Muppets: GS Clients or MGOBLOG Fave? Discuss [ed]
Per Greg Smith's revelation that Goldman calls certain clients 'muppets', our endearing tradition now has a new cultural reference. Discuss. Also, "rip their faces off" is not entirely Goldman's creation either.
Note: For those not interested in financial services world happenings, feel free to pass by to the next topic.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^
sorry for not being in the "financial services world" and opening your post....I apologize
March 14th, 2012 at 10:31 PM ^
Hey OP I have no clue what you are talking about BUT.....me and the avitar are going to be in NYC on Friday. We're staying at the W Times Square - any suggestions on where to watch the game Friday night?
March 14th, 2012 at 10:39 PM ^
Best Michigan Bar in NYC is Professor Thoms 219 2nd Avenue NY 10003. Rowdy crowd, great place.
For a Frat Atmopshere with TVs, Southern Feel: Brother Jimmys. Cheap Beer, Great Southern Food. Either location on the Upper East Side works.
Sophisticated with a TV: Club Macanudo, Michigan friendly, watched a few Michigan-ohio games there
Stone Street if you are downtown, want a TV and want to really bump in to some Goldman analysts pounding beers
If you really want to impress her with a true NYC spot and you're ok with smoking and want a sophisticated lounge, Bond feel, jacket required: Lexington Bar and Books.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:53 PM ^
Mgrowold - guaranteed to be with a large michigan crowd at the following nyc alumni club partner bars:
Professor Thoms - 219 2nd Avenue (btwn 13th and 14th st)
The Hill - 416 3rd Avenue (between 29th and 30th Streets)
Brother Jimmy's Union Square - 116 East 16th Street (btwn Irving & Park Ave)
All three will have drink specials for michigan alums.
March 14th, 2012 at 10:53 PM ^
On Saturday, go to Stone Street for St. Patty's. It's a fun time and I'll be there. Go Blue.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:15 PM ^
I wish. When i booked the trip I didnt realize St. Patty's day was on Saturday so I stupidly have us returning to fucking Cleveland around 3:00pm. We are definitely going to Professor Thom's Friday night so I made a "go blue" reservation on their website ....how cool is THAT????
If any of you guys are going to be there Friday night look for us. I'm 6'5" about 240 and the wife.....well the wife looks exactly like my avitar!
March 14th, 2012 at 10:40 PM ^
should be 241. Edit 242
March 14th, 2012 at 10:45 PM ^
Heck no. If not for the OP i'd wouldnt know where to watch the Michigan game on Friday in NYC. I have zero clue what he was talking about in his post but the dude knew where to send me and the avitar for maximum Michigan game viewing fun so he's ok with me.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:06 PM ^
I thought this was a debate over who started the Muppets Brian or some writer? My bad I missed the whole point of this i guess.
March 15th, 2012 at 12:20 AM ^
Just FYI, it's avatar, not avitar
March 14th, 2012 at 10:53 PM ^
Post again. He will have to edit repeatedly!
March 14th, 2012 at 10:53 PM ^
Best thread ever?
March 14th, 2012 at 11:06 PM ^
I don't know, I saw the word "Muppets" and my brain instantly tried to figure out what could have happened in the Michigan sports world that would necessitate muppets. Then I realized that we obviously signed Diggs...
he's clearly trolling.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:12 PM ^
Anybody with any sense knows muppets are a good thing, so GS should be praised for calling clients muppets. I mean, come on, who ever heard of financial advisors or Wall Street acting in an unethical manner? That's crazy talk!
March 14th, 2012 at 11:15 PM ^
a couple of my colleagues use the term 'muppet' with the same type of derogatory tone / 'dunce' reference as in the GS conversation... they are of european descent. i wonder if that cultural reference has been around for a long time 'cross the pond?
if we want to try to make this a bit more mgoblog relevant... well i know its a stretch... but for those who are still in school or early in your career - i would suggest using 'muppet gate' as an example of what not to do when deciding to move on to another firm. Greg Smith basically used an op-ed piece in the NY Times to announce his resignation from Goldman and rip GS apart in glorious fashion. needless to say, alot of folks in the industry have been quite amused by the whole thing, but its also safe to say he might have difficulty finding employment in financial services industry again.
the op-ed piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=1&sq=greg%20smith&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all
March 14th, 2012 at 11:29 PM ^
I'm sure he won't have any trouble finding employment. Some blogs are suggesting that he'll open up his own fund and woo former GS clients.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:46 PM ^
When I lived in England, about ten years ago, "muppet" was a common, somewhat playful epithet. Similar maybe to how Americans use "tool."
