Analysis Of Liquidated: An Ethnography Of Wall Street By Karen Ho

Greed is an intense and selfish desire for something such as power, wealth or food.’ We have all heard the stories of the stockbroker that stole millions of dollars of their client’s money for personal use, or men that were able to take down large public traded corporations by falsifying the books and pocketing large sums of money. Greed has always existed among people; there are stories that date back to the Ancient Roman Empire. There are movies and books written about greed, Wolf of Wall Street is a famous one based on a true story. The main character Jordan is a stockbroker that figured out how to beat Wall Streets rules and regulations. He would become one of the riches men to ever work on Wall Street. Why are people so greedy? Is greed

In a speech by Mary Elizabeth Lease, “Wall Street Owns The Country”, she mentioned that this nation is a nation of inconsistencies. The main things she wanted to state was the nation’s economics and political woes because of the government was ruled based on the monetary value by wall street that cause people to suffer. Furthermore, she said that the welfare of the people was no longer considered by the government as a priority but money was. Most of the actions made by the government did not benefit people anymore. The government asked people to go to work and raise a big crop. So the people did as the government said, but the crops were still not enough because the people were “overpopulated”, according to the government. Therefore, people

In 1938, and in the teeth of the longest and fiercest depression that the United States had ever known, capital spending hit an all time high. That’s right! In 1938 the men who owned America began to pour millions of Dollars into new plant and equipment as if there was no tomorrow. We don’t think much about it today, because it has been a long time since the United States has experienced a real bone jolting economic slowdown. The fact is, however, that the very best time for the industrialist to invest in new technologies is in the middle of a depression. This is because it is at such times that labor, raw materials, and new equipment can be purchased at rock bottom prices. Henry Ford may have jumped the gun a bit. He shut down his River

By leveraging their freedom from the bonds of location, corporations could now dictate the economic policies of governments (Bakan 2004). So far, the essay has argued that the rise of the corporations in modern days covers a lot of aspects within the society and it should not be treated lightly when it comes to their dominance and influence. In the next section the essay will illustrate that due to anxiousness and brevity of managerial work, it is rather hard, for managers, to focus on achieving the goals to benefit the society.

Nowadays, after the passing of several bills constraining the actions of corporations, acting in a similar manner would pose several legal and ethical issues. This is why, Freeman argues, this ancient idea of managerial capitalism is no longer effective.

While they have arrangement and discharging control over the directors of the enterprise, shareholders in expansive organizations, for example, the criminogenic Shell, Exxon, Occidental Petroleum, Union Carbide, Dow Chemical, Ford Motors, La Roche-Hoffman, BHP, A.H. Robins, General Electric, Johns-Manville, James Hardie, all enterprises whose disregard and willful dismissal of surely understood norms of conduct has brought about shocking mischief, have minimal impetus to guarantee that these supervisors carry on legitimately. This happens because financial specialists who don't lawfully own the property of the company used to do any harm, they have no individual legitimate obligation regarding any such damages brought about by the misapplication of that property. The rich shareholders who are continually telling the riches less and poor people to be responsible and in charge of the route, in which they act and live, are, in law, unreliable for the (regularly detestable) behavior of their companies. It deteriorates the

When looking at the issue of corporate crime, it becomes apparent that gender is a factor that can play a significant role. Within the article An Ethnography of Wall Street, it is described that because of a social hierarchy, the majority of those in CEO positions are white males while those in lower positions tend to be more females. As discussed in the documentary Inside Job, the males in corporations featured tended to be impulsive risk takers which can be related to the idea of “doing masculinity”. Using these sources, one is able to create a critique of the theory emancipation in accordance to corporate crime. Through the analysis of the documentary Inside Job and the article An Ethnography of Wall Street, it can be determined that corporations are gendered and are based around a sense of masculinity.

A good and successful activist reform would result in the long-term value creation for the target company, which would benefit both the shareholders and the bondholders. The activist reform would motivate management to achieve operating efficiencies, which would improve cash flows and generate better returns for both the shareholders and bondholders. In conclusion, I find the objections to the strategies of activists raised by the managers of Commonwealth REIT and other companies in the article vague. However, the managers need to distinguish between the activists looking for short-term profits and the activists looking for a long-term value creation. The former might destroy some value in the process so the managers need to fend off those attacks.

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, many commentators attempted to analyze the roots of the conflict from a political or economic perspective. Anthropologist Karen Ho, a veteran of Wall Street as well as an academic, attempted to understand the reason that Wall Street behaves the way it does in her 2009 anthropological study of American finance entitled Liquidated: An ethnography of Wall Street from a cultural perspective. The central paradox with which Ho begins her book is: " the economy experienced not only record corporate profits and the longest rising stock market ever, but also record downsizings," further concentrating the wealth in America (Ho 2009: 1-2). But how can corporations grow richer as the American public as a whole grows poorer? Corporations no longer view themselves as responsible for taking care of their employees, creating good products, or serving their original mission. Instead, the focus is on generating shareholder wealth (Ho 2009:3). Shareholders, not the larger public, have become the symbolic and real focus of firm strategy. The shareholder "symbolized and 'stood in' for the whole of the corporation and became the sole locus of concern and analysis" during the time Ho conducted her study in the late 1990s and continues to this day (Ho 2009:175)

What makes a man, a man? Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” written in 1851, undoubtedly constructs a man’s world on Wall Street. During this time, it would be said that men and women had a certain role to fulfill. It just so happened that men were considered superior over women during the 1800’s. However, Melville wasn’t completely prosperous exterminating women from his narrative. Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” is full of male characters. Bartleby, Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut were all the male characters presented in Melville’s narrative. However, woman-like qualities surely shined through some of the characters. Thus, it would seem that Melville promoted masculinity by the usage of male characters in “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” but at the same time he was secretly using woman-like qualities. Hence, what really makes a man, a man?

The instructor may vary the emphasis on different issues by altering the study questions and by the choice of video clips. The case is well suited for courses and classes concerning corporate governance, valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate social responsibility. The following objectives of the case allow students to:

There is a sense of complexity today that has led many to believe the individual investor has little chance of competing with professional brokers and investment firms. However, Malkiel states this is a major misconception as he explains in his book “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”. What does a random walk mean? The random walk means in terms of the stock market that, “short term changes in stock prices cannot be predicted”. So how does a rational investor determine which stocks to purchase to maximize returns? Chapter 1 begins by defining and determining the difference in investing and speculating. Investing defined by Malkiel is the method of “purchasing assets to gain profit in the form of reasonably

Dunlap focused largely and explicitly on shareholder primacy and practically lacking consideration for all other stakeholders of the firm, which reflected in his “take-no-prisoners” (case p.1) management style during his tenure as Sunbeam’s CEO. Dunlap’s goals were limited to just maximizing stockholders’ wealth by adopting fast turnaround tactics and all other salient characteristics of the very existence of corporation such as product innovation, product/service quality, employee and customer satisfaction and corporate ethics were completely neglected. Mr. Dunlap’s adaptation of shareholder-theory was based on historic view of

This is an important observation, as the ratio of ownership in terms of shareholders in a company effects how shareholder activism can alter the management and development of a corporation.

“Corporate finance theory, teaching and the typically recommended practice at least in the US are all built on the premise that the primary goal of a corporation should be the maximization of shareholder value.”