My name is Mark Goodfield. Welcome to The Blunt Bean Counter ™, a blog that shares my thoughts on income taxes, finance and the psychology of money. I am a Chartered Professional Accountant. This blog is meant for everyone, but in particular for high net worth individuals and owners of private corporations. My posts are blunt, opinionated and even have a twist of humour/sarcasm. You've been warned. Please note the blog posts are time sensitive and subject to changes in legislation or law.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Investment Bankers are from Uranus, the Protesters from Pluto

Last Saturday, Mark Schatzker of the Globe and Mail wrote an article titled Occupy Toronto: The one-week anniversary. I found this satirical article very funny.

One of Mark's "best quotes" was the following: “It’s weird protesting on Bay Street. You get there at 9 a.m. and the rich bankers who you want to hurl insults at and change their worldview have been at work for two hours already. And then when it's time to go, they're still there. I guess that's why they call them the one per cent. I mean, who wants to work those kinds of hours? That's the power of greed.”

As someone who has dealt with several investment bankers over the years, I almost fell on the floor laughing. This quote, although a figment of Mark's fertile imagination, actually encapsulates the polar opposite views on money and work-life balance the bankers and protesters have. I can envision the protesters on the street chanting, while the investment bankers, who work incredibly long hours look down upon the protesters like they are aliens from another planet, because they don’t value the almighty dollar. Meanwhile, it does not take much imagination to conceive of the frustration of the protesters, who cannot voice their complaints to the very people they despise, because the bankers are working day and night to make money; so much so, that they are not accessible.

I am not sure everyone will agree, but I think this was a brilliant observation by Mark. Whether you side with the Bay Street bankers or the protesters, Mark has poignantly pointed out how diametrically opposed the two sides are.

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2 comments:

  1. Hilarious! I can sort of understand the Wall Street protests because the American people must just be fed up with how this recession has been handled, with the banks getting bailed out and then not lending money like they said they would.

    But here in Canada I'm not too sure what they have to protest about.

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  2. Hey Echo, I am glad some else found it funny, I certainly did. I can't agree with you more, I undersand the American protest, but Canada? We are certainly not perfect, but we did not create a mortage and housing mess for our population and when people are down on their luck, at least we have a social safety net, both medically and financially.

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