Amazon bad

[Anonymous No.17863875]

The Strand, with its flagship on Broadway and on East 12th Street, is the New York City's’s most iconic bookstore. When New York closed all nonessential businesses in late March 2020, a week after the Strand had shuttered its doors as a precaution, the bookstore laid off 188 employees. The store remained in hibernation until the end of June, when management brought back a skeleton crew. Since then the Strand and its unionized workers have been locked in a struggle over money, priorities, and safety. Employees have accused the Strand’s owner, Nancy Bass Wyden, of flouting COVID safety precautions and taking a PPP loan meant to help people keep their jobs without rehiring enough people or explaining where the money went.

Bass Wyden’s responded with “it's honestly a miracle that we’re still operating” during the pandemic.

Last spring, a few weeks after the mass layoffs, the Strand was approved for between $1 and $2 million as part of the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, reporting 212 employees on its loan application. This loan would come to frustrate some recently laid-off Strand employees. Since reopening, the store has never employed more than around 100 people. Staff requests for more clarity about how exactly the loan was used have gone mostly unanswered, aside from “vague statements about, ‘Well, it’s going to payroll.’”

In October 2020, Bass Wyden used the Strand’s Twitter account to put out a call for help.

“Because of the impact of COVID-19, we cannot survive the huge decline in foot-traffic, a near complete loss of tourism, and zero in-store events,” Bass Wyden wrote in her letter. The tweet was re-tweeted 25,000 times. The next day, people lined up down the block on East 12th Street so they could shop in-store. On a typical day the Strand might get 300 online orders. The weekend after she made that viral tweet, the store got 25,000. The website crashed. Customers spent $170,550 in two days, enough to cover a little more than half the losses the store posted in September. To help handle the increase, Strand employees scrapped vacations and came in on their off days.

[Anonymous No.17863876]

In the months since then, employees say the situation has not improved. Spirits at the Strand are crushingly low.

“It was an anemic in-store Christmas, but I think everyone in the world knows that’s the truth of retail this year,” said Will Bobrowski, a union shop steward who has worked at the Strand for 18 years.

Most of the staffers who were rehired to handle the holiday rush once again had no jobs after Christmas — a common retail practice, albeit one that feels especially painful now.

A year after the layoffs, there are still only 68 employees, around a third of what there were before the pandemic.

A former employee, who wanted to remain anonymous, described their ideal situation.

“Imagine if the Strand was cooperatively owned,” he said. “I know that’s a pipe dream, but the people who work there are so passionate and so knowledgeable that it could really be the mecca that it is made out to be.”

“During the Save the Strand campaign, I worked the registers for a lot of that time. People were genuinely emotional. They would pile books on the counters. They would say, ‘I’m buying everything I can. Please tell me you guys aren’t going to close,’” said another employee, Jody, who asked we not use her real name.

In February, Jody quit. She doesn’t have another job lined up.

[Anonymous No.17864052]

>>17863875
>union

[Anonymous No.17864084]

>>17863875
I hate seeing old women dressing like that. Just accept your age and wear something loose you lumpy old turkey

[Anonymous No.17864098]

>>17863875
I hate women with fat legs. It's so disgusting bros

[Anonymous No.17864102]

I love the Strand. Huge selection of books. I bought all my George RR Martin and Steven King books there.

[Anonymous No.17864103]

i hate when businesses convert to charities the minute they start failing... plz donate! gib monies!

[Anonymous No.17864134]

owning a bookstore in new york was a bad idea to begin with especially on broadway with some of the most expensive real estate in the country.
I honestly dont know how they managed to even employ 68 employees in a goddamn bookstore to begin with
this isn’t ‘amazon bad’ its ‘new york stupid’

[Anonymous No.17864264]

>>17863875
I don't care about small businesses shutting down. A business is a function, it is not culture, it is not community. The sooner people realize how outmatched individuals are against corporations the sooner they might actually demand legislators who aren't deep inside said corporations' pockets.

[Anonymous No.17864429]

>>17863875
>country shoots itself in the bioweapon foot, while having open policy of ethnic cleansing the Pacific Rim/Siberia for Lebensraum, and pretends to be retarded
Imagine not having a war economy in response to this when the microdick R0 is concentrated exclusively in septegenarian+ /& comorbids. Still contriving mass casualty events under lockdown, GLADIO style meanwhile btw
https://youtu.be/q0NuTI0LDDY

[Anonymous No.17864462]

>>17864084
>>17864098
fags; she's a "M.I.L.F."

[Anonymous No.17864498]

>>17864134
You understand that New York hasn't always been a tourist trap, the Strand has been there for nearly 100 years, and the Lower East Side used to be dirt cheap, right? Or are you just talking out your ass. Its not like they opened as a risky venture in the post-Giuliani years.

[Anonymous No.17864507]

>>17864134
>owning a bookstore is a bad idea to begin with
Could have just ended there, relying on the rapidly diminishing literate population as a retail bookseller is borderline suicidal. Sad that it'll likely close, I've been there as a boy and its an amazing bookstore, but the wheel turns and NYC is finding out the hard way that only electing corrupt fucks eventually ruins everyone.

[Anonymous No.17864565]

>>17864498
I disregard every post that begins with "you do know" and ever variation of it. Go back to the website you came from.

[Anonymous No.17864576]

>>17864565
I'm right where I belong you flyover deadbeat.

[Anonymous No.17864586]

>188 employees
how big is this bookstore? I'm pretty sure walmarts get by with fewer employees.

[Anonymous No.17864599]

There's a Barnes and Noble walking distance from my house I've never been. Had to go to a quaint little used bookstore during pandemic (where I scored GR) and normally libraryfag. One of the main draws to reading for me is it's essentially free compared to other hobbies and keeps the blade sharp.

[Anonymous No.17864601]

Meanwhile, I work for amazon and just got an 800 dollar bonus from back pay owed. Granted, I would rather have gotten paid properly thw first time, but no way a mom and pop outfit would reimburse like that.

[Anonymous No.17864610]

>>17864052
>Burgers
And you wonder why your country is a divided shithole

[Anonymous No.17864614]

>>17864586
I think the bookstore is multiple stories high, maybe 5 floors. It's big

[Anonymous No.17864643]

>>17863875
Fuck her, this Karen bitch deserves to go under. I pirate all my books but now I’ll make sure I don’t buy books from her.

[Anonymous No.17864661]

>>17864565
I’m trans btw, don’t know if that matters.

[Anonymous No.17864710]

>>17864661
YWNBAW

[Anonymous No.17864919]

>union for bookstore employees
wtf would they negotiate for? working in a bookstore seems like a cushy job

[Anonymous No.17864946]

>>17863876
>“Imagine if the Strand was cooperatively owned,” he said.

Every once in a while, someone tries, Mountain Equipment Co-op in Canada for example, but it always fails before long. This is for many reasons, but chief among these is that workers and customers have zero interest in running a company. You can set-up all the conference calls you want, people won't attend. You end up with a small group of executives hampered by a smattering of busybodies and ideologues.

[Anonymous No.17864960]

>>17864601
>bragging about getting your back pay.
Americans are fucking idiots. They literally stole from you and now you are kowtowing like a peasant because they deigned to give it back.

[Anonymous No.17865046]

>>17864960
Every business steals from you. I guarantee you are not getting paid properly. If you're salaried, its even worse.

Even one second of missed pay a day adds up to 250 a year. That's about 4 bucks a year at my shitty salary. And I don't know many time systems that keep track to the second.

