Wall Street Financial Truth

Chapter 25 What Chinese Can Get on Wall Street (1)
The Chinese on Wall Street are all technical masters, and the specific work is done quite beautifully.It was able to rise every year in the first five years, and it was precisely because of the scoring system that everyone tried their best, and everyone was like a model worker.But often when we reach the middle level, our weaknesses will appear. We often have to hold meetings and make reports, and deal with superiors and subordinates every day, and we are often unable to do what we want when we talk about "foreign" skins.In fact, on Wall Street, the ceiling of the Chinese has always been very limited, how unfair it is.

1. Wall Street, the playground of the rich

When I first arrived in New York in 1991, out of my longing, yearning and curiosity for Wall Street, the world's financial center, one day I took the subway from Queens, where I live, to Wall Street in lower Manhattan with a pilgrimage. Go see it, dream of getting your own place there one day.

When I approached the downtown, I took a closer look and found that Wall Street is short and narrow, with a total length of less than 500 meters.At the junction of Broadway Street and Wall Street, I saw the famous Trinity Church (Trinity Church).This is a building that stood upright in the middle of the 19th century. It was already a landmark building when Wall Street was still a dilapidated city wall.Ships returning from a long voyage regard the towering spire of the church as a signal welcoming them into New York Harbor.The finely crafted statues on the exterior walls of the church are amazing, and every brick and stone is worth watching carefully.Five famous people are buried in the cemetery in the back garden of the church. One of them is Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the founding pioneer of the United States of America, and his economic proposition-industrialization. profound.A few steps away from the cemetery is the noisy street, and various vehicles are constantly flowing day and night, which on the contrary brings out the sanctity and tranquility of the church itself.

In front of the Trinity Church is the New York Stock Exchange, behind it is the American Stock Exchange, and on both sides are towering office buildings.Compared with the glass-reinforced steel skyscrapers rising around them, these old buildings look quite solid and exude a sense of luxury.

On this street, the Salomon Brothers used to sell bonds to securities brokers with a basket, Morgan once held a secret meeting to save the US financial crisis, and the young Weinberg knocked on the door of Goldman Sachs tremblingly The legendary President of the United States), Milken once distributed his junk bonds to the whole world.Decades after the death of these mythical figures, their aura is still suspended over New York, overlooking a new generation of bankers, analysts, traders, brokers or fund managers to continue their immortal spirit and create the latest financial myths — Wall Street Myths.

Some people say that one end is connected to the East River and the other end is connected to the grave, which is the most vivid expression of Wall Street.

Wall Street, a narrow street less than 500 meters long, controls the lifeblood of global finance; it has experienced the baptism of war and terrorist attacks, but it still stands at the highest peak of world finance and continues to create "myths".

My personal evaluation of Wall Street is three points to seven points.According to statistics, during the past 200 years, 135 major and minor crises broke out in the United States, for which Wall Street contributed a lot.In the past few years, with the popularity of "Currency Wars", whenever there is criticism of the financial hegemony represented by Wall Street, some people label it conspiracy theory and sneer at it.

In fact, capital has been playing in the world for hundreds of years. Is there anything new under the sun?It doesn't matter about conspiracy, what Wall Street is playing is simply conspiracy.To put it bluntly, Wall Street is like a legal big casino, and the rules of the game are set by the dealer.Before you go in to gamble, you must first understand the rules of the casino. If you win, you are lucky, so let’s have fun secretly;If you don't even know the rules of the game and enter rashly, you can't blame others, and you have to foolishly count the money for others.

In fact, in legal casinos in Europe and the United States, the odds of winning many games are not low. For example, roulette has a 49% winning rate; if the memory is good enough, if you play "Black Jack", you will often win money.But Wall Street is different. Those big dealers play with money from other people's pockets. If they lose, others pay the bill, and they still get commissions, let alone winning.In the long run, ordinary retail investors can only send money.

Speaking of world organizations, such as the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations, their rules are also formulated by the powerful countries of the year, just like any game, the strong set the rules, the strong plunder the weak, and the strong If you lose, you can even renege on it.

For example, in the 20s, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund crafted a set of policies that, along with the Federal Reserve, agreed with Washington, including deregulation of banks and liberalization of markets, privatization and reduction of the size of government, and an emphasis on GDP growth However, whether GDP growth can sustain the overall economic, social, political and environmental development, and whether it really helps to improve people's living standards has been seriously ignored.

China started in the early 20s, and the predators hiding behind the scenes excessively clamored for the GDP growth rate, and stepped up the pace of "the world's factory".Existing analyzes have shown that because economically powerful countries only consider their own interests, the policies of the World Bank increase poverty, damage the environment, public health, and cultural diversity.

