Publisher's Note Oct/Nov 2k8

THIS DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN

As we go to press with this issue the winds of havoc are devastating the once stalwart Wall Street landscape. First Bear Stearns goes under and now Lehman Brothers. What is so crazy about this is that you had an institution that has been around more that 150 years vanish in one single weekend. Honestly, it did not have to happen. Next up was another great pillar of Wall Street, Merrill Lynch, but Bank of America saved it for a reported $44 billion. What Merrill Lynch did, literally, was save itself from the same exact fate that fell upon Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. The crazy thing about all of this is that it did not have to happen.

Most of these companies stock value were wiped out by something called “short selling.” Short selling is an advanced investing technique that allows you to make money as a stock loses its value. In July 2007 the Securities Exchange Commission eliminated a rule that would have helped to prevent the sharp downward momentum of a stock. If this simple rule had still been in place it would have prevented a 158-year-old company from being wiped out in two days. Make no mistake, there are some people out there that became very rich from the demise of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and thousands of jobs.

Now don’t get me wrong, these companies definitely played a role in their demise and for over 100 years these companies have made hundreds of millions of dollars trading everything from slaves to wheat to loans. Even still, over the years they had evolved to become great businesses and financial staples in this great country of ours. It was sad to see them go and the jobs that have gone along with them.

I recently spoke with a good friend of mine who was living the high life just two years ago. He had his own office in New York and a three-bedroom condo, as well as, a beautiful one-bedroom condo on the beach in Miami. During our conversation he confided in me that his condo in Miami was worth just a little more than half of what he paid for it. He fits the perfect profile of many young, successful, urban professionals. Yet, he is now deciding if he should just stop paying the mortgage on that property, let it foreclose and rebuild his credit from there.

It is the scenario that I just described (and many others like it) why our federal government just became the nation’s largest insurer by purchasing a 79.9% stake in AIG for $85 billion. While many are upset about using our tax dollars to bail out Wall Street firms we had to save AIG. It insures so many things that matter in our day-to-day life that its failure would have been felt by many from far and wide. In the end, no one knows where the bottom to this financial mess is, but we are all in this together. After all, this is our dream, our land, our America, where anything we want to accomplish, achieve and overcome is possible!

SINGLE URBAN PROFESSIONAL ISSUE

Each year we take a look at being a single urban professional, finding the ying to our professional yang. We hope you enjoy our roundtable discussion of urban professionals such as yourselves who are both looking for love and success! As always, a big thank you to you for supporting NV, our advertisers and to the creator of all things. May each of you be blessed.