[Anonymous No.17865091]

>>17864084
I agree. This is normal in Weatern countries along with showing your basically naked body in clothing like leggings in public. Nowhere else in the world, at least that I’ve been to, is that normal. In my country (Japan), a woman even closer to 30 would be looked at with a side eye for wearing a dress above her knees like that.

[Anonymous No.17865106]

>>17864601
There are bankers who wipe their ass with $800. You know a bonus is for a junior banker at Barclay’s? It’s within the range of $50k to $75k in a normal year. I don’t say this to disparage you but to point out that while it’s great you got your money back and I’m glad your happy, you’re still siphoned and used like a pawn and expected to be happy about it. Call me pessimistic or whatever but I don’t like that.

[Anonymous No.17865112]

>>17864960
And if you’re not American, your government steals from you. What’s the difference really?

[Anonymous No.17865150]

>>17865091
Go back to preparing your lesson plan, Brian-san

[Anonymous No.17865202]

>>17863876
>Imagine if the Strand was cooperatively owned
how much "surplus value" does he really think the owner is making having a bunch of nyu kids selling copies of hillary clinton biographies to tourist for $5 make? 2 million across 188 employees is only $10,000 each. that's not much considering nyc's 15 an hour minimum wage.

[Anonymous No.17865216]

>>17865106
bankers bonuses are based on their performance which is why we hear about new hires working 100 hours weeks at goldman sachs. also, how much did that amazon employee with the $800 bonus spend on his mba? since you are comparing him to a barclays banker i'm sure he must have a comparable level of education and training right?

[Anonymous No.17865222]

>>17865202
nyu kids are employed by nyu, not the strand

[Anonymous No.17865245]

>>17865222
nyu has 26,000 undergrads. you think they are all employed at nyu and none them decided to walk 5 blocks over to pick up a side gig at the strand? have you never seen any of the employees literally wearing an nyu t-shirt? are you a fly over chud? oh, why of course you are.

[Anonymous No.17865257]

>>17865150
What?

[Anonymous No.17865261]

>>17865216
>bankers bonuses are based on their performance
No it’s not. I know what I’m talking about.
> how much did that amazon employee with the $800 bonus spend on his mba? since you are comparing him to a barclays banker i'm sure he must have a comparable level of education and training right?
If he had a basic bachelor’s degree then they’re exactly the same. I’m talking about first year, junior bankers. If you scale up it’s way more money.

[Anonymous No.17865273]

>>17865245
yeah, probably nyu grads work there. the strand is employed by mostly adults, not college kids. their business operations require much more than just 2 day part timers, what nyu kid would drive the strand car?

also, the idea that all 26000 undergrads are holding part time jobs is fucking ridiculous, if you knew what you were talking about you wouldn't have said something so asinine. nyu undergrad program has a massive demographic of well to do students who dont need to hold part time jobs.

[Anonymous No.17865280]

>>17865261
amazon employees with degrees get stock options that vest after two years and usually worth a couple hundred thousand
>No it’s not. I know what I’m talking about.
then you are deliberately lying which is even worse than being ignorant
>Bankers' bonuses are traditionally paid or awarded to some workers in the finance industry at the end of the bank's financial year. They are intended to reward employee behavior during that year that has increased the profits of the bank or some relevant part of its business, as shown by the annual accounts.
why do leftists always lie? if they are really on the right side of morality they shouldn't need to depend on deception

[Anonymous No.17865290]

>>17865273
you think the strand had 188 full time employees? where are they keeping them all?

[Anonymous No.17865297]

>>17865290
>where are they keeping them all?
>he thinks working for the strand means working inside the bookstore
confirmed retard

[Anonymous No.17865299]

>>17864919
It is, but nothing is ever good enough for leftists. They MUST be oppressed by somebody.

[Anonymous No.17865304]

Amazon bad

[Anonymous No.17865320]

My city has some great used book stores. One of them used to even be a hub for local musicians to play at, but the fact of the matter is that any venture for profit regarding books doesn't prioritize a 'community' or 'family' when they could just be a library. There's always an arms length issue of attempting to make a business a culture or a 'historic' part of a community. You can do it, we see it with little private owned mexican or italian places or barbershops. But these weren't intentially a communal thing, it's that the communities have no where else to go. I hate amazon and everything they have done, but as a consooooomer I love free shipping and cheap new books. It fuckin' rocks.

[Anonymous No.17865332]

>>17865297
>On a typical day the Strand might get 300 online orders.
wow yes they definitely need 188 people to handle that

[Anonymous No.17865354]

>>17865332
>what is warehousing
>what is buying
>what is transport
>what is merchandising
keep talking out of your ass, bitch boy

[Anonymous No.17865376]

>>17863875
Rip I used to work there.

[Anonymous No.17865435]

>>17863875
>the Strand’s owner, Nancy
found the problem

[Anonymous No.17866075]

>never close
>free
>don't have to wear a mask
>don't even have to leave the house

why are ebooks so comfy

[Anonymous No.17866087]

>>17864610
Bookstores don't need unions, the concept is retarded for them.

[Anonymous No.17866092]

>>17865354
if you think the strand ever had 212 full time employees then you are just helpless

[Anonymous No.17866104]

>>17864576
Soulless urbanite

[Anonymous No.17866125]

>>17865245
>chud
I've never seen anyone on this site take offense to this term. Why is it used so much?

[Anonymous No.17866143]

>>17866125
it's the leftist version of nigger kek

[Anonymous No.17866196]

Last time I was at the Strand all I remember was being irritated at tourists who were gawking instead of shopping and the smelly hipster who gave me a dirty look when I didn't properly accent Gabriel Garcia Marquez when looking for a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera.
I hope Bezos buys them out and turns the store into an Amazon warehouse.
Retarded far lefties and tourists ruined most of NYC.

[Anonymous No.17866237]

>>17866104
>peasant relies on superstitious copes
checks out

[Anonymous No.17866259]

>>17866196
>Retarded far lefties and tourists ruined most of NYC.
Yes and no. The rot set in after Giuliani (not Giuliani the Mayor, but Giuliani the Assistant U.S. Attorney). In hindsight the main thing keeping globohomo corporate interests from taking over and ruining everything was the mob. The mob exerted pretty tyrannical and violent control over most aspects of the city, but it also was still local, and still lived in the city as well, so the money it made racketeering ended up going back into its neighborhoods and to local programs and efforts. Lots of corruption, but that corruption benefited a lot of people, and a lot of normal blue-collar folks as well.

Once they were gone and no longer had the power to exert muscle on the area, the corporate interests took over. And while those corporate interests are certainly less violent, they also are distant and removed (even in a place like NYC), and they feel no obligation towards the City except as a place to extract money. In the 90s they were 'centrists' and 'family oriented,' and you had NYC turn from a real city into a disney-fied version of itself. Now in the '10s and '20s they are 'inclusive and progressive' so you get the leftists. Only thing that remains common is the ability of the corporate interests to continue to siphon wealth from the common man and not reinvest it anywhere where it could benefit anyone but the corporate interests.

It's insane to think about, but a mafia-run NYC was better for 99% of New Yorkers than what we have now.

[Anonymous No.17866291]

>>17866125
Literally every time it’s said it draws a reaction. Look at yourself. You couldn’t ignore it as just another word.

