??? That's amazing that anyone would even mention him. Lest you've forgotten: he was a consultant (McK I believe) that was brought in by Sears when their retail strategy was badly flagging. His idea was to build on the strength of their Allstate Insurance franchise by acquiring Dean Witter, which was totally retail at the time. The idea, which gaine creedence when someone checked and found out that the average Sears shopper was basically an affluent suburbanite with a significant net worth, was dubbed "sox and stocks". It of course failed miserably and Dean Witter was acquired by MS, which brought Purcell into their fold. He knows nothing about Wall Street.

Posted by guest , Dec 10, 2008 6:03AM

@29, Wrong! Dean Witter acquired MS not the other way around. Research before you post!!!

Purcell was a poor manager, didn't understand the IB model at all. However he was very risk averse and therefore would never had lost $15B on bad trading bets. MS, ironically, would have been much better off under Purcell than Mack....no doubt about it. The real riddle is why can MS hire a competent, no-nonsense CEO? There must be someone out there who can run the place without totally screwing up!