Bye, Bye, Bear

I'm walking on sunshine at today's demise of Bear, Stearns & Co. I know, I know—it'll be rough on the economy. And it could be the beginning of the end of other major firms. But it couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch of sons of bitches.

I was a hired as a trader/trainee at Bear, Stearns in 1985. I earned the princely sum of $10,000 a year. After taxes, I received $315.02 every two weeks. (My rent was $425, for half of a sixth-floor two-bedroom on a crack-infested street in the Barrio of Manhattan's Manhattan Valley neighborhood. I survived by driving a taxi at night.) Three factoids:

First, if I'd earned $20 less per week, I would have qualified for food stamps. I requested a pay cut from my boss. He said no.

Second, the CEO of Bear Stearns at the time, "Ace" Greenberg (he gave himself the nickname), "earned" $40 million per annum.

Third, when the opening of the New York Stock Exchange moved from 10 am to 9:30, we were told to come to work a half-hour earlier, at 8:30. Did we get a raise? Nope.

I was working there when Bear Stearns went public. Each employee received shares, which opened at, as I recall, about $24 each. Because our allotment was based on our salaries (shouldn't it have been inversely proportional?), I received eight shares. What a joke! I quit shortly thereafter. My next job paid $17,500, which seemed huge by comparison.

I ended up at a Japanese bank with a far more egalitarian payscale. The president earned about $125,000; the lowest paid worker in the fax room got about $20,000. Morale was excellent, the president knew everybody's names, raises of 15% were standard.

Bear Stearns' stock, trading at $170 one year ago, is now worth $2. The company won't be missed, at least not by those of who contributed to its bottom line without receiving fair pay for a day's work.