Thursday, November 13, 2008

Witchcraft

The Stanford Daily


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This Stanford Life: The cult of investment banking

By: Paul Craft
November 13, 2008
"This Stanford Life: The cult of investment banking"
I first came across the plaque this past summer. Returning from
Jackson Library at the Graduate School of Business, I noticed a black
marble square that read, "Corporate and Foundation Investors. The
Stanford Graduate School of Business gratefully acknowledges the
following donors for their generous support of the school." It then
proceeded to list big-time corporations and the investment banking
stalwarts: Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and the like.

But by late September, the plaque was gone. In its place was a large
rectangle of butcher paper and, underneath the paper, a bare stone
wall. Until recently, the butcher paper remained taped to the wall.
In the last few weeks, the GSB replaced it with an updated, "2007-
2008" sponsors plaque, which lacked any of the big Wall Street names.

September's financial crisis didn't just unexpectedly alter on-campus
recruitment cycles and tighten the job market — the crisis altered
the landscape of American elite universities. The implosion humbled
or outright destroyed institutions that Stanford students have long
worshiped with reverence.

The September crisis just may have ended the cult of investment
banking as we know it — and possibly for the better.

The collapse's short-term effects have been amply documented by
college newspapers, including The Daily. Hiring is down. Firms are
more conservative about recruiting. The Cornell Sun — serving a
student body close to Stanford in the pecking order of elite
recruiting — had some interesting statistics. According to Cornell
Finance Professor Charles Chang, the big Wall Street firms recently
hired back about 80 percent of interns. This year they could only
hire 40 percent of interns.--------

Contact Paul at pcraft "at" stanford.edu.

" I think it's absolutely correct that every major and minor city is
either building a stadium or arena or being asked to estimate
somewhere around $2 billion a year of public money going into these
buildings, a very, very small percentage of which comes back in terms
of, you know, tax benefits or actually benefits to the cities. You
know, when the Yankees and the Mets first announced their deals,
Mayor Bloomberg said, "Oh, you know, we don't make subsidies; we make
investments, and we get our money back." Neil Demaus
This is the same thing that Bush did! President Bush, who will go
down in history as the great tax cutter, owes almost all of his
fortune to a tax increase that was funneled into his pocket.What
happened is, an oil man named Eddie Chiles wanted to sell his money-
losing Texas Rangers baseball team. So George Bush put together a
group of very wealthy investors to buy the team. He put up himself
$600,000 of borrowed money. The partners then gave him a 10 percent
stake as the managing partner.Then they held a special election in
January of the year in question to increase the sales tax in the town
of Arlington, Texas, by one half-cent. That money was used to build a
new baseball stadium. It's an incredibly nice baseball stadium.–
A perfect picture of the certain self-destruction of corrupt
Capitalism by its own selfish weakness and rottenness and cruelty, as
predicted by both Marx and the Bible! So there you have it, in the
plain Words of Scripture, especially in Revelation 17 and 18!–Read
it! And even so shall be her own destruction! For thy merchants were
the great men of the Earth, and by thy sorceries (the deceitfulness
of riches and the witchcraft of wealth!) were all nations deceived!
American affluence is the dream of every country the world over, and
her luxuries, sins and violence, from her music to her crimes, are
imitated by nations around the world!
Ted Rudow III,MA

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