I’m a fairly realistic person. I understand that, on average, 3 people read this site. In all honesty, I prefer that. I think throwing your thoughts, career, and personal information for the world to read is relinquishing yourself to a life of slavery to public approval. That and blogging is discouraged at my company.

This post deals with something the majority of people who would consider a close friends do know: that I am torn. There are two careers that I was born to do; being a trader or a lawyer. And no, they aren’t the same thing. That kind of trader is spelled “traitor”. Nice try though. License

Everyone knows what a lawyer is. A trader is an investment professional who specializes in the actual buying and selling of securities in a global market. Think of it this way (I’ll speak so a Hillsdale person can understand it). A think tank comes up with political ideas. Politicians act on those ideas to advance their interests. A portfolio manager comes up with ideas and looks for trends in the market, and the trader acts on them. This isn’t a perfect or even a good analogy, but without a good couple years of theory you probably wouldn’t get it anyway.

So, what are the differences between the two? In my opinion, one career is decidedly modern while the other is decidedly post-modern. I believe these competing paradigms within myself are actually the cause of my confusion. To me, the two professions can be summed up in the characters of two men: Gordan Gekko and Larry Arnn. Extremes? No doubt. Run with me on this.

Gordan Gekko, for many, embodied the 80s ethos. In him, you can see Ayn Rand’s influence (a terrible writer by the way) in the way that he lives his life. Gordan is rich, strong, handsome, educated, and a fighter. So convincing was his portrayal in the 80s cult classic film Wall Street that he continues to influence young men to this day. A recent Brooks Brother’s advertisement for their new Black Fleece line (a Thom Browne creation) had a well dressed man in a suit with the caption “captions of industry”. This is an old quote used to describe those men who manipulated industry and created the first strains of aristocracy in our budding nation. Robber barons. A good capitalist would claim that were visionaries. If you are a young men intent on learning more about the role they played to create our modern world the title Captains and Kings is most definitely worth the read. As a warning, it borders on conspiracy theory but the lessons are still worth learning. In short, a captain of industry is a man who lives off of “models and bottles”, works 100 hours a week, and doesn’t get to play with the toys he buys.

Larry Arnn is the president of prestigious mid-west university. I had the opportunity to dine with him and several other students while I was still in college. I remember the evening culminating in a self-satisfying debate with the president of the senior class. Larry had indulged in several glasses of wine and with flushed face and fingers pointing with emphasis he challenged the young man to a You Got Served kind of latin quoting contest. From Ovid to Plato, his rotund figure sweating with the joy of the hunt Larry closed on his prey. Finally, the young man paid the establishment the ultimate insult; he misquoted Socrates. All turned to look at the President in stunned silence. The mirth disappeared from his jowls as he pointed a lone finger at the young man. A quiet rendition of the line verbatim led to the applause of the rest of the room.

Obviously, I took creative license with my presentation. The events of the story though are absolutely true and hope you felt led to a particular point (to my friends at my alma mater, I hope you were able to laugh). The point to me is that, in his mind, he stands as the old-guard to tradition and ideas far, far older that even the history of our nation. Standing by precedent because others have done so before you and not thinking and reasoning as the Greek Philosophers of old seems to disown their tradition. I wonder what Socrates mind would do with modern science. The nearly prehistoric ideas in science, medicine, and warfare aren’t used today. Do you think you would let a doctor with dated theories operate on you? If I hear anything about humors or leaches, I hit the floor running.  

In summary, law is absolutely essential in any modern society. Is our look at law and education really sufficient? I think legal theory needs to change. Law is not simply the defense of precedent. In fact, it would sound like a believe in a living constitution. The truth is that I don’t. I believe in law being quite literal and not up for interpretation. That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe that many changes need to be made to our nation laws. I think the main issue with law in the massive body of precedent that we have. Using common law for legal precedent seems bizarre to me. You can find any case to justify almost any theory. This is an idea called “legal realism”. But I digress.

So, there are two paths in front of me that I am very good at. What do I do?

Well then.

