The End for Vice: Bullying? Bullying?!

[walkitout]

http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/wall_street200901

According to this piece, one of the things that drove spendthrift wall-street luxury was peer pressure.

"“The culture was that if you didn’t spend extravagantly you’d be ridiculed at work,” says a former Lehmanite."

I could not possibly make that up. You know, we used to have sumptuary laws to prevent extravagance. It became _mandatory_?

Comments

[aswego.livejournal.com]

we used to have sumptuary laws to prevent extravagance

Of course, that was often an excuse for the upper classes to try to keep others in their places, so merchants and their wives couldn't wear the ritzy attire that aristocrats impoverished themselves to display.

[kaneda-khan.livejournal.com]

They say many startups were encouraged by VCs to overbuy impressive spaces and lavish furnishings (Aeron chairs) and equipment (Sun blades), not so much to attract top talent, but so their VCs can impress other VCs with how shiny and brushed-with-greatness their portfolio is. I've kind of wondered whether any of it is just subtle dominance games among their peer group, or maintaining the self-confidence to keep making bets that big.