When Lenny Dykstra began a downward spiral several years ago, in which he went from having several million in the bank and buying Wayne Gretzky’s house to ripping bathroom fixtures out of the place and selling them at a pawn shop before meeting up with hookers to whom he bounced checks, a man named Jim Cramer took a lot of flack for a comment he’d made about LD in March 2008. Cramer told Bob Costas that of all the people Cramer knew (when he ran a hedge fund, before he got into TV), Dykstra ranked as “one of the greats” in the investing industry. Cramer seemed to stand alone in his comment– especially after Nails started shitting on the floor of his foreclosed house, prompting creditors to file a restraining order– which seemed to rival the one he’d made the same month about Bear Stearns being more than “fine.” Then today, buried in a retrospective on the life and times of Leonard K. Dykstra, who currently sits in a tiny jail cell, vindication. Continue reading »
Wall Street
Lenny Dykstra Didn’t Feel The Need To Reveal His Intelligence, Market Savvy In The Most Obvious Ways
By Bess Levin
As you may have heard, a giant Duane Reade opened on Wall Street today. It includes the standard items you’d expect at a DR, plus hairstyling services, a nail salon, a smoothie bar, beer growlers, a stock ticker and sushi. Clearly the company is hoping to be a big hit with the financial services professional who work nearby and while Duane Reade president Joe Magnacca said he and his team “believe it’s the most exciting drugstore in the world,” where one should not think twice about buying and consuming the fish, some remain skeptical. Continue reading »
Vanity Fair is out with its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Last year, Lloyd Blankfein was named numba 1 stunna. This year, something interesting happened wherein he clocked in at dead last. One can’t help but feel as though VF is trying to send a message here. Well guess what, ladies? LCB doesn’t need your mocking pity. Maybe next year, he starts his own list. Also of interest to note in the way off disses is that missing from the list are Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett, who last year were deemed the 69th most influential, a position they shared, in addition to the Dollar Dominatrix, who was 86 and David Einhorn, who was 87. For the second year in a row, Steve Cohen and Ben Bernanke were left off because really, what have those guys ever done? Here’s who did get named: Continue reading »
From the mailbag: Continue reading »
Wall Street Rants: “Go ahead and continue to take us down, but you’re only going to hurt yourselves.”
By Bess LevinAn email apparently going around today.
“We are Wall Street. It’s our job to make money. Whether it’s a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn’t matter. We would trade baseball cards if it were profitable. I didn’t hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and everyone’s 401k doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, its not a problem until you lose. I’ve never heard of anyone going to Gamblers Anonymous because they won too much in Vegas.
Thoughts? Opening reaction– disappointed in the lack of Blankfein shout-outs (especially since Gary Cohn canceled a lunch to make this thing) and not enough jokes.
Most of you are too proud to complain about this but there’s something that’s been irking me for a while now. We’ve dancing around the subject but neither dancing nor silence get us anywhere and it’s time to speak up. You, my lovies, are being treated unfairly. Discriminated against for something you have no control over. And not for the reason many of you transvesite beauts are thinking– the chick con dick thing– but for one simple reason. Because you work on Wall Street. Because you work on Wall Street, you’re treated like second class citizens. Because you work on Wall Street, people look at you differently. Because you work on Wall Street, in the event you were to ever take the bus, people would probably give you a hard time about sitting up front. And that’s not okay! You shouldn’t be treated differently, you shouldn’t have to drink at segregated bars and you most certainly should not have to feel shame, or hide what you do for a living from non-Wall Streeters, who don’t accept your lifestyle. Because this isn’t a choice. You were born this way, and you should take pride in who you are. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Things had gotten entirely too annoying. First it was White House (and populist) complaints about Wall Street recklessness and greed (humongous bonuses). Now it was White House desire to attach new regulations and taxes to banks. Enough!
And so a rally was organized at lunchtime on the 23rd floor of 14 Wall Street, directly across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, in the cushy offices of John Thomas Financial, a three-year-old investment house. It was much more comfortable than, say, the street. As Thomas Belesis, the 35-year-old chief executive of John Thomas who hatched the idea, put it, “It’s cold out.” The specific purpose was to announce a nonpartisan organization called restorewallstreet.com, devoted to “bringing the pride back into Wall Street.”
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