After nearly a lifetime of silence, I am going to return to this blog. I have actually written posts in between that I may put on here in the future. Sort of a cool retrospective on my life throughout these last few months.

Things are blissfully different, yet infuriatingly the same. I work for the ____ ________ ______ doing actual financials; a field which the mighty alumni base of Hillsdale College has yet to infiltrate (I think there is one girl who is an admin to a PMA, but she answers phones). My alma-doesn’t-matter has strengths, one of which is insuring that every business major that leaves the college will regret ever attending there. Naturally, that is not the case as there are many that I hold near and dear to my heart at that school. I did learn an incredible amount of History, political science, Economics, and yes, dare I say it, finance at the institution that I must be, at the very least, grateful to my professors (Seven commas boy!) That and I learned old English. To you, random linker who found this site from Samuel’s blog, that means I went to a liberal arts school.

What do I do at my job? Well, my title is “Investment Accountant” and it is, like it sounds, and unholy consummation of two very different disciplines. I work in what is called “the back office” in the financial world. This is as terrible as the ominous word “back” implies: my job is literally to cling to the back of any trader I can find and hang on for dear life over my ten hour shift. I quickly learned the tricks one needs to survive in the industry: rodeo gloves, cleats, and the ability to alt-tab back into that financial model I was working on. If you are an attractive woman (which I am going to go ahead and guess you are not) you are probably thinking to yourself if I make a lot of money. The truth is the majority of back office workers do not make any money. At all. Turnover is also very heavy as traders are getting more and more adept at curdling trade support off their backs (the icy weather helps). I am…an exception. Unlike the majority of state school back office drones, I actually know quite a bit about finance.

During a recent meeting, a VP began to go into the difference between alpha and beta. Appalled that I was going to relive finance 101 I raised my hand and ask if we could skip ahead in the lecture about benchmarking to the parts we didn’t already know. My comment was greeted with stares and sips of coffee as the “finance majors” asked our VP to continue.

 What’s new in my life? Music. Well, that’s not that new for people who know me. I am getting into DJing. I am getting turntables, vinyl, production software, and looking into CDJs. I am starting to find music to mash up, remix, and write. Music is pretty much all of I love outside of work. I watch some movies and television too. I get new clothes. But what I really love is music.

What do I enjoy? Well, I think that every playlist should have a combination of the past, present, and future (brand, brand new). You might be the first person to listen to that hot new Spank Rock track in your state, but if nobody knows it yet and you try to play it the floor will probably clear out. 

Past:

Massive Attack, Tricky, DJ Shadow’s first album, Cut Chemist

Present:

Justice.

Future:

Girl Talk

Currently Reading The Fountainhead By Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff see related

Three thousand seven hundred

Friday.

Monday is a big day for us all.

The fourth quarter, the final lap, one last push to make earnings goals and projections are all important. Most of the financial world is taking it slow today. Trading is relatively light and all is quiet on the M&A front in quiet respect to the coming storm. Like a runner posed on the blocks, we allow a moment of calm out of respect for ourselves and fellow financial brethren.  

But Monday is a far more important day than just that. Monday will mark the beginning of what very well could be the most important legal days since John Marshall made the law our lives: Bush’s Supreme Court.

I don’t mean to tack Bush’s name on there to give it a negative connotation. This court was sculpted by the Republican Party; Bush Junior in particular. Nominating two SC justices, particularly the Chief Justice, in such a short time is almost unprecedented. Having them confirmed is even more impressive.

What will come of this new era? It is a question posed retroactively in Jeffrey Toobin’s new book The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. I will be reading what is the current penultimate guide to the lives and secrets of the supreme court justices. Though it seems a little tabloid-like in purpose, after reading the introduction I have to admit: The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin is a man who can write. And do so quite well.

I will, of course, keep you updated loyal reader, with my trademark pedantic thoughts and opinions. I may have allowed a temporary reprieve in my desire to pursue constitutional law, but I refuse to let events beyond my control affect my interests.

Adieu.

Currently Reading Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.) By Anthony Bourdain see related

Deep Fat Fryer of Thoughts.