'I Couldn't Care Less About Former Lehman Employees'
More in BUSINESS NEWS
back-up- The Business Trip From Hell - Parts I & II
- And The Best Place To Find A New Job Is.......
- Bank Of America Sued Over Theft Of Parrott
- Firm's Shares Rise As It Confirms Takeover Talks
- The Most Overpaid Person In The World - Poll Results
- Forbes Richest People In The World - The Top 10
- BNP Paribas Boss Admits Pay Is As Low As Possible
- 'My Bonus Isn't Big Enough' - What Can I Do ?
- Lindsay Lohan Seeks $100m From E-Trade Over Babymilkgate
- We're Looking For More Football Fans To Write For Us
- And The Best Place To Work In The Global Financial Markets Is...
- Deep Blue Associates - Featured Recruiter of the Month
- Recruitment Firms We Like
- Click Here To Register For Free News E-Mail Alerts
- How's This For Irony ?
- No Way Out - Traders Over-Taxed, But Staying Over Here
- More Bonus News
- FDIC Chair Sheila Bair On Too Big To Fail & Regulation
- The Best Place To Work 2010 Results - The Top 100 Firms
- Dick Fuld - 'We Will Have Lehman Brothers Again'
- Top CEO's 2009 Comp Said To Raise 'Serious Questions'
- To Pay Or Not To Pay - Reader Comments
- The 2010 Banks And Brokers Golf Championships
- Transcript - The Most Embarrassing Staff Interview Ever
- The Cityboy Column - Insider Trading
- Top Firm Staff Said To Be Miffed About Bonuses
- 'Psychic' Stock Picker Charged - He Didn't See It Coming!
- And The Top Firm For Fee Income In 2009 Was.. (Bloomberg Video)
- Pandit Says Second Citi Bailout Down To Short Sellers (Bloomberg Video)
- Citi Is Embracing The New Reality
- The Employee 'Nearly Name' Survey (Updated)
- Top CEO Says 'We Will Remain Competitive' On Pay
- Top Firm Says It Has Done Well Out Of The Crisis
- Hank Paulson's Most Awkward White House Moment
- The 'Most Overpaid Poll' - Results
- Firms Ignore Government On Pay
- Buffett - Goldman 'Is A Very, Very Strong, Well-Run Business'
- Firm By Firm Analysis Of Executive Comp
- The Secret Hedge Funds Ideas Dinner
- The Devil's Casino - The High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers
- I'm A Banker Get Me Out Of Here Raises Over £150,000 For Charity
- Bosses Bonuses - Who Got The Most
- And The Highest-Paid Banker In 2009 Looks Like Being...
- Top CEO Gets $83m Exit Package
- Jamie Dimon Announces Date Of Retirement
- Top Firm Plans To Add 'Hundreds'
- Top Firm CEOs Bash Political Decision Making
- Compensation - To Pay Or Not To Pay (That Is The Question)
- 'No One Would Listen'
- Top 'Life' Stories - Feb
Related Content
- I Don't Care About The 'Average' Bonus, I Care About MY Bonus! (15/02/2010)
- CARE 24 Peaks Challenge (17/02/2010)
- Top Firm Says It Will Pay Employees Competitively (11/02/2010)
- Bank Of America CEO Tells Employees 'Protect Our Company' (09/02/2010)
- Dick Fuld - 'We Will Have Lehman Brothers Again' (07/03/2010)
- BofA Board Thought They Were Buying Lehman! (07/02/2010)
OK, so some former employees are now butchers, bakers, mail men, waiters and exotic dancers, but that's what most normal people do for a living in any case. Why should we get upset if some ex-Lehmaners now do the same kind of work as the rest of us ? These people should thank their lucky stars that they were at least able to enjoy some moments basking in the sun, picking up all those decent bonuses over the years.
Working in the investment banking industry is a risky business. Everyone knows that (even me). Staff at many firms have lost their jobs over the decades through mergers or takeovers. It's the way it is. Many have found that they have had to leave the industry to earn a living, after being pushed out and thrown to one side. It comes with the territory. And Lehman wasn't the first (and probably won't be the last) investment bank to file for Chapter 11 - many will remember Drexel Burnham Lambert's bankruptcy in the 1990s too.
Why, then, is there all this focus on Lehman staff (when the majority got rehired by either Barclays or Nomura in any case) ? Are these people any more deserving than the tens of thousands of financial markets employees who lost their jobs because of Lehman's failure ? And I'm not talking about those who worked at firm's like Merrill Lynch or AIG, or UBS, where reckless traders were allowed to bet the ranch and lost. But there were many industry professionals at firms like Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, firms which came out of the subprime mess relatively unscathed, yet still had to downsize because the environment had changed in the post-Lehman world.
And what about all those people, especially in the US, who used to be butchers, bakers, waiters and exotic dancers, who lost their jobs when the Lehman contagion spread to Main Street ? Aren't they more deserving of our regard than a few former Lehman bankers ? Sure, many will say that Lehman should never have been allowed to fail, but surely, the firm put itself in that position in the first place. In the end, it wasn't short-sellers, or counterparties that were to blame for Lehman's bankruptcy (no matter what senior Lehman executives will have you believe). It was poor risk management and executive arrogance that led to the demise of this firm.
And OK, no-one likes to hear that people have fallen on (relatively) hard times, but let's get things into perspective. Those Lehman people who lost their jobs are no martyrs. They are just the latest in the long line of individuals who have paid the price in an industry where greed often gets the better of sound judgement, and executive decisions are made in ivory towers by out-of-touch management. And it's going to happen again'.
Please use the 'E-Mail' button immediately under the article title to send this item to a friend.