The current president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, used to be the managing director of Goldman Sachs Group. He was appointed by Bush Jr. in May 2007 and approved by the World Bank’s board of directors. He officially took office in July of the same year and became the 5th president of the World Bank. .

People may ask, the World Bank represents 184 countries, why should the President be appointed by the President of the United States (nominally subject to the consent of other member countries), and must be an American citizen?The United States, which advocates democracy in a high-profile manner, firmly holds the hegemony on this point, and will not let go no matter what.Why?Because the World Bank is controlled and governed by a few economic powers, and it is a tool of the United States and Western powers.The economic interests of economically powerful countries are the primary business of the World Bank, which was exposed as early as the 20s.

The World Bank is internally governed by a small number of economically powerful countries and lacks transparency, which has aroused strong dissatisfaction among poor countries.The world financial system is neither fair nor democratic.Now that it is known to be unfair and undemocratic, can it be revised?The answer is simple, no!Because the United States does not agree, the United States has the right to say "no".Because the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are derived from the Bretton Woods system of the year, there is a lot of knowledge about voting.Countries around the world will get votes weighted according to their share of bank shares, with the US alone at 16%.When it comes to voting on major issues, the advantages of the United States are fully revealed.

Then, can China unite with other countries and add voting rights together, so that more than 16% can always take the initiative.But it still doesn't work!There is a rule in the charter: Whenever there is a major issue, such as amending the charter, it must be passed with 85% of the votes.Even if all the countries in the world unite, it is useless. The United States can decide the outcome with one vote. You are completely out of luck with this kind of game, right?This is the secret of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund under the Bretton Woods system.Rich countries wield big knives, and poor countries can only be slaughtered arbitrarily!
Powers are well aware of the importance of public opinion. As the president of the World Bank, Zoellick simply ignores the interests of other countries. He often uses his status as president of the World Bank to create public opinion around the world.In the recent confrontation between China and the United States about the appreciation of the renminbi, Zoellick's remarks on the appreciation of the renminbi have never stopped, including asking China to buy US bonds. Obviously, he is only safeguarding the interests of the United States.

The main characteristic of the dominant state in the world is its ability to establish and organize an international system, and most other countries can only accept this system if they want to participate.For example, before 1914, the British version of the international gold standard system was dominated by the empire on which the sun never sets—the United Kingdom.After the two world wars, with the decline of Britain and the rise of the United States, the gold standard system gradually gave way to the Bretton Woods system.

Take again the example of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).During the Asian financial crisis, Malaysia and Japan proposed the establishment of an "Asian Monetary Fund", which showed that the region was dissatisfied with the IMF and wanted to set up its own portal against the big powers led by the United States.This naturally aroused strong opposition from the United States and the IMF, because you moved his cheese.

Back to Wall Street.If we want to further fully participate in the money game of Wall Street, we must know ourselves and our enemies, and take steps at every step.You must not have the heart to harm others, and you must have the heart to guard against others. You must recognize that Wall Street is a primitive jungle where the weak can prey on the strong. If you want not to be swallowed, you must change yourself from a rabbit to a sheep, and then from a sheep to a wolf; and If you want to win in Dances with Wolves, you have to be a tiger and a lion!

2. Will you be hired by a Wall Street investment bank?
Wall Street is where the "elites" gather. Before 1994, this place was dominated by white people, and even white people had to be graduates of top 10 prestigious schools to be eligible to enter.However, there are exceptions to everything. For example, positions such as Wall Street traders and financial product salesmen do not require high academic qualifications.

Recently, my friend's son Joseph broke into Wall Street.In normal times, everyone said congratulations and it was over.But the current financial crisis has not yet passed, and about half of the people laid off by Wall Street last year are still looking for jobs.As a history student at an ordinary university in New York, one semester before graduation, and his major has nothing to do with finance and securities, how did Joseph get into Wall Street?

It turned out that one day a month ago, Joseph accidentally saw a small advertisement in the advertisement column of the university campus.Nothing was written on it, just a web page: www. followed by a string of strange numbers and letters.He thought it was very interesting, so he remembered the URL.When he went home to surf the Internet, he clicked in by the way, but unexpectedly there was a question asking him to comment on a piece of current news within 10 minutes.He immediately wrote a large paragraph of text eloquently, giving full play to his own opinions. When the 10 minutes were up, a form suddenly flashed on the screen. He saw that it was an application form for the position of assistant trader on Wall Street, and asked him to fill it out.