[Anonymous No.17866336]

>>17866259
Seems to me it has more to do with NYC not being capitalist enough. The absurd development restrictions have made building new housing impossible so rent got bid up to comical levels. So the only people that can afford it are coastal trust funders completely disconnected from normal society, who fetishize whatever is currently on-trend for the upper-middle class which is milquetoast leftism.

[Anonymous No.17866363]

>>17866336
>The absurd development restrictions have made building new housing impossible
Why is it important for the population of NYC to grow, and who benefits from that growth? Hint: the average New Yorker does not benefit from the population growth or the development of those spindly little condo towers that have become so omnipresent in Manhattan. But there is a (small) group that does benefit a great deal.

[aside - I'm not talking about ((them)) or any particular racial/ethnic group here]

[Anonymous No.17866440]

>>17866259
Confirmed illiterate retard
The reason NY turned into a dungheap was because it became the pet project of a self-absorbed bureaucrat while Giuliani was being potty trained

[Anonymous No.17866445]

>>17866440
Care to give some more details about NYC of the 40s and 50s, anon? I assume you must be referring to LaGuardia?

[Anonymous No.17866485]

>>17866445
I'm talking about Bob the builder

[Anonymous No.17866503]

this is all on The Strand's current owner.
If she hadn't gotten greedy and mishandled the bookstore's legacy that was dropped in her lap for no reason better thwn nepotism, if she hadn't made the retarded decision, even pre pandemic, of siphoning resources and money away from the flagship Broadway location to open the Upper West Side location and then proceeded to open anyways despite the pandemic, and if she hadn't done any of this shady shit with the employees and PPP, The Strand would be just fine -- struggling, but fine -- like most other NYC independent bookstores.

fuck this broad, she's ruining what was once one of the best and most dependable bookstores in New York.

[Anonymous No.17866522]

>>17866485
Am I correct in assuming that your opinions here are based largely on Caro's book?

In any case, there is more to a city than its infrastructure and roadways, and while I wouldn't dismiss Moses' influence on NYC, I would also hesitate to give him much credit or blame for the cultural, political, and demographic shifts we saw in the '90s and '00s.

[Anonymous No.17866528]

unions are cancer

[Anonymous No.17866589]

>>17866259
when exactly was the mob running things? pre WWII? because nothing in the city's history since 1900 has been nearly as bad in economics, crime, or standard of living as the 1970s-early 90s. 2021 Disney Manhattan is better than 1985 Manhattan by every metric.

[Anonymous No.17866608]

>>17866589
>2021 Disney Manhattan is better than 1985 Manhattan by every metric.

Sure, keep telling yourself that while

[Anonymous No.17866624]

>>17866075

What's the catch?

[Anonymous No.17866647]

>>17866608
keep telling yourself that's the real nightmare when you're getting mugged monthly

[Anonymous No.17866653]

>>17866647
Joke's on you I don't live anywhere near NY.

[Anonymous No.17866669]

>>17865280
I’m not lying nor am I leftist. I’m sorry, dude. I’m not trying to disparage you. I’m just being honest. The average investment bank employee will get 1-2 years, 1 in the summer and possibly one at Christmas. At the bigger banks, the total yearly bonus can be closer to $50k and in the several hundred thousands within a few years of working there. They give you a yearly performance review where you get weighted on a scale or 1-5 but unless you get a 1, you get a bonus because it’s based on firm performance, not individual performance. Guess how firms make money? Taking advantage of people. Even the M&A team will make profit from taking normal companies, leaning them out by laying off and underpaying employees while demanding more productivity, and then selling it to a buyer and that’s supposed to be the department that does “real work”.

[Anonymous No.17866687]

this shits p comfy if u lookin for sth to listen to

[Anonymous No.17866696]

>>17866669
>making the economy more efficient is not real work
ok

[Anonymous No.17866710]

>>17866696
It's not making the economy more efficient. It's selling off assets for short term gain that isn't sustainable in the long-term.

Besides that, there is a point - which we passed a long time ago in many industries - where increases in efficiency have resulted in vanishingly diminishing returns.

[Anonymous No.17866752]

>>17866710
they take failing companies that are going to end up bankrupt and restructure them so they actually have a chance to remain solvent and survive, sorry if that means they can't keep paying a bunch of low value employees who aren't producing anything

[Anonymous No.17866765]

>>17866752
It's rare to see someone who drank so much kool-aid that he's danger of drowning in it. Good luck to you anon.

[Anonymous No.17866768]

>>17863875
Liberals love lockdowns.

[Anonymous No.17866921]

>>17866752
>implying investment banks produce anything of real value

[Anonymous No.17867266]

>>17865112
That the government uses that money to pay for, say, healthcare and shit for me.

[Anonymous No.17867369]

>>17866336
nationwide there's a pretty strong correlation between restrictive planning laws and left-wing politics. of course the reality is that bidding up house prices is their way of keeping out undesirables - and simply relaxing zoning laws wouldn't solve the crime problem.

[Anonymous No.17867401]

>>17866696
>Invesment bankers make the economy more efficient
Holy Schlomo.

[Anonymous No.17867470]

>>17864052
dumb amerimutt

[Anonymous No.17867483]

fuck NY and fuck coasties

[Anonymous No.17867524]

>>17866752

Just as a matter of common sense, you don't think it is even likely that one party who is desperate to sell because of financial difficulties would be taken advantage of by another party? Predatory industries pop up around desperation and failure all the time. It doesn't matter if they are incidentally providing a service, payday lenders incidentally help people pay their bills but they want to trap them in a debt cycle and milk them for as long as they can.

[Anonymous No.17867532]

>>17867483
>profanity is an argument

[Anonymous No.17867555]

>>17863875
Why did you mention Amazon? Story sounds like it's just the "pandemic" and piss poor management running things into the ground.

[Anonymous No.17867925]

>>17863875
It's really kinda sad but they're all liberals, have bad customer service, and a dirty bathroom so meh they get what they deserve.

[Anonymous No.17867930]

>>17864264
It wasn't always like this before Libs/China destroyed America.

[Anonymous No.17867939]

>>17864599
It's really sad because Amazon is Communist, they're literally burning books like history bad guys. Barnes and Noble has a really bad selection and now all these mom and pop thrift stores with good selections are closing.

[Anonymous No.17867942]

>>17864264
>they might actually demand legislators who aren't deep inside said corporations' pockets.

If you've managed to make it to the upper echelon of politics, you're in someone's pocket. Also, such people can be easily swayed by corporations by appealing to their narcissism.

[Anonymous No.17867947]

>>17864960
Why are there so many Chinese on this site? Comments like this make me want to nuke China and not care about the consequences. You've abused us enough.

[Anonymous No.17868016]

>>17865280
Liberals lie because they work for Satan. Their entire ideology is built on lie on top of lie.

[Anonymous No.17868030]

>>17866259
What an idiot this guy is

[Anonymous No.17868033]

>>17866440
Guiliani cleaned up NY and made it nice and liberals made it a hellhole. We have eyes- you can't rewrite history. This is not China.

[Anonymous No.17868041]

>>17867930
Malls and the death of industry in the 80s (under Reagan) caused this. Fucking retard

[Anonymous No.17868052]

>>17868041
No, it was whiny lgbt liberals who couldn't just let us grill.

[Anonymous No.17868067]

Everyone who lives in New York City, or "shitty" as I call it, should be 9/11'd to death.

[Anonymous No.17868077]

>>17868033
guiliani cleaned up NY and liberals have maintained its sanitized bullshit sterility. NY was better as a no man's land and now it belongs to corporate.

