When I sat down to write my account of the experience in 1989—Liar’s Poker, it was called—it was in the spirit of a young man who thought he was getting out while the getting was good. I was merely scribbling down a message on my way out and stuffing it into a bottle for those who would pass through these parts in the far distant future.

Unless some insider got all of this down on paper, I figured, no future human would believe that it happened.

I thought I was writing a period piece about the 1980s in America. Not for a moment did I suspect that the financial 1980s would last two full decades longer or that the difference in degree between Wall Street and ordinary life would swell into a difference in kind. I expected readers of the future to be outraged that back in 1986, the C.E.O. of Salomon Brothers, John Gutfreund, was paid $3.1 million; I expected them to gape in horror when I reported that one of our traders, Howie Rubin, had moved to Merrill Lynch, where he lost $250 million; I assumed they’d be shocked to learn that a Wall Street C.E.O. had only the vaguest idea of the risks his traders were running. What I didn’t expect was that any future reader would look on my experience and say, “How quaint.”

manu_s says: Hard to find a single good quote, but very entertaining.

“People come up to me in the grocery store and say, ‘How did we get suckered into this?’ ”

Jonathan says: This article makes me want to reread (and recommend) Jane Smiley's novel Good Faith.

Over the past several weeks, the investor has pushed hundreds of thousands of dollars into one of Intrade’s predictive markets for the presidential election, the company said, resulting in repeated monetary losses through a strategy that belies any financial motive.

manu_s says: Thought the NewsDog crowd would enjoy this one.

Outside, several thousand spectators had gathered for the Akerses’ return. Everyone marveled at the new dwelling. A woman declared, ‘‘This is living proof that God exists!’’

‘‘There is justice in the world,’’ another woman said excitedly. ‘‘There is reason for hope!’’
...
Turning a charity event into a spectacle — and allowing donors to see recipients weep with joy — was a fairly common practice at the turn of the last century. In 1891, the Christmas Society organized an event at Madison Square Garden where the wealthy were invited to buy tickets to watch poor children open Christmas presents on the floor below. Around this time, in New York and elsewhere, there were Bowery Christmas dinners, where the wealthy paid to watch the poor eat a sumptuous feast. There were even specialized events for watching groups of orphans, African-Americans or even newsboys get their fill.

billm says: I'm almost embarrassed to have enjoyed this article, given how cynical it is. But I did.

manu_s says: I definitely have a hard time reading long articles on the Web, though for now I'm still okay when I get away from a computer and pick up a real newspaper / magazine / book.

AJ says: This is the third time I've posted about Zimbabwe's economic crisis in the last 5 years. (Can you believe NewsDog has been around for that long?)
Previously:
http://www.newsdog.info/display_article.cgi?id=1071&nc=0
http://www.newsdog.info/display_article.cgi?id=193&nc=1

Later, McCain-Palin press representatives chalked up the restrictions to a “mix-up, a miscommunication among staff.” The full pool — a print and wires reporter, along with a television producer — was then allowed in to observe Palin’s meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for 15-20 seconds.

Umesh says: This quote could be from the Daily Show, or the Onion. But it's real.

10 It turned out that one Mr. William R. Rivas-Rivas, a high-ranking PETA official out of the group’s Virginia headquarters, was indeed there this year, albeit solo, working the Festival’s main and side entrances on Saturday, August 2, handing out pamphlets and adhesive stickers emblazoned with “Being Boiled Hurts,” which is the tagline in most of PETA’s published material about lobster. I learned that he’d been there only later, when speaking with Mr. Rivas-Rivas on the phone. I’m not sure how we missed seeing him in situ at the Festival, and I can’t see much to do except apologize for the oversight—although it’s also true that Saturday was the day of the big MLF parade through Rockland, which basic journalistic responsibility seemed to require going to (and which, with all due respect, meant that Saturday was maybe not the best day for PETA to work the Harbor Park grounds, especially if it was going to be just one person for one day, since a lot of diehard MLF partisans were off-site watching the parade (which, again with no offense intended, was in truth kind of cheesy and boring, consisting mostly of slow homemade floats and various midcoast people waving at one another, and with an extremely annoying man dressed as Blackbeard ranging up and down the length of the crowd saying “Arrr” over and over and brandishing a plastic sword at people, etc.; plus it rained))

AJ says: A 5'7" white dude from the sticks. Pretty awesome. Videos, too.

Depending on the vigilance of the landlord, a seasoned serial evictee like Getzow can get away with a minimum of 45 days and sometimes up to a year of free rent. The actual number of serial evictees operating in San Francisco is difficult to track, but some attorneys who specialize in representing landlords estimate there are between 20 and 100. http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-07-30/news/how-renters-work-the-system-to-live-for-free-in-one-of-america-s-most-expensive-cities/1 ]]> Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:55:38 -0700 AJ