Wall Street, R.I.P.: The End of an Era

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Is Wall Street Over ' asked a headline in the Wall Street Journal in March (Deogun Cohn , 2009 . With Finance Over , Which Career Will Be King ' asked a headline in the New York Times in April (Lohr , 2009

Wall Street is changing , but it certainly isn 't over . As long as companies need capital and institutional investors need returns , there

br will be a financial industry to provide both

However , some of today 's financial giants may not survive the crisis that began with the dissolution of Bear Sterns and the bankruptcy of Lehman brothers . Right now , every financial institution in the United States is struggling . Global financial institutions have reported more than 1 .3 trillion in writedowns and losses tied to the meltdown of the subprime-mortgage market since 2007 , according to Bloomberg data (Katz 2009 ' The government has taken over AIG , Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Citigroup , Bank of America , Goldman Sachs , and JP Morgan Chase have taken bailout money from the federal government and their true financial condition is unclear . The names Moody 's and Standard Poor 's have lost their credibility

Former high flyers are feeling the pinch . In 2008 , bonuses shrank by 44 , along with profits , for those lucky enough to have survived the job cuts that sent 400 ,000 financial sector employees packing in the...