[Anonymous No.17868155]

>>17868077
America turned from God. You don't need a million words to state the simple truth.

[Anonymous No.17868253]

>>17867483
This is all that needed to be said

[Anonymous No.17868260]

>>17867555
He's calling attention to the fact brick and mortar bookstores are also bad.

[Anonymous No.17868275]

>>17865091
are you kidding me. that is absolutely not true in tokyo.

[Anonymous No.17868316]

>>17863875
>Strand had shuttered its doors as a precaution,
Lol cucks. Businesses that lay down for these gay ass restrictions deserve to close .

[Anonymous No.17868323]

>>17868155
Has any modern nation NOT turned from God?

[Anonymous No.17868360]

>>17864429
>while having open policy of ethnic cleansing the Pacific Rim/Siberia for Lebensraum, and pretends to be retarded
Go on

[Anonymous No.17868412]

>>17866624
The catch is that you can't consoom and display your personality on your shelf like most faggot pseuds on this board. On a more serious note, you also can't reliably find works in the Hungarian language for example, I imagine this to be the case in many other semi-obscure languages, but the huge amounts of second-hand bookstores here in Budapest take care of that problem pretty much. The only book I did dare buy new this year was a recently translated Borges short story collection (Jól fésült mennydörgés).

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » No.17868446]

>government forcefully closes all businesses that aren't multinational conglomerates
>"uhhhh its the unions fault we had to close down"

the COVID hoax was perhaps the largest robbery and transfer of wealth in history. americans were subjected to the same crimes of the same robber barons that bled russia dry in the wake of the USSR's collapse, only this wasn't a consequence of some massive state failure or balkanization, the government merely told you to accept it and you obeyed like good little slaves. the absolute state

[Anonymous No.17868488]

>>17864098
Yep, you hate women. Got it.

[Anonymous No.17868561]

>noo how dare people find more efficient ways to buy books! think of the old mom and pop bookstores!

[Anonymous No.17868579]

I walk past this book store every day but never felt the need to go in. Oh well.
I currently buy my books from randos in the streets. There is this one guy on 14th and A who sells decent books every weekend.

[Anonymous No.17868596]

>>17868579
based. New York street booksellers always only bring the best stuff and have decent prices.

[Anonymous No.17868781]

>>17864946
plenty of studies have found co-ops to be effective (often better) and there are lots of them around. Particularly outside the USA.

[Anonymous No.17868849]

>>17868316
Good bookshop union wagie, get covid for Shekelstein, and in this case, Shekelsteinerina

[Anonymous No.17868853]

>>17868781
>muh studies
Crazy how those always end up reflecting the biases of whoever makes/funds them, eh?

[Anonymous No.17868861]

>>17868853
A lot of UK grocery stores are run by co ops

[Anonymous No.17868882]

>>17868853
Mondragon

[Anonymous No.17868947]

>>17864134
they own the building

[Anonymous No.17868951]

>>17864498
the strand isn't in LES or even close in any sense beyond that of the cosmic

[Anonymous No.17869000]

>>17868861
what about co op

[Anonymous No.17869068]

>>17868412
How is life in Budapest béka barát?

[Anonymous No.17869222]

>>17868947
No, they don't, but the building owner says that he charges then below market rent. He could kick them out and make more money charging normal rent to someone else, but he likes the bookshop

[Anonymous No.17869283]

>>17867939
>The corporation owned by the literal richest man on earth that treats its employees like insects pissing in bottles for pennies is communist

[Anonymous No.17869432]

>>17866765
>>17866921
>>17867401
If investment banking is "easy" and investment bankers "don't do anything" then why don't you guys sign up? Let me guess, you're too principled? lmao

[Anonymous No.17869596]

>>17869432
Many of the individuals on this board are pitifully poor (I recall this one thread calling them out on it and it was incredibly hilarious seeing a group of individuals who are normally quite pretentious acting like the jealous losers they are) and that's deeply reflected in their attitudes and knowledge of financial systems as a whole. I'd even go as far as saying many of them are deeply insecure about the subject of their finances and larger irrelevance to the extent in which they are willing to project those personal failings onto those who actually are financially successful, such as those who put in 100+ hour weeks working at investment banks.

The absolute disconnect between their ability to analyze vast texts while making a multitude meaningful connections/interpretations and their inability to apply such in a practical manner that would provide them capital is representative of an immense misapplication of potential.

This sophomoric mindset permeating their cope, which effectively blames all their shortcomings on everyone but them, is ultimately as meaningless and insignificant as the few pennies that make up their net worth. They will perhaps always have excuses for their lack of accomplishment and will die as such- be certain not to make the same mistake.

[Anonymous No.17869626]

>>17869596
> oh vey goyim, you must value the investment banks, continue to admire us and hold us up

[Anonymous No.17869627]

>>17869626
HFSP

[Anonymous No.17869629]

>>17869596
You are going to die and no amount of money can stop you from shitting your pants at the end. Everything you do is leading up to one giant crap -- your final act and identity. You are a crapper. Get off your high horse crapper.

[Anonymous No.17869640]

>>17869629
HFSP - Precisely the manner of pathetic individuals I've been referencing. I may die, I may not (advancements in biogerontology and synthetic biology are things I plan to deeply invest in)- but I intend to live a life of accomplishment and dignity whereas your mindset has degenerated yourself by your own hand.

[Anonymous No.17869665]

>>17869432
Only the big banks make big bucks, and in order to get into the big banks you need to have gone to an Ivy, and in order to get into an Ivy you must have been born to rich/Jewish parents and even then you probably had to suck a lot of dick to get in the Ivy and the bank.
And if you're a goy it's likely that you won't get in if you are the biggest cocksucker on the block.
The system is rigged.

[Anonymous No.17869673]

>>17869665

>The system is rigged.
LOL - HFSP

[Anonymous No.17869695]

>>17869640
> i may not die
You have such a rough road ahead of you son. Even if you live forever, you'd still die. If you read more widely, you'd know that. Only the soulless are obsessed with money. Once you confront death, i.e., begin to develop a soul, all material things become trivial and only transcendence matters. Literature is a means of gaining intimate knowledge of the ways of the spirit. Why are you here when you only seem to care about your world-soul? Crapper...

[Anonymous No.17869723]

>>17869673
Look up the acceptance rates for Ivies and the top investment banks, it's not just an unwillingness to sacrifice your morals or work hard, you literally have to be rich/Jewish and suck cock and even then you might not get in.

[Anonymous No.17869747]

>>17869695
Accomplishment necessitates capital- I do not choose the system I am born into however I refuse to live a life of such indignity as this cope of "understanding the soul". I seek strength, to identify by luxury is as degenerate as identifying by poverty. I wish to do, age is simply a barrier to such and must be therefore be removed through alterations to the fabric of life itself. Death has always been an option- but in this momentary burst of "life" I have manifested as a means by which the universe experiences itself (with the additional caveat of individuality) and I intend to utilize this precious gift to the best of my abilities in order to truly understand the nature of my existence and help my species in the process. Your method is moreso akin to a sick cope in which you are simply continuously reaffirming an emotional state, I truly doubt you have anything of substance or practicality to add that may have manifested from such explorations.

This fleeting triviality which you believe occupies your existence only does so because it is your perception of life. You have denigrated yourself to degeneracy- forsaking this awesome potential in favor of emotional reassurance. What a pity.

