In the Markets: Job cuts loom at Morgan Stanley

"The firm's problems boil down to this: It pays people too much for doing too little."

But I thought only the govt. does this and that the private sector is so efficient... Are Morgan Stanley workers in some sort of UNION?

It's a private company. Why does it matter to you unless you are a shareholder?

"Are Morgan Stanley workers in some sort of UNION?"

No, that is why it can it can cut as many jobs as necessary to adapt to updated revenue forecasts. It cannot just charge (tax) their clients more to increase revenue like the government.

"But I thought only the govt. does this and that the private sector is so efficient..."

It's all relative. The expectation for government worker efficiency is much lower.

They could always just borrow money from the Fed at 0.1% interest. Morgan Stanley is now a "bank holding company" and not an investment bank, so they qualify for dirt cheap money from the Fed.

if any government worker was 1/10th as efficient as an MS front office employee we'd be looking better than Switzerland

Didn't MS have to get bailed out by the govt. to stay solvent? If it were not for TARP, there would be no MS today.

Private companies have many options during a down turn, including cut in benefits, pay freeze, pay cuts, job sharing, etc... The Container Store is a pretty good example. I am in no position to evaluate what options are best for Morgan Stanley.

"Private companies have many options during a down turn, including cut in benefits, pay freeze, pay cuts..."

Except for executives of course...

Executive pays are cut the most during a downturn. Whether their lowered pay is still too high is another story.

huntersburg: socialists don't believe in the shareholder/private company concept. Good point.

Sunday: another story that is, indeed.

>huntersburg: socialists don't believe in the shareholder/private company concept.

I'm not sure they don't believe in it. I suspect they don't understand it. Basically Socialists point is that in this company, it's ok that employees get paid less because the shareholders should be paid more. Socialist wants the shareholders to be paid more.

Actually, he probably doesn't, many who complain really just want the money to have disappeared so that neither the employees nor the shareholders get it.

It sounds like the cuts are at the retail level. The retail client is not trading and they recognize that.

huntersburg: money disappearing. The easy way out of it all.

Gotta go now.
My prediction for the rest of this night:
The gang members come onto this thread.
They accuse me of rounding up you both, as my slaves.

Even though I don't know your real names or contact info.

Baglady, stop rounding up the two of them as your slaves.

General Wall Street layoffs article: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/slasher_street_3N2eDrojp9DGzQcAlzGPhN

And, as the stock market & commodities market deflate from the fabulously failed QEII, it's only gonna get worse. Major correction started...you heard it from me first.

Meredith Whitney was on CNBC this morning and mentioned that the banks were way over staffed and would have to cut back.

"But I thought only the govt. does this and that the private sector is so efficient... Are Morgan Stanley workers in some sort of UNION?"

Genius... the point is... they can get rid of non-effective employees, and pay less to less-effective ones.

If only the government could do that!

We might have kids who can read.

How many govt. workers make anywhere enar what a MS i-banker makes?

MS has been very inefficient in it's use of the splenderous corporate welfare it has been awarded of the last few years--

thank god those on food stamps are more judicious

I just find this article hard to fathom, what with all of the unemployment in the banking sector, that any trader would Just Say No to Stamford.

stevejhx: "Major correction started...you heard it from me first."

It started a week ago, so the warning is a bit late.

>It started a week ago, so the warning is a bit late.

May was a down month.

>with all of the unemployment in the banking sector,

I'm not sure you know what you are talking about.

Socialist:

If Bernanke were unable to "print" money at the click of a keystroke to keep the
federal government afloat, Obama would be conducting business today in an unused
Riverside Park Amtrak tunnel underneath the statue of his predecessor, Ulysses Grant.