Goldman Director resigns and lets it all hang out

[Gone4Good]

Well since the thread has been jacked....

I very much agree with ERD that there is strong tendency for people to view the past through rose-colored glasses.

Not completely jacked. The Op Ed in question is based entirely on nostalgia for a firm that never existed.

 

[clifp]

Not completely jacked. The Op Ed in question is based entirely on nostalgia for a firm that never existed.

LOL so true. On the Newshour last night, a business school professor was reading quotes about GS vampire-squid like behavior that go back to the 1920s.

 

[ERD50]

Well since the thread has been jacked....

I very much agree with ERD that there is strong tendency for people to view the past through rose-colored glasses. I think if anything the data suggests Millennial's/generation Y are actually more law-abiding honest than either Gen X or Boomers. Drug use, teen pregnancy, and crime rates are all at at record low levels going back to 30 to 50 years. Personally I think they have more in common with the Greatest Generation having been through a decade of war and an almost depression.

It's a tough thing to attempt to measure. I really don't know what to think. I was just honestly curious how someone could feel that it was so strongly one way or the other.

That said I think Midpack is right in the respect for intellectual property is very low and most people (especially young people) don't view downloading a song or movie as stealing. Even though there is very little difference between walking out of a store with a CD and downloading a bunch of MP3. Most everybody thinks the first is stealing and wrong, but for most young people the second is the equivalent of jaywalking at empty street.

Yes, and I'm pretty sensitive to it. A friend of mine started his own software company, and piracy was a big issue for him. And I always wanted to be a Rock Star, so when I see IP stolen, I think - 'that coulda been me they are stealing from!"

I was a bit surprised when someone I know that is in Theatrical Management said casually to a friend, 'Oh, I have that CD, you can copy it'. I though she'd be more sensitive to those issues.

I think it is different (psychologically) from stealing a physical CD though. There's just something about physically holding it, knowing there is a real risk of being caught, and knowing that the shop owner is out the wholesale cost. Since the mp3 is still 'there' after you copy it, it mentally seems different from physically stealing it. It can be rationalized easier, like, 'I probably wouldn't buy it anyhow, so they aren't missing a sale, I'll just listen a couple times, no harm done', etc. To be clear, I'm not trying to rationalize it, but I think it is easier for many people to rationalize copying something, than it is to rationalize physically stealing it.

What if there was some magical way to pick up the CD in the store, copy it by just holding near your iPod as you looked at it, and could put it back on the shelf? I bet that would be looked at differently from physically walking away with it.

A 'glass half full' way to look at this is - look at just how much music is downloaded legally. In some ways, that is kind of surprising, considering the ease of stealing.

Just wanted to point out that if you rip your music, it is legal because you still have the original one you purchased on CD... however, if you sell your CD you no longer have the right to possess that copy...

Yes agreed. I said I wouldn't do it for ethical reasons, but it would also be technically illegal, though I can't imagine it being tracked down in any way, unless you were running huge volumes. IIRC, in the UK, such 'fair use' is not technically legal. That seems odd to me, if I bought it I should be able to move it to other media for my own use, or as a back up (I wonder how many people back up their music collections?).

-ERD50

 

[obgyn65]

A friend of mine works for a "Big Four" accounting firm. She has similar complaints about her company, which is supposed to serve its clients' interests. In fact, the firm's partners' interests often come first...

Again, some are certainly better than others but I don't think anything about this story is unique to financial services or any other industry.