[Anonymous No.17869765]

>>17869723
I was moreso criticizing the implication that the accumulation of capital is dependent on becoming an active member of Wall Street. Investment Banks are incredible tools for businesses and they provide a myriad of financial benefits to those who engage with them- but you must not identify your success based on your ability to join them. You could even go to an unknown state school- having transferred from a local community college that subsidized your tuition- and still manage to make something of yourself. Only you will be responsible for that, do not allow that precious potential to falter. Do not limit yourself, the system is only as rigged as you allow it to be.

[Anonymous No.17869770]

>>17869765
> (:^)

[Anonymous No.17869775]

>>17869770
Why do I have the feeling your favorite form of literature is a dollar store coupon book.

[Anonymous No.17869784]

>>17869775
you have very flowery language for a temporarily embarrassed millionaire

[Anonymous No.17869787]

>>17869784
HFSP

[Anonymous No.17869806]

>>17869787
if you repeat the same comment a 5th time, it'll make even more of an impact

[Anonymous No.17869819]

>>17869806

[Anonymous No.17869909]

I loved that bookstore when I visited but Jesus that's a lot of employees.

[Anonymous No.17869971]

>>17869747
We all die. You can't accomplish anything in this life besides accepting this fact. A billion years will pass in the blink of the cosmic eye. You don't exist, but you can commune with forces beyond this transitory world. That's the only way to find peace on earth. Your obsession with the material world is simply desperation. You know that your life will come to absolutely nothing in the long of time, so you rage against your fate by being an intolerable ghoul in the material world. Nothing you do will distinguish you from the poorest man. Everyone becomes nothing and you are too cowardly to accept this and seek peace instead of mindlessly spinning your wheels in the same place as you go nowhere.

[Anonymous No.17869994]

>>17863875
Used to love going there when I lived in New York. Would buy a lot of the 48 cent books out front because I was poor and even got an autographed Ray Bradbury book that way. Best of luck to them.

[Anonymous No.17870006]

>>17869747
>Accomplishment necessitates capital
No. Perhaps your particular dreams may, but not all accomplishment requires capital. The irony of saying this on the literature board is palpable.
>I wish to do, age is simply a barrier to such ...
Every. Single. Time. Lemme guess, you're early 20's, got into crypto as late as everyone else, made some money on the $GME short squeeze, maybe read some Neetch or Stirner, and decided that you're the next Elon Musk and you're going to literally rebuild the world. There's a chance that you're smart enough to do these things, and maybe with that kind of dedication you'll even be ready when you're lucky enough to get your shot, but these posts of yours read as the seething of just another tourist who's certain that he's "got it figured out" and there is nothing that anybody else can ever do to really "get it" like he does. But coming to, let's be totally honest, a complete intellectual backwater and talking down to people who just like to read books? That doesn't sound like Caesar or Napoleon or Hitler. If you're going to really change the world--and as I said, maybe you've really got the potential to do so--why on God's green Earth would you bother coming here, of all places, to shit it up with /biz/ copeposts when people just want to talk about books and not be talked down to by every zoomer that's ""solved"' philosophy after reading ten books in their lifetime. People like to talk about books here: it's their hobby. Not everyone needs or wants their hobbies to change the world, or even to define their life. By all means, go forth and be prosperous, but don't get a messiah complex over your 6 figure bank account.

[Anonymous No.17870016]

>>17869971
You have paradoxically managed to say much and little at the same time, bordering on truistic. Much of what you have implied is painfully understood by nearly all man including myself- you have branded yourself as someone "at peace" and "soulful" while utilizing obnoxiously meaningless words such as "commune with forces beyond this transitory world" that simply reaffirm your cope and indicate nothing remotely of substance.

To be obsessed with materialism is to be degenerate, to be aware of its relevance is an entirely different matter. I have found my strength, love for this species and its potential, and immense appreciation of technology to be endless sources inspiration. These aspects of life continuously motivate me to seek accomplishment (tangible results) and I believe there is dignity in this.

[Anonymous No.17870072]

>>17863875
what the hell is the point of a retail union? its unskilled labor. any retard can do it, there is quite literally an unlimited supply of scabs to replace them.

[Anonymous No.17870091]

>>17870072
We live in a service economy, the vast majority of people are going to have to work in some type of retail, unions are necessary so they don't get exploited
>inb4 learn to code
No

[Anonymous No.17870106]

>>17868781
>plenty of studies have found co-ops to be effective (often better) and there are lots of them around
and you are so confident in them you wouldn't share even a single one. fucking lazy cunt lmao

[Anonymous No.17870112]

>>17870016
I don't think you do understand it because if you've peered into eternity and have seen the world turn countless times over, you'd be purified of your naive attachments to the material world. Man cannot give himself to that which destroys him, but that is exactly what men of your constitution do. Thus, you must not fully be aware of what you are doing because it would be impossible for you to willingly throw yourself into the temporal fire as you are so doing if you were aware of the truth. Nothing is hidden. Your motives are obvious to all that know the truth. You just want to pretend like your life is something incredible becaus the abyss awaits you at the end. Binding yourself to material illusions will not save you from your fate, but if you embrace your fate something quite extraordinary happens -- I promise you. Scared little boy playing with coins before the night. It comes, it comes...your distractions will not stop it.

[Anonymous No.17870121]

>>17870006
>No. Perhaps your particular dreams may, but not all accomplishment requires capital...
Tangible accomplishment which can positively impact an individual's life beyond simply the impact of having a positive attitude or perception of others is something I believe to be immensely crucial with respect to the development of this species. Accomplishment manifests itself in a myriad of ways to the extent in which much of it is personally defined, however, life is governed by systems and it is ultimately our capacity to interact with and manipulate such systems (oftentimes through capital) that also lies at the crux of our ability to meet our larger aspirations. I bear no ill will to those who seek a humble life- in whatever way that may occur- my spite is principally directed to those who are so immensely weak and insecure as to seek the accomplishment I speak of while also blaming everyone but themselves for their weaknesses and failure to reach such.
>Every. Single. Time. Lemme guess...
Completely inaccurate, although I can see why you would make this assessment.
>But coming to, let's be totally honest, a complete intellectual backwater and talking down to people who just like to read books?
Yes, reading is my hobby.
>If you're going to really change the world--and as I said, maybe you've really got the potential to do so--why on God's green Earth would you bother coming here, of all places, to shit it up with /biz/...
I believe every human ultimately has the potential to do so based on how they apply themselves, however, to truthfully answer your question I enjoy frequenting this board as I feel that its anonymity lends to it a manner of authenticity that is particularly difficult to replicate in other forums (particularly those that aren't incredibly racist). Many of the individuals who engage here are unafraid to make mistakes in their thought or discuss topics that are traditionally taboo (although many such discussion is rather uninformed). I limit the extent of my social media usage as I believe it to be addictive, however, as a momentary source of entertainment for 30 minutes? I'm content with that.
>People like to talk about books here: it's their hobby. Not everyone needs or wants their hobbies to change the world, or even to define their life. By all means, go forth and be prosperous, but don't get a messiah complex over your 6 figure bank account.
I find those individuals to be humble and fun to talk to- part of the reason I enjoy interacting with them. Your assessment of my character and what has led to my attitude is wholly inaccurate (although I don't blame you for it)- nor do I see myself as particularly extraordinary. My largest gripe occurs within the context of the attitudes of the individuals whom I was referencing and the weakness that permeates their cope.

You have a lovely writing style, by the way.

