From Riches To Poverty

Posted by Jennifer McClelland on October 12, 2009

The Wall Street Journal has started revealing how the New York financial area is in such awful straits presently that some ex- stock gurus have disappeared to the modest life of working for a income. For example, look at Carlos Araya. He was once the Wall Street administrator you would see ordering high-priced dinners at the Palm Restaurant in midtown Manhattan. Nowadays, he waits tables at the restaurant. As Wall Street started to hurt, he was laid off as a crude oil broker on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2007. After awful luck at finding a new job in the investment industry, he applied in August 2008 to be a host at the Palm topay your bills. He is making just over 10 percent of his original salary.

Some former investment brokers, used to performing high end jobs that they are well trained for and earning wages a quantity of individuals would destroy for, are required to agree to low-salary employment since they just cannot exchange their skill and instruction into a career like the one they misplaced. Currently, Mr. Araya is looking at insolvency and is positive that he will by no means go back to the investment game.

Unfortunately, there are thousands of stories like this one. Almost 25,000 positions have been misplaced in the economic region in New York by itself from the time August 2007. Previous to 2012, that number is supposed to hike up to 56,800. This figure began building in 2007 during the financial hiccup that was a predecessor to our present downturn, in which Araya lost his profession.

John Carbonaro was laid off from his job with Bank of America as a floor clerk in January 2009, and in spite of his understanding and appeal, at this time takes care of the marital duties in the relatives. Joe Morrone, a former Prudential trading clerk, has been jobless for two years and struggles to provide for his daughters and grandson. He has worked in a deli, as a doorman, and a bouncer. He used to possess three automobiles for just his private use. Now he shares one household car they strain to pay for.

Araya sometimes sees previous coworkers from Wall Street at the Palm for the duration of his shifts. A few are nice meetings, offering back-up. Some meetings are not so nice. “The way they look at you, you know they’re thinking negatively,” he says. Others come in asking if they can get a job there too. With 25,000 laid off, it’s certain many of them want a job there.

Araya’s daughter asked him if they can afford their house or if they would have to move. He told her he was not sure. She asked him if he knew how much cash the household required. ‘The way she looked at me,’ Araya says, ‘I could tell she was counting the money in her piggy bank. ‘The emotionally agonizing conversation with his daughter caused him to run into the bathroom and weep. ‘At the end of the week, I get my paycheck and I think, ‘I used to make this much in a day,’ he adds.