Wall Street: Where the Stars Come Out to Shine!

The stars of banking, that is. What? You don't know about those stars? Clearly someone is not reading enough New York Times! Crisis Reshaping Wall Street as Stars Begin to Scatter

This article bemoans the loss of "top talent" as bankers from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and others flee their sinking ships for the greener pastures of startups and smaller banks, which are hilariously described as "boutique" by the NYT, making me picture them as tony little joints in Paris where the ladies wear big hats and elbow gloves and the men wear smoking jackets and puff on cigars as they look over their monacles to conduct their business transactions.

Threatened by the odious dual threats of less payoff and more fiscal responsibility, some of the very people responsible for driving the economy off a cliff are now abandoning their posts (so much for those "retention" bonuses, huh?)to take ones at these boutique firms that are still intent on chasing fast profits and growth. Because learning your lesson? Ugh! [to steal a turn of phrase from Lady Blogpants]

The cliche of rats fleeing a sinking ship is actually not an appropriate analogy - the rats weren't the ones doing the ship-sinking, after all.

My favorite quote is from Lee Fenterstock, the chief executive of Broadpoint, a smaller Manhattan financial firm snapping up these so-called banking stars like a flock of pigeons after a dropped Lucky Dog. "We have the opportunity to step into the shoes of a Bear Stearns or a Lehman," he said. Umm... didn't both those firms just fail in a fantastical and dramatic manner? I think I'd leave those shoes right where they are.