[Anonymous No.17870148]

>>17870112
>I don't think you do understand it because if you've peered into eternity and have seen the world turn countless times over, you'd be purified of your naive attachments to the material world.
What?
>Man cannot give himself to that which destroys him, but that is exactly what men of your constitution do.
Yes.
>Thus, you must not fully be aware of what you are doing because it would be impossible for you to willingly throw yourself into the temporal fire as you are so doing if you were aware of the truth. Nothing is hidden. Your motives are obvious to all that know the truth. You just want to pretend like your life is something incredible becaus the abyss awaits you at the end.
Take your meds.
>Binding yourself to material illusions will not save you from your fate, but if you embrace your fate something quite extraordinary happens -- I promise you. Scared little boy playing with coins before the night. It comes, it comes...your distractions will not stop it.
What manner of projection is this?

[Anonymous No.17870158]

>>17870091
Okay so when the BA goes in to bargain at the end of the CBA and the company says "we have 500 unskilled retards willing to replace your unskilled retards at a lower price with no benefits", what leverage does the BA have? Do you see what I'm getting at? Controlling labor supply is quite literally the only thing that organized labor has as a leverage, since terrorism no longer has the financing and press support that it once did.

[Anonymous No.17870172]

>>17866608

>>17866647
This

Why do people glorify the "dirty, gritty" era of NYC? My friend's friend got robbed and jumped in Watts, Los Angeles and it was not cool or edgy. It was a brush with death.

[Anonymous No.17870182]

>>17865257
He was implying you were an english teacher expat. Anyways, best stop posting by now Private Ramirez.

[Anonymous No.17870196]

>>17870148
> Doesn't know how to respond.
> Take your meds.
Typical.

You are here trying to convince us that your beliefs are correct because you are really trying to convince yourself. They don't make sense. You are giving your life to transitory things. It's madness.

[Anonymous No.17870201]

>>17870172
>Why do people glorify the "dirty, gritty" era of NYC
looked cool in Death Wish

[Anonymous No.17870206]

>>17864610
oh no, we know exactly why (blacks)

[Anonymous No.17870208]

>>17864084
Low test

[Anonymous No.17870214]

>>17870172
right, with the pandemic and deblasio's failure to manage mental health services, the city has had an uptick in random violence by scary insane people, now all those guys from wisconsin getting misty for gritty nyc nowhere to be found, guess they bought a house in the burbs and skipped town

[Anonymous No.17870217]

>>17869596
Incredibly based.

It boggles my mind that people midwit and up work for a living, when wrangling capital is the true game of society. Even those who disagree with the game's rules still openly and half-heartedly slave away without seeing the big picture

Granted, not everyone will be able to go the IB route (I'm both too lazy & have no prestigious connections), but as a boilerplate wagie Mechanical Engineer in the midwest I barely need my dayjob's cashflow at this point and it's comfy to invest locally when I have the opportunity.

[Anonymous No.17870226]

>>17870196
No, I meant it sincerely. What you have just told me is entirely nonsensical- largely bordering on meaningless. You utilize a multitude of words I'm not certain you entirely understand and establish this air of "soulfulness" about yourself while failing to actually say anything of substance. A projection of your own insecurities at best, the rantings of a paranoid schizophrenic at worst.

[Anonymous No.17870242]

>>17870196
God damn do I love self-assured boomer schizoposters. Keep it up, gramps, this shit is primo.

[Anonymous No.17870251]

>>17869665
Not the other guys and I don't care about politics but this is the problem with modern-day lefties.

You can't accept the fact that people have busted their ass off to achieve something. Unless you're a fortune 500 CEO'S kid or some crazy legacy candidate, getting into an ivy along with breaking into wall street is hard as shit and thats not even taking into account the curriculum and the brutal, sleep-deprivation work weeks.

Its ok to be jealous of people but just know that people who have more money than you tend to be more skilled and persistent than you. Trust fund kids are of course the exception

[Anonymous No.17870259]

>>17870251
i knew a guy who went to a state uni flagship campus then went to a third rate b-school for his mba, doesn't work on wall street, but is now midlevel at an investment bank and living quite comfy, stop making excuses

[Anonymous No.17870268]

>>17870259
I think you replied to the wrong person lol. My sentiments seem to be very similar to yours

[Anonymous No.17870271]

>>17869432
I'm doing fine for myself (married, dog, house with acreage, garden, job that I enjoy etc). Not all criticism comes from a place of jealous resentment, anon.

[Anonymous No.17870274]

>>17870226
It makes no sense to you, thus it is the rambling of a mad man. Perhaps it doesn't make sense because...you can't understand what I'm saying because it speaks against that which gives your life meaning? No, it can't be that. You got everything figured out.

[Anonymous No.17870284]

>>17870217
This is a particularly salient strategy, although I would always encourage you seek to amplify your financial literacy regardless of career route (I suspect you've already largely done this to an extent). If I have the time I'll attempt to put together a reading list of a number of financial and economic works I've assembled regarding a myriad of relevant topics- I enjoy seeing individuals with your attitude trying their best and hope it may be helpful to that end. Financial success appears to be dominated by what you know and who you know- increasing the former is a crucial path to the latter (not to mention the obvious benefits pertaining to your analysis of assets).

Regarding networking and connections, though, I'd certainly attempt to make them regardless- you never really know when they might come in handy and when they do you'll be endlessly thankful you put in the effort to establish them (make them meaningful, not the drivel you'll see at networking conferences). This will also be immensely helpful in the event you decide to utilize your capital productively within the context of establishing a firm or business to extend your legacy and reach.

Best of luck.

[Anonymous No.17870286]

>>17870271
Your treasure is dust. All you've done is sold your soul to the devil for trivial illusions.

[Anonymous No.17870296]

>>17870286
Ultimately everything is dust. That said, I've spent my life in public service and I don't believe that I've sold my soul to anyone, devil or no.

[Anonymous No.17870315]

>>17870274
No, I'm fairly certain it simply makes no sense. Best of luck with whatever philosophy this is intended to represent, I don't feel it'll be beneficial to you (it seems to act as some manner of cope- I suspect for an insecurity, weakness, or a viewpoint you've never critically analyzed) but in such a world as this there is limitless room for disagreement. Yours is principled and not founded on the manner of jealousy I was initially referencing. I doubt we'll ever see eye-to-eye, however, I can at at least appreciate that much.

[Anonymous No.17870334]

>>17870296
Servicing a public who are fueling a godless man eating machine known as the state. Everyone is innocent. Everyone is just playing their part. But somehow lives are crushed, wars break out, millions rot in prisons, etc. Funny how that works out.

You are blind to the evil because you don't understand it. The evil is fundamentally rooted in attachment to the material world. This is something people of your kind glorify and take pride in, but what you don't know is that you are feeding the beast with your actions. But you're innocent. You're just pushing paper around, right?

[Anonymous No.17870344]

>>17870315
It's not complicated. Attachment to material things = evil. That's my point of view. All wickedness in this world is a consequence of binding our life-force to things that must be destroyed. I suppose you could call me Christian, but this principle is spiritual and practically universal across all faiths.

[Anonymous No.17870355]

>>17870296
If what you say is accurate then I believe you are a strong individual who cares deeply about those near them- a humble and well-lived life is always worthy of respect. Your criticism, if it matches that provided earlier in the thread, is however indicative of a number of possible deficiencies pertaining to financial knowledge which may inhibit your ability to adequately care for those around you, meet any larger aspirations, and lead to the formation of a number of unfounded assumptions that are likely not representative of the actual state of affairs. There is always risk of weakness permeating from such- I simply encourage you prevent that from happening.

