More handouts for Wall Street
All he ever wanted to be was a banker... (image byflickr)
Many Americans have found that during a financial emergency, payday loans can help bridge the distance between paychecks. Some have even used the product for educational materials that help them retrain for better jobs. However, in New York (where pay day loans aren’t legal, to the state’s detriment), the state gives $45 million in state funds away for worker training. But you have to be a former Wall Street employee to enjoy a piece of that pie.
Wait a minute. New York City is spending $45 million to retrain former Wall Street employees for the workforce? Aren’t these employees already well-educated and skilled in a number of disciplines? In general, don’t they have to be before they’re even hired by a high-powered investment firm? Why do they merit $45 million in government funds for retraining, while other workers who couldn’t afford Wall Street educations continue to subsist from paycheck to paycheck?
Give them more rope
And so it goes. Patrick McGeehan of the New York Times reports that New York City Mayor Bloomberg has announced this training investment plan. In addition to the $45 million, the program will also “provide seed capital and office space for new businesses those laid-off bankers might create.”
Not only that, but Bloomberg’s plan includes the hope that foreign banks will come to New York and open up shop. Seems to me that would entail work being done in America by non-Americans, with significant portions of the profit being funneled out of America. Is that what the country needs right now? Keep profits here, keep Americans working and then perhaps consumers could afford to take fewer payday loans.
Small business? I agree in principle
Yes... a BANKER!
Bloomberg’s ideas about funding for small startups (the “new businesses”) could work well. A complex in SoHo will serve as a nest for new startups, which might employ some of these laid-off Wall Street professionals. However, what many would like to see is training that would enable non-Wall Street workers with a head for numbers to join exciting new companies like the ones Bloomberg envisions. Not counting private investment, New York City plans to spend $15 million on such programs for small business development. Federal money would also be involved. Over 10 years, the estimate given is the creation of 25,000 jobs and $750 million injected back into the local economy.
Wall Street is headed into the sunset
McGeehan relates that New York City officials expect to see a significant drop in the number of jobs in capital markets. Thus, Bloomberg feels that the New York economy must shift toward other areas to soften the blow and change the city’s disastrous financial course. What we’ll see is more talented people remaining in New York instead of flocking to other areas or other countries. Nothing wrong with that, but let’s go further. Let’s increase that talent base by making the necessary education affordable. More people deserve the chance to live lives free of financial worry. Payday loans help, but they are not a long-term financial plan. Learning and improving one’s standing in life is a time-tested recipe. School systems fail too many young people… money needs to be funneled into the kind of education they need to be successful.
Related articles
- Banks: Beyond the Citi Carnage (businessweek.com)
Ok, I’m sorry, but I don’t think these guys should be getting financial aid – which is what this is – unless they’re going back for another PhD. And while they’re at it, maybe it’s students that are actually IN college student loan money. Why not give people a chance who haven’t had theirs yet?