Soon, the door of Wall Street opened to him.

Although I have been on Wall Street for fifteen or sixteen years, after hearing Joseph's "adventure", I still can't help but exclaim, the person who came up with this recruitment method is really talented!
To be able to notice an inconspicuous advertisement in the colorful advertisement column - it means that this person is very curious about new things in the world around him; to be able to memorize the URL composed of numbers and letters in his mind - It shows that this person has a photographic memory and a strong memory; when he returns home and surfs the Internet, he still remembers to click in and have a look-it shows that this person has perseverance in doing things; Likes to think; and then conducts a comprehensive analysis of current affairs and news within 10 minutes, rather than following others' opinions, which shows that this person is quick to respond, well-informed, and has a high IQ.Aren't these the most basic potential of a successful trader?

The most enviable position in an investment bank is that of a trader. It is not uncommon to hear about millions, tens of millions, or hundreds of millions of dollars in red envelopes every year.However, trading is a job with great pressure. It requires traders to have comprehensive market knowledge, master financial tools and have psychological intuition. Not only high IQ and financial quotient, but also emotional quotient is more important.The way of interviewing them is naturally varied.

My friend Chris, a trader, talks about his interview with Deutsche Bank's securities department.He used to work as a trader in an investment bank in the UK. He has five or six years of experience, and his qualifications are not shallow.At that time, there was a vacancy for a trader in the securities department of Deutsche Bank, which was dedicated to trading for a rich man. The securities products he made happened to be familiar to Chris, and the basic salary would be increased by half, and the bonus would also be divided according to performance.Chris knew that the rich man was addicted to gambling and had frequent transactions, that is to say, the transaction volume was huge and his performance was easy to improve.So, he hoped to jump ship in the past.As soon as Chris submitted his cover letter, he was immediately scheduled for an interview.

On the day of the interview, as soon as Chris walked into the office, his future boss first shook hands with him, gave him his seat, was polite to him, and asked him where he lived and what subway number to come to the office?Is commuting letter convenient?Suddenly... the boss got up and slapped the table, grabbed the teacup and threw it down, shouting at him: "You! Get lost! You stupid idiot! '(You! Get out of here, you idiot!) Luckily, Chris is battle-hardened, and we've seen a lot of this.He sat there calmly, smiling and saying nothing, and only after his boss had finished "going crazy" did he speak slowly.As a result, he got his wish, and he got this satisfactory employment contract.Chris is very clear that the purpose of this kind of interview is to test whether he can face those overbearing big customers in the future and whether he has sufficient ability to deal with emergencies.The boss doesn't want his traders to lose big clients.In fact, before the interview, he was already mentally prepared.

Speaking of Joseph's experience of entering Wall Street and the shocking interview with Chris, I can't help but think of a phone interview I encountered when I changed jobs.

At that time, the Credit Suisse I applied for was one of the fifth largest consortiums in the world, and its investment bank, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), was also one of the top ten investment banks on Wall Street.

When I got home from get off work that evening, I received a phone call. A person who called himself Donald asked me, "Did you apply for the CSFB position?"

I said yes.Nerves were immediately tense, ready to deal with the financial and technical issues he gave.

Unexpectedly, his second question was: "Do you know where the house price is the highest in the world?" I was taken aback, and immediately answered: "San Francisco." He then asked: "Where is the highest living standard?" "Of course Japan Tokyo." I replied.

"So what kind of car do Germans like to drive most? Do Japanese people drive more private cars or take buses?" He asked me these unrelated questions one after another, and then asked: "Which movie star has Where did you adopt the third child?" "Which baseball team recently finished second by one pitch?" "Which novel entered the best-selling list" and other questions, chatting for two and a half hours. .Fortunately, I love reading newspapers, magazines and all kinds of "idle books", and my memory is not bad, so I can talk about these things with eloquence.

Donald and I hit it off and asked me to meet him the next day.The door of Credit Suisse was thus opened to me.

At the time, I wondered, why would Donald ask me these questions on the phone?Later, after getting acquainted with Donna, they began to ask the bottom line.He told me that he knows that highly educated professionals in China have absolutely no problems in business, but dealing with people is usually a problem.As for my job, I need to deal with traders and customers, and I must be able to "talk".So I asked me those questions ramblingly, but I didn't expect to hit my gunpoint.It seems that Wall Street people also like to pull relationships.

In fact, to work on Wall Street, in addition to the necessary academic qualifications, experience, and business capabilities, sometimes soft skills are more important, such as the ability to speak and public relations above, as well as stress resistance and network resources. You have to be all-rounder.

(End of this chapter)