[Anonymous No.17870388]

>>17870334
You're quick to call the machine evil, but is gravity evil for binding us to the ground? Perhaps he did just push paper, approving plans for his local zoning commission, or processing legal appeals, or maybe he was architecting redlined lending policies for small businesses.

Ultimately, the least moral people in any job are ones without the resources to lose it, where personal ethics are no longer a primary safety. You owe it to society not to be poor.

[Anonymous No.17870396]

>>17870344
I seek not to demean you but that seems to me to be a particularly sophomoric perspective. That an emphasis on materialism may yield extreme greed is not a particularly profound observation, however, to equate all of such to it is a mistake. I am not attached to the material for the sake of the material (as it would in the event of greed) but rather its relevance to all those who surround me. In that regard, the material only occupies power for me so much as it enables me the ability to do as I seek and seek to do good. If you believe otherwise I would direct you to the many who are currently starving in this world, unable to fulfill their potential due to the immense hunger they feel- openly deteriorating in front of themselves. What a cruel and undeserving fate. As long as such persists no level of spirituality will ever begin to compensate for the irreparable and long-term catastrophic implications it has for the development of our species. The change must occur through systems- but that principally occurs through the accumulation of capital.

Instead of motivating those who hold such weak perspectives as greed to be strong and forces of the "good" you seek you have instead (in your mind) distinguished the spiritual and material world, in doing so enabling those who only intend "evil" to act with impunity over the systems that govern all human life at this moment. The implications of that too are catastrophic as they denigrate material existence to living hell.

[Anonymous No.17870404]

>>17863875
>Business closes
>Owners can leverage business-management experience to get positions at new companies
>Managers can cross-apply their managerial experience for other positions
>Workers might lose out on a few months of income, but as long as it's not a recession they'll be able to hit the ground running
>Economy go up, economy go down
Businesses closing doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is homogenization. Wake me up when the store is replaced by a Barnes & Noble and then I'll be mad.

[Anonymous No.17870441]

>>17864565
>>17866104
Go back to your shithole containment board faggot

[Anonymous No.17870445]

>>17870334
I'm mainly making sure clean water comes out of the tap when you turn it on and that shit goes out of your toilet when you flush it. Certainly there are more meaningful things than material ones, but we all exist at least partly in a material world and have to meet some basic material needs to live. I take no pride in prisons or wars.

>>17870355
Kind enough of you to say. For what it's worth I managed finances for a large public utility and am reasonably well versed in finance. Not sure if the posts you're referencing are mine or not. I'm by no means wealthy but am solidly upper-middle-class by income and net worth (though hopefully not by temperament, but then that's just what a middle would say).

[Anonymous No.17870460]

>>17870396
I just don't know how you can speak so confidently as western civilization crumbles all around you as it has slid off of its religious/moral footing. I guess you can tell me the superiority of your ways as we roam the westlands of the upcoming nuclear holocaust.

[Anonymous No.17870465]

>>17870121
Elon, is that you? ;-)

>Tangible accomplishment ...
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment here, but I meant simply to point out that some of the most 'accomplished' writers throughout history have died either penniless or without recognition, and some regrettably both, and lived in such a state for their entire lives. Now whether to them, the completion of the work itself was an 'accomplishment,' despite its monetary failure during their lifetime, I suspect is a point where we may have to agree to disagree.

>my spite is principally directed to ...
A totally understandable position, my only issue was the broad brush with which you painted those "jealous losers" as being able to complete deep analyses of vast texts, while being unable to parlay that ability into a field that would grant them capital in exchange for such analyses. I suspect those "jealous losers" aren't the same posters who would carry on a deep discussion of some esoteric gobbledygook, but who can really say?

>30 minutes
haha, or maybe two hours, but who's counting?

You're not totally unpleasant to read either. And I'm curious to see your economics chart if you ever finish arguing with boomer schizoposters.

[Anonymous No.17870513]

>>17870445
>Kind enough of you to say. For what it's worth I managed finances for a large public utility and am reasonably well versed in finance. Not sure if the posts you're referencing are mine or not. I'm by no means wealthy but am solidly upper-middle-class by income and net worth (though hopefully not by temperament, but then that's just what a middle would say).
Fascinating, I wish you luck in growing such and am proud of this existing accomplishment. I am moreso referencing a number of misconceptions pertaining to financial systems (especially investment banks), however, I fear I may have been too brash in assuming you were at all connected to such critiques.

[Anonymous No.17870537]

>>17870460
>I just don't know how you can speak so confidently as western civilization crumbles all around you as it has slid off of its religious/moral footing. I guess you can tell me the superiority of your ways as we roam the westlands of the upcoming nuclear holocaust.
It would be regrettable to see this occur and I will attempt to do my very best to ensure it doesn't- at least within the context of agricultural stability. In the event it does, however, I see no larger honor than creating such a human connection and discussing this with you. I find that even in the darkest of times it is our optimism and love for one another which helps define our humanity.

[Anonymous No.17870546]

>>17869432
>bankers work hard
What is this, the labor theory of value?
Work hard doing shits.

[Anonymous No.17870565]

>>17868052
>>17864565
>>17864052
>>17864710
>>17865091
>>17865112
>>17865216
>>17865280
>>17866104
>>17866125
>>17866143
>>17866196
>>17866696
>>17866752
>>17866768
>>17867483
>>17867925
>>17867930
>>17867939
>>17867947
>>17868016
>>17868030
>>17868033
>>17868052
>>17868067
>>17868155
>>17868253
>>17868360
>>17868561
>>17868853
>>17869432
>>17869596
>>17869627
>>17869640
>>17869673
>>17869747
>>17869765
>>17870251
Return to your containment board

[Anonymous No.17870602]

>>17870465
>I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment...A totally understandable position...
Yes, I believe I may have been far too careless in how I established my point. I meant no disrespect to those individuals- I hold them in high regard (they have explored aspects of the human condition, whether they intended to or not, and added to the larger pool of human knowledge) and am proud of their strength in meeting their aspirations as intended. That is what accomplishment means to me- although my personal aspirations are far more dependent on the manipulation of systems to better the human condition. While they may not have done so, they lived humble lives full of passion and I will always hold endless respect for such. Monetary failure is not an indication of a lack of accomplishment, only a barrier to implementing certain forms of it. I only meant to spite those who I see as having a weak attitude- but I now recognize how juvenile my attempt was and will have to grow away from it.
>haha, or maybe two hours, but who's counting?
Well said, ha ha.
>You're not totally unpleasant to read either. And I'm curious to see your economics chart if you ever finish arguing with boomer schizoposters.
Yes, thank you! You've made a number of excellent points and I will certainly attempt to do them justice via reflection.

[Anonymous No.17870703]

not sure how this thread became about investment banking but for what it's worth:

to be even called back for an interview at a top investment bank (i.e. the kind that doles out 20K christmas bonuses) you need to be 3.9+ GPA at a top university (ivy league or equivalent) with IB or consulting etc. internships every single summer of college where you'll work 100+ hour work weeks, and the same if you get hired

boggles my mind that some NEET who probably never went to college can sit on their computer and go off on something they have no idea about, then again I am on lit so probably shouldn't be a surprise

[Anonymous No.17870724]

>>17870703
There was a guy who was on the American national figure skating team who got a job at Merrill Lynch straight out of college because his boss thought he did a good job skating at the World Figure Skating Championships.

they don't outperform passive ETFs so what is even the point of a lot these """""financial advisors""""

[Anonymous No.17870737]

>>17870546
Spoken like someone who doesn't do much heavy lifting with his mind. Mental labor is more difficult, consuming, and valuable than manual labor. Always has been, and always will be.

