NYTimes: Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
by Greg Smith
Today is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.
Source: The New York Times
“If only the war on poverty was a real war, then we would actually be putting money into it.”
(via egyptianmuslima4life)
Source: weheartit.com
![sustainablesex:
(via Guerrilla Grafters Bring Forbidden Fruit Back To City Trees : The Salt : NPR)
“We don’t have a supermarket and we have very few produce stores [here],” she says. “What better to alleviate scarcity of healthy produce in an impoverished area than to grow them yourself and to have it available for free.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m24vyr87W81rpm4r7o1_1280.jpg)
(via Guerrilla Grafters Bring Forbidden Fruit Back To City Trees : The Salt : NPR)
“We don’t have a supermarket and we have very few produce stores [here],” she says. “What better to alleviate scarcity of healthy produce in an impoverished area than to grow them yourself and to have it available for free.”
Source: NPR
Alternative building material - hemp, hempcrete, hemp plaster, hemp insulation. Check out Steve Allin’s hemp building website, as well as the international hemp building assoc.
Source: aiisagulko
Financials Lead US Stock Losses
By MATT JARZEMSKY
NEW YORK—U.S. stocks traded lower as a Friday report that employers added fewer jobs than expected last month cast doubt on the pace of the labor market’s recovery.
All 10 S&P 500 sectors retreated Monday, with financials tumbling the most. Bank of America BAC -3.09% and J.P. Morgan JPM -1.33% were among the biggest decliners among Dow components.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by 120,000 in March, the Labor Department reported. The result snapped a three-month streak of 200,000-plus job growth. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected, on average, an increase of 203,000.
Looking ahead, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is slated to speak at a conference in Georgia after the market closes. Investors are watching for signals about the prospects for more monetary stimulus efforts. Tuesday, Alcoa AA -0.36% is due to report first-quarter earnings. The aluminum maker’s report signals the unofficial start of the corporate earnings season.
Crude-oil futures slid 2.3% to $100.99 a barrel, while gold futures rose 0.7% to $1641.80 an ounce. The U.S. dollar lost ground against the yen but edged higher against the euro.
In corporate news, shares of AOL AOL +45.40% soared after the company said it agreed to sell more than 800 patents and related patent applications to Microsoft,MSFT -0.60% and grant Microsoft a license to its retained patents in exchange for $1.06 billion in cash. Microsoft shares slipped.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
It’s a bit sad when I consider that one of the kindest things humanity could do for the earth and all the things existing on earth, would be to develop virtual reality to the point that humans no long need to act upon and harm the earth to achieve all of the freedoms, experiences and luxuries we so desperately seek. I picture the Matrix, but instead of the outerworld being dreadfully decayed and infested with mechanical design, it is green and flourishing with life.
Question is, how many resources would be required to devise of , build and power such a matrix? Think it could be possible and sustainable?
(via sushisaid)
Source: pleatedjeans
If we have a few rich and powerful men on the pinnacle of fortune and grandeur, while the crowd grovels in want and obscurity, it is because the former prize what they enjoy only in so far as others are destitute of it; and because without changing their condition, they would cease to be happy the moment the people ceased to be wretched.
Source: anthony-john534
The 10-metre wide, helium-filled inflatable turbine, called the Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT), is able to produce more than twice the power that a conventional tower turbine can generate at the same height. Prototype by Altaeros Energies, a wind energy company formed out of MIT
This is a huge breakthrough for 2 reasons:
- The higher the altitude, the stronger the winds! As you get farther from the land the wind finds less resistance and goes at higher speeds which only means more power.
- This allows unprecedented mobility and flexibility to wind farms. You could practically chase the wind. Moreover, it would let you prevent major damage to your wind farm in case of hurricanes or severe storms. You would just have to ground your turbine-blimps and the next day you would be operating like nothing happened.
Pros and cons? What are people’s thoughts?
Source: wired.co.uk
Just think, if you work hard, take on massive student loan debts, and crawl on the backs of countless others, you too can live in luxury (maybe, probably not, and if not, clearly you are a failure at life). /sarcasm
Source: thedigitalcitizen
Class War in Congress
Source: cheappoet
Passing tests doesn’t begin to compare with searching and inquiring and pursuing topics that engage us and excite us. That’s far more significant than passing tests and, in fact, if that’s the kind of educational career you’re given the opportunity to pursue, you will remember what you discovered.
does America still have a ‘working class’ ? If so it’s become strangely invisible because all the media and politicians ever talk about is the ‘middle class’. To listen to them you’d think everyone but the super-rich 1% is ‘middle-class’. Weird ..
Half of what used to be considered middle class is under that same shitty umbrella, I’m afraid to say. Having multiple degrees and working 9-5 in an office doesn’t guarantee health coverage. Most politicians, who are themselves rich, are severely clueless as to the kind of lives their constituents live.
(via rawrevolutionepidemic)
Source: cartoonpolitics
Student loan debt, at $830 billion, now exceeds total US credit card debt, itself bloated to the bubble level of $827 billion. And student loan debt is growing at the rate of $90 billion a year. Will it be the next credit bubble to burst ? More here
(via amodernmanifesto)
Source: cartoonpolitics
