Maybe those Goldman Sachs guys ARE carrying in NYC...

[sleeplessknight]

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/12/maybe-goldmans-banke.html

The simultaneous amount of Win and Fail in the comments is staggering. for the tl; dr crowd, it basically points out a supposed loophole in LEOSA which allows these bankers to pay a small-town police dept. to become a 'reserve' officer, and thus be allowed to carry in all 50 states 'on the badge'. Now, hearing all the horror-stories on how NYC/NYS in general pretty much disregards LEOSA, I'm inclined to think that the above story is BS. However, I would love to hear the opinions of y'all more familiar with this sort of thing than I am.

 

[terraformer]

sorta dupe. Yours is new information.

 

[Jaxon]

Based on the working of HR218, I doubt that one can obtain a commission from some po-dunk PD and magically become a police officer (or LEO).

As for NYC, they do recognize HR218 (at least in my experience, in the airport).

As in any other permit, CONCEALED, is the operative word.

YMMV

 

[DJMc]

I know of a banker who has reportedly gotten an NYC carry permit, although he is not with a Government Sachs. Of course, I also understand he had been trying to get one for a long time and got nowhere until their were death threats.

I know a lot of people who work for the Wall St. firms and no others who are arming up or getting NYC carry permits. I was at a dinner with a few last month, at which one person had taken the initial steps then never followed through, and that was years ago. Anything else is rumor.

I think if you look at these people, they need to believe that the system will and still does work to some extent. If it collapses, they'll lose more than any body else.

They for the most part know only the sectors of the business the work in, and few see the big picture about how the system works and why it is so rotten. It does not pay for them to figure it out, and they have little time too. They work hard and long hours, trying to push money and debt out for a system that relies on the flow of both. They get paid well but much of their pay each year comes in the form of stock paid as a bonus which cannot be sold for some years. They cannot quit, or they will lose stock. If they get fired, they get to keep the stock. No one in the end leaves of their own choice, except for the CEO's. So, a major portion f their wealth is tied into keeping things going, and they have to hope their work has and it gone for nothing. If they all saw the system for what it was, they would stop working to pump out the Fed's money and the govt. debt.

 

[terraformer]

I know of a banker who has reportedly gotten an NYC carry permit, although he is not with a Government Sachs. Of course, I also understand he had been trying to get one for a long time and got nowhere until their were death threats.

I know a lot of people who work for the Wall St. firms and no others who are arming up or getting NYC carry permits. I was at a dinner with a few last month, at which one person had taken the initial steps then never followed through, and that was years ago. Anything else is rumor.

I think if you look at these people, they need to believe that the system will and still does work to some extent. If it collapses, they'll lose more than any body else.

They for the most part know only the sectors of the business the work in, and few see the big picture about how the system works and why it is so rotten. It does not pay for them to figure it out, and they have little time too. They work hard and long hours, trying to push money and debt out for a system that relies on the flow of both. They get paid well but much of their pay each year comes in the form of stock paid as a bonus which cannot be sold for some years. They cannot quit, or they will lose stock. If they get fired, they get to keep the stock. No one in the end leaves of their own choice, except for the CEO's. So, a major portion f their wealth is tied into keeping things going, and they have to hope their work has and it gone for nothing. If they all saw the system for what it was, they would stop working to pump out the Fed's money and the govt. debt.

Yes, banking is not inherently evil and I am sure there are lots of genuinely good people who work for the banks. I am sure there are lots of middle managers who are cogs in the wheel and highly focused on a single discipline. But at some level there are people who are paid not to be cogs. They are paid to be leaders. There are people who are taking 10 and 20 million dollar bonuses. If you are paid to lead and paid that much to do so, you lose your right to claim ignorance.

 

[clinotus]

Yes, banking is not inherently evil and I am sure there are lots of genuinely good people who work for the banks. I am sure there are lots of middle managers who are cogs in the wheel and highly focused on a single discipline. But at some level there are people who are paid not to be cogs. They are paid to be leaders. There are people who are taking 10 and 20 million dollar bonuses. If you are paid to lead and paid that much to do so, you lose your right to claim ignorance.

What level? Like most companies it rolls downhill, the guy at the top has a parachute, everyone else is strapped to their seats.

