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"Despite all of the noise and fury coming out of Washington, activist government and Keynesian economics are alive and well. Last November’s reëlection of President Obama demonstrated that they have passed the political test. Today’s events on Wall Street show that they have passed the market test."
—John Cassidy on what saved the Dow: http://nyr.kr/10bbumL
(Source: newyorker.com)
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Don’t Pity the Hedgies
A day after it emerged that Wall Street bonuses rose to twenty billion dollars last year, and that the typical financial-industry grunt received a payment on top of his salary that was more than twice the median household income, the latest corporate executive to run afoul of the Street was called to account.
Remarkably enough, it was Tim Cook, the head of one of the most successful businesses in American history. At Apple’s annual shareholder meeting, in Cupertino, California, Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs in August, 2011, was pressed about the company’s stock price, which has fallen by about a third since last summer—drawing the ire of Wall Street, particularly David Einhorn, a billionaire hedge-fund manager who owns more than a million Apple shares. “I don’t like it either,” Cooksaid of the stock price.“Neither does the board or management—where the stock trades now versus a few months ago. But we’re focussed on the long term.”
That was precisely the response from Cook that I would have expected, and it was the appropriate one…
Continue reading John Cassidy on Apple vs. Wall Street: http://nyr.kr/13mg7vi
Photograph, of Tim Cook, by Jim Wilson/The New York Times/Redux.
(Source: newyorker.com)
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Super-Rich Irony
“The growing antagonism of the super-wealthy toward Obama can seem mystifying, since Obama has served the rich quite well…”
In this week’s issue, Chrystia Freeland explores why so may of Wall Street’s super-rich feel victimized by President Obama: http://nyr.kr/Oqo64E
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Caleb Crain: Why I Signed the Occupy Writers Petition
Whenever a writer considers endorsing a cause—whenever this writer considers it, at any rate—he worries: Do I know what I’m talking about? Am I distracting myself from my real work? Who cares what I think? Aren’t I just indulging a romantic sense of my own world-historical importance? Shouldn’t the cobbler stick to his last? Maybe. And maybe the movement will disappoint me by taking a nasty turn. I didn’t marry Occupy Wall Street; I just signed a petition supporting it. I think I did so as a kind of public recognition that my first impression of the movement has so far turned out to be more accurate and useful than my second thoughts. I signed in hopes of forestalling, or at least slowing, the impulse that other people might also feel to dismiss the movement out of hand.
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Karen Cahn, lawyer, New York, New York. “I don’t know how it’s gonna end, but it has to start, right?”
On Tuesday, Martin Schoeller photographed Occupy Wall Street protesters at Zuccotti Park. Click through to see the rest of Schoeller’s pictures: http://nyr.kr/nolJ0Z
(Source: newyorker.com)
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Lopi LaRoe, artist, Brooklyn, New York. “My main issues are connected to the environment, but I recognize that it all stems from corporations having too much say in government, and taking our natural resources.”
On Tuesday, Martin Schoeller photographed Occupy Wall Street protesters at Zuccotti Park. Click through to see the rest of Schoeller’s pictures: http://nyr.kr/nolJ0Z
(Source: newyorker.com)
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“Economic justice isn’t the most popular theme in pop music. It’s a distant third behind girls and cars. Oh, wait. We made an accounting error: it’s behind girls, cars, surfing, drinking, food, technology, space travel, dogs, boys, and other topics. But there is a persistent strain of pop songs about haves, have-nots, and the distance between them.”
What do the Coup, Randy Newman, and Maureen Tucker have in common? Each is featured on Ben Greenman’s soundtrack for Occupy Wall Street.
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Occupy Wall Street “is hardly a revolution. It is a dinner party of sorts, albeit one with donated, often organic food served on paper plates.”
-Click here for the rest of Hendrik Hertzberg’s take on Occupy Wall Street.
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Over the past week, we’ve been dropping by the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park and taking photographs. (We’ve also been writing about the protests: read our coverage.) Click here for a closer look at what we’ve seen.
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