[Anonymous No.17870777]

>>17870724

I mean I wouldn't really say this guy is the standard, more of the exception proves the rule kind of situation. It's like how Kobe Bryant started a venture capital fund or Jake Paul started boxing even though neither of those people knew anything about those fields to begin with. Not to mention a culture of favoritism and nepotism that pervades the industry (i.e. if your director "likes" you in your internship that's huge for getting a full time job once you graduate)

An investment bank and passive ETF does two completely different things.... you're thinking of the hedge fund industry and actively managed funds. And to be honest, without going to deep into it, the whole "passive outperforms active management" "hurr durr why pay active management fees when you can mirror the holdings in a passive etf" line is misleading at best and a shill at worst. I can go more into it if you'd like.

Lastly, investment bankers are not financial advisors... and financial advisors do not compete with passive funds anyways, again you are thinking of hedge funds and mutual funds

Merrill Lynch isn't even technically an investment bank they are the brokerage arm of bank of america..... no offense anon but you come across as having a surface level understanding of the finance industry

[Anonymous No.17870830]

>>17870777
yeah, why don't you go ahead and tell us why we should pay for muh actively managed funds and why Merrill isn't an investment bank

I wanted to show you that this guy became a top investment banker, but his LinkedIn and Instagram show that he's a real estate agent. So much for that career

[Anonymous No.17870846]

>>17870724

Financial advisor is nowhere near investment banker in terms of prestige or pay

Financial advisors are part of the wealth management industry. The most important requirement is how many rich people you know or how good of a salesman you are. Two qualities I'm sure this figure skater exhibits.

Investment banking is completely different and not the same field at all. You could land a financial advisory job with a decent GPA from any uni and sales skills. Versus basically academic excellence at an ivy league and years of relevant experience at internships to even get your foot in the door of investment banking.....

[Anonymous No.17870869]

>>17870846
Hmm, when it came time to show your knowledge, you did no better than a standard Investopedia page. Larp better next time

[Anonymous No.17870913]

>>17870724
>because his boss thought he did a good job skating at the World Figure Skating Championships
That's a very polite way of saying his gay boss saw him prancing around on TV and hired him to be his personal butt boy. Just look at that pic. You know what's going on.

[Anonymous No.17870936]

>>17870830

1) the whole point of a hedge fund is to hedge risk on the possibility of a downswing in the market, hence the name "hedge" fund (think hedging your bets). In any given bull market where every stock is going up it follows logically that passive funds will outperform hedge funds in that time period. However, in bear markets active will shine over passive. We've just been in a bull market for so long that people have gotten complacent

2) active management is a zero sum game essentially as you are working to take profits from other active managers. So the statistic of passive outperforming active in general is skewed because it includes all the losers

3) while I personally would prefer a passive ETF over an actively managed mutual fund 90% of the time, this DOES NOT apply to hedge funds as again the goal of the two funds are fundamentally different. It doesn't matter though because I don't and I doubt you or anyone reading this has even a fraction of the money required to even be able to invest in a hedge fund. Only chance is if you have a pension from a job or something and that pension fund is putting money into a hedge fund to manage

Merrill Lynch is NOT an investment bank and financial advisors are NOT investment bankers I can tell you know next to nothing about the industry based off that alone. INVESTMENT BANKS are places like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Deustchebank.... MERRILL LYNCH is the brokerage arm of bank of america which means that if you have an investment account with bank of america it is merrill lynch that fulfills your buy and sell orders for stocks and bonds, this is NOT what an investment bank does. A FINANCIAL ADVISOR will have clients and manage those clients' accounts for them and IS NOT competing with passive funds as THEY ARE NOT FUND MANAGERS THEMSELVES. And an INVESTMENT BANKING ANALYST will research and write prospectus on industries for the INVESTMENT BANK as well as perform analysis on things like IPO pricing and leveraged buyouts for private equity firms. What you got wrong in your original post and continue to get wrong is you are confusing financial advisors with investment bankers as well as active fund managers and hedge fund managers because you have no idea how the finance industry works.

[Anonymous No.17870942]

>>17870869
>>17870830

Lol you didn't know shit and got called out for it and now you have nothing to say, maybe next time you don't know what you are talking about you'll hesitate before looking like an idiot

[Anonymous No.17870964]

>>17870936
whoo whee, prospectus documents. I get a prospectus in my email errytime I buy a new stock.

[Anonymous No.17870971]

>>17864084
The knees aren't doing her any favors so she could do with a lower hemline, but otherwise you're gay

[Anonymous No.17870989]

>>17870777
I know a guy who pulled it off all through hard work: Ivy League, internships, high GPA, got the job. I talked to him about his life and it was all work -- basically spending 14 hours a day looking at balance sheets figuring out if certain companies would do well to merge.

It's not misleading btw; on average, over 30 years, no one can beat the market. You can have some good years though, with either some inside knowledge or just really good anal.

My advice? Make a plan, start a business, convince people to give you money for it, and don't give up until you have returns for your investors. That's a real challenge, and you actually get to create things. Banking, and even investment banking in many cases, is just sleazy arbitrage. Not my cup of tea

[Anonymous No.17870992]

Checking out her husbands early life

Yep

[Anonymous No.17871019]

>>17870964

I'm sure robinhood's bots sent you a nice thank you letter when you bought your gamestop stock anon, but unfortunately for you the kind of clientele that are reading these reports are in corporate boardrooms not their parents basement

>>17870989

Of course it's basically impossible to beat the market every year for 30 years (or even 15) and at that point it's luck not skill. But it's still misleading as the original mission was not to consistently outperform but hedge so that you lose less when times are good. That being said, Jim Simons may have cracked the code with the medallion fund (at least the one that is kept strictly employees and close friends only). Pic related, it's basically his normie biography as I feel like if I write another finance post without some sort of literature I'll get banned for being off topic. Nothing profound of course but a quick easy read if you're interested in that sort of thing.

[Anonymous No.17871024]

>>17871019

forgot to attach the pic

[Anonymous No.17871056]

>>17870737
... they work hard, I don’t deny it. You may be surprised to know someone can be upper-crust and acknowledge that banker, trader, etc. work is not necessarily good or generative.
I know how these guys kill them selves in their fields, I really do. And believe me they they get compensated. So explain to me why ‘they work hard’ isn’t labor theory? KEK I actually agree with you about mental labor, but you didn’t even consider that I could have said what I did and also thought that... you probably think I’m some naive leftist LOL

[Anonymous No.17871108]

>>17871019
>you lose less when times are good
retard, if times are good, you shouldn't be losing

[Anonymous No.17871118]

>>17871108

typo, meant to be "when times are bad" but didn't correct it as it seemed pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain

[Anonymous No.17871125]

>>17871118
sure, typo Mr. Investopedia

[Anonymous No.17871165]

>>17871125

all love anon hopefully this conversation is an eye opener for you and you actually start reading up and learning about things before forming a strong opinion on them

[Anonymous No.17871169]

>>17871165
yeah, I've learned that stupid larping anons will shit up an entire thread after reading some "intro to investing" articles