There's a line in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels:
"I don't care who you use as long as they aren't complete muppets"
He will not be hired on Wall Street again...at least not for the forseeable future. Wall St still has a bit of a club mentality and no large firm will hire a guy who has a history of bad mouthing his former employers on his way out the door.
As for opening his own fund...that's a pipe dream. No one would invest in a fund run by a mid-level derivatives salesman. He has no demonstrable track record of investing.
Are you kidding me? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAH. He will take his clients elsewhere. And they won't stay with Goldman. Goldman just got played. Don't be a fool. Another bank isn't going to say, "Well sorry man you're not in the "club", so we won't want any extra business."
Goldman is a sale. Anyone remember the last time they got played this badly?
March 15th, 2012 at 11:40 AM ^
Urp...didn't you mean to say "Don't be a muppet?"
Yeah because the guys clients are going to stay with Goldman after that. Come on man. Goldman got played. The guy will land wherever he wants, if he even wants to stay in the business. TRUST is the most important thing, and Goldman just lost a lot of it. Extremely well played by Greg Smith.
To all mgobloggers out there I think goblue_jb intentions are good above, but he must be a rookie to the business to not see what just happened.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:41 PM ^
It seems like Goldman's vision is pretty short-sighted. I cannot imagine clients would be content with the results of their investments if they are being convinced to invest in things that don't make them money. For long-term success, Goldman obviously needs customer loyalty and a strong return develops that. This does not sound like the type of place I want to work. Not sustainable.
March 15th, 2012 at 12:05 AM ^
Who cares about clients when you're a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming your blood funnel into anything that smells like money?
March 15th, 2012 at 12:56 AM ^
Of threads just don't work. A mention of anything remotely political and MGoBlog turns into the comments on any Yahoo! article.
I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD SAY THAT. YAHOO IS PERFECT. THEIR ARTICLES ARE FLAWLESS AND THE COMMENTS ARE INTERESTING AND PROVOCATIVE. MSN ON THE OTHER HAND IS TERRIBLE AND ANYONE WHO LIKES IT IS WRONG. WRONG I SAY.
Hart20: I think @Needs was referencing GS being described as a Vampire Squad by Matt Taibbi in a Rolling Stone article rather than a devolution of the tenor of the post.
Interesting comments. I always wonder how GS is viewed by folks west of the Hudson or outside of California/Chicago. Knowing that Michigan alums are, shall we say, the 1% of college sports fans, I knew the comments would be broad and insightful.
Thank you. That was intended as a joke, using Tabbai's exact words.
March 15th, 2012 at 11:43 AM ^
What little I know of it ain't too good after reading Michael Lewis's books "Liar's Poker" and "The Big Short".
[Note: To those who haven't read them, great insights into the way Wall Street works. Though I am sure with a limited viewpoint. Doubtless there are others.]
March 14th, 2012 at 11:58 PM ^
is of course animal.
March 15th, 2012 at 12:30 AM ^
That's a rather biased opinion. That'd be like me saying, the best NASA launch ever was Zack Novak. When we all know it's a tie between Apollo 15 AND Zack Novak.
...on quite the roll.
Why no moderating option for "Holy Shit, that's incredible?"
"Funny" just doesn't do your new avatar justice.
It is very biased.
Which is isn't important.
The dude sounds like a standard clown who goes to Palo Alto works in banking and then pretends that he's better than all the other money grubbers.
He won't work for a major firm again. He has no clients as a VP. Must brokerages won't speak to you unless you have a few hundred million / preferably a billion to clear trades. Mr. Smith is unlikely to have that amount of capital / investors.
It's easy to get paid for 10 years and then suddenly find a conscience. I'm sorry that most people don't realize that the purpose of an investment bank or any business for that matter is to make money (Goldman Sachs, Apple, and Toyota all exist to make money). GS will be just fine--it's already up over 2% today.
1) Greg Smith won't land on his feet. No big firm wants to hire somebody who has a big mouth like that. He's a liability. If he sells his company down the river when things don't please him once, who's to say he won't do it again?
2) Say what you want about Goldman's reputation, but it's constantly ranked in the top places to work in the US. It's really easy to criticize a company from afar, but it's not fair to demonize it especially without personal experience with how that company actually treats its clients
3) Seems pretty cowardly to do nothing to address a company's problems, and then cut and run, trying to destroy the reputation of the company in the process.
Basically, something smells about this Greg Smith guy. You don't pretend like everything's good at home, and then throw the family under the bus when talking to others.