 

[terraformer]

What level? Like most companies it rolls downhill, the guy at the top has a parachute, everyone else is strapped to their seats.

If you have a C as the first letter of your title and dealt with something other than IT that's a good place to start. In banking everyone is a VP but the Presidents in charge of divisions should have a frickn' clue as to what is going on. Their damned jobs are to lead their divisions. You had better start having a clue at that level.

Bottom line, the more that comes out, the more it appears people knew it was hitting the fan and they didn't have the proper incentives to even want to stop it. We were playing an economics version of musical chairs.

 

[clinotus]

If you have a C as the first letter of your title and dealt with something other than IT that's a good place to start. In banking everyone is a VP but the Presidents in charge of divisions should have a frickn' clue as to what is going on. Their damned jobs are to lead their divisions. You had better start having a clue at that level.

Bottom line, the more that comes out, the more it appears people knew it was hitting the fan and they didn't have the proper incentives to even want to stop it. We were playing an economics version of musical chairs.

So middle managers should buck the company,their reputations and their pensions for the American dream and a sense of fairness and equality?

 

[terraformer]

So middle managers should buck the company,their reputations and their pensions for the American dream and a sense of fairness and equality?

Where did I say middle managers? They should have reported it northwards and again, from what little has come out, it appears some did and got nowhere.

 

[Admin]

We should probably look at more government regulation. Clearly there wasn't enough.

 

[chowchow99]

A lot of the banking people get huge amounts of stock "options". These options can translate into millions of $$$$$.
Many of these options are tied into the price and or a date as to when they can sell these options.
Only a chosen few can excersise these options whenever they want to, such as a person with a "C" in front of their title.
Most employess have to wait for the magical price to sell their options or if the price is never reached have an expiration date and the options expire, unless of course they purchase the options outright and hold on to them.

 

[Jaxon]

wow, that derailed quickly...

 

[DJMc]

If you have a C as the first letter of your title and dealt with something other than IT that's a good place to start. In banking everyone is a VP but the Presidents in charge of divisions should have a frickn' clue as to what is going on. Their damned jobs are to lead their divisions. You had better start having a clue at that level.

Bottom line, the more that comes out, the more it appears people knew it was hitting the fan and they didn't have the proper incentives to even want to stop it. We were playing an economics version of musical chairs.

I doubt many people with "C" titles get the system and how wrong it is.

They are only looking at their bottom line and keeping their company afloat.

I know of plenty of people who are Managing Directors, which means you are at the partner level, who have no clue about how the banks really function. I know someone a person below division head who had no clue a year ago. It's not something that almost any of them have the time or inclination to figure out. The one I know who does is now on the inside advocating Austrian Economics, which calls for letting the bankrupts fail.

Blaming the bankers for the problems is like blaming the guys who made pipe insulation for asbestos. Suing for asbestos illnesses is an industry now, but teh real same of it is that our govt. in its infinite wisdom required many of the places who used asbestos to have it. I know American ships had to have it as insulation, but the regulations are not help when someone sues.

The CEOs and CFOs might have a clue, but I doubt that many really do. I have spoken to some, but not about such topics, so I have no clue as to their understanding.

I do think that if any of them might have seen how rotten the whole darn system is, they would now bury their heads in the sand. The Fed and govt. saved them, and now they cannot look at the system and call it foul.

 

[Bill Nance]

I know in Washington it's a state law that local PDs cannot commission a police officer until they have completed the state academy.

I honestly think the Goldman Sachs story is a urban myth. If there's any truth to it it's probably one guy who genuinely IS a reserve officer. There are a lot of people who do it to serve or for the thrill of it around the country as a part-time avocation.

 

[Matt Hill]

We should probably look at more government regulation. Clearly there wasn't enough.

And some say sarcasm is dead. Well played.

 

[BossHarley]

Any self respecting CEO or CFO should know intimately what is going on regarding the financial health of their company. It is their sole responsibility. If they don't then they should not be in that position.

Many of the issues were very simple. Banks began pushing the asset/loan ratio farther and farther in search of the almighty dollar - had to keep up with the Jones'. When realstate headed south, assets were not worth what they had been and ratio's got even farther out of whack. - total bedlam. And we the taxpayers end up footing the bill in so many ways....