Editing Wall Street (section)

====As a financial symbol====
{{Financial markets}} 
Wall Street in a conceptual sense represents financial and economic power. To Americans, it can sometimes represent elitism and power politics, and its role has been a source of controversy throughout the nation's history, particularly beginning around the [[Gilded Age]] period in the late 19th century. Wall Street became the symbol of a country and economic system that many Americans see as having developed through trade, capitalism, and innovation.<ref>Fraser (2005).</ref>

The term "Wall Street" has become a [[metonym]] for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the [[Financial services in the United States|American financial services industry]], or New York–based financial interests.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Kimberly|last=Amadeo|title=Learn how Wall Street works|url=https://www.thebalance.com/introduction-to-wall-street-for-beginners-358143|access-date=September 6, 2020|website=The Balance|language=en|archive-date=October 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030170755/https://www.thebalance.com/introduction-to-wall-street-for-beginners-358143|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Wall%20Street Merriam-Webster Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012142345/http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Wall%20Street |date=October 12, 2007}}, retrieved July 17, 2007.</ref> Wall Street has become synonymous with financial interests, often used negatively.<ref name="Kuttner2010">{{cite web |first=Robert |last=Kuttner |title=Zillions for Wall Street, Zippo for Barack's Old Neighborhood |website=Huffington Post |date=August 22, 2010 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/zillions-for-wall-street-_b_690541.html |access-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104046/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/zillions-for-wall-street-_b_690541.html |url-status=live }}</ref> During the [[subprime mortgage crisis]] from 2007 to 2010, Wall Street financing was blamed as one of the causes, although most commentators blame an interplay of factors. The U.S. government with the [[Troubled Asset Relief Program]] bailed out the banks and financial backers with billions of taxpayer dollars, but the bailout was often criticized as politically motivated,<ref name="Kuttner2010" /> and was criticized by journalists as well as the public. Analyst [[Robert Kuttner]] in the ''[[Huffington Post]]'' criticized the bailout as helping large Wall Street firms such as Citigroup while neglecting to help smaller community development banks such as Chicago's [[ShoreBank]].<ref name="Kuttner2010" /> One writer in the ''Huffington Post'' looked at [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] statistics on robbery, fraud, and crime and concluded that Wall Street was the "most dangerous neighborhood in the United States" if one factored in the $50 billion [[fraud]] perpetrated by [[Bernie Madoff]].<ref>{{cite web |first=B. Jeffrey |last=Madoff |title=The Most Dangerous Neighborhood in the United States |website=Huffington Post |date=March 10, 2009 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/b-jeffrey-madoff/the-most-dangerous-neighb_b_173667.html |access-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-date=July 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160714071415/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/b-jeffrey-madoff/the-most-dangerous-neighb_b_173667.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

When large firms such as [[Enron]], [[WorldCom]], and [[Global Crossing]] were found guilty of fraud, Wall Street was often blamed,<ref name="guardian20050521" /> even though these firms had headquarters around the nation and not in Wall Street. Many complained that the resulting [[Sarbanes-Oxley]] legislation dampened the business climate with regulations that were "overly burdensome".<ref>{{cite news |first=Daniel |last=Altman |title=Other financial centers could rise amid crisis |work=The New York Times: Business |date=September 30, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/worldbusiness/30iht-glob01.1.16579561.html |access-date=January 15, 2011 |archive-date=November 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101031817/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/worldbusiness/30iht-glob01.1.16579561.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Interest groups seeking favor with [[Washington, D.C.|Washington lawmakers]], such as car dealers, have often sought to portray their interests as allied with ''Main Street'' rather than ''Wall Street'', although analyst Peter Overby on ''[[National Public Radio]]'' suggested that car dealers have written over $250 billion in consumer loans and have real ties with ''Wall Street''.<ref>{{cite news |first=Peter |last=Overby |title=Car Dealers May Escape Scrutiny Of Consumer Loans |publisher=NPR |date=June 24, 2010 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128068332 |access-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108093556/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128068332 |url-status=live }}</ref>

When the [[United States Treasury]] bailed out large financial firms, to ostensibly halt a downward spiral in the nation's economy, there was tremendous negative political fallout, particularly when reports came out that monies supposed to be used to ease credit restrictions were being used to pay bonuses to highly paid employees.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hard Times, But Big Wall Street Bonuses |publisher=CBS News |date=November 12, 2008 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hard-times-but-big-wall-street-bonuses/ |access-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-date=October 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010153413/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/12/earlyshow/main4595179.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Analyst [[William D. Cohan]] argued that it was "obscene" how Wall Street reaped "massive profits and bonuses in 2009" after being saved by "trillions of dollars of American taxpayers' treasure" despite Wall Street's "greed and irresponsible risk-taking".<ref>{{cite news |first=William D. |last=Cohan |title=You're Welcome, Wall Street |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 19, 2010 |url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/youre-welcome-wall-street/ |access-date=January 15, 2011 |archive-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809003309/https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/youre-welcome-wall-street/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Washington Post]]'' reporter Suzanne McGee called for Wall Street to make a sort of public apology to the nation, and expressed dismay that people such as [[Goldman Sachs]] chief executive [[Lloyd Blankfein]] hadn't expressed contrition despite being sued by the [[Securities and Exchange Commission|SEC]] in 2009.<ref name="wp20100630">{{cite news |first=Suzanne |last=McGee |title=Will Wall Street ever apologize? |newspaper=Washington Post |date=June 30, 2010 |url=http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/guestinsights/2010/06/wall-street-and-the-noble-art-of-the-apology.html |access-date=January 15, 2011 |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023144613/http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/guestinsights/2010/06/wall-street-and-the-noble-art-of-the-apology.html |url-status=live }}</ref> McGee wrote that "Bankers aren't the sole culprits, but their too-glib denials of responsibility and the occasional vague and waffling expression of regret don't go far enough to deflect anger."<ref name="wp20100630" />

[[File:60 Wall Street building.jpg|thumb|upright|right|US headquarters of [[Deutsche Bank]] at [[60 Wall Street]] in 2010]]
But chief banking analyst at [[Goldman Sachs]], Richard Ramsden, is "unapologetic" and sees "banks as the dynamos that power the rest of the economy".<ref name="guardian20101007" /> Ramsden believes "risk-taking is vital" and said in 2010:

{{blockquote|You can construct a banking system in which no bank will ever fail, in which there's no leverage. But there would be a cost. There would be virtually no economic growth because there would be no credit creation.|Richard Ramsden of Goldman Sachs, 2010.<ref name="guardian20101007" />}}

Others in the financial industry believe that they have been unfairly castigated by the public and by politicians. For example, [[Anthony Scaramucci]] reportedly told President [[Barack Obama]] in 2010 that he felt like a [[piñata]], "whacked with a stick" by "hostile politicians".<ref name="guardian20101007" /> The financial misdeeds of various figures throughout American history sometimes casts a dark shadow on financial investing as a whole, and include names such as [[William Duer (Continental Congressman)|William Duer]], [[James Fisk (financier)|Jim Fisk]] and [[Jay Gould]] (the latter two believed to have been involved with an effort to collapse the U.S. gold market in 1869) as well as modern figures such as [[Bernard Madoff]] who "bilked billions from investors".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://traveltips.usatoday.com/walking-tours-nyc-11759.html|title=Walking Tours of NYC|first=T.L.|last=Chancellor|date=January 14, 2010|access-date=January 14, 2010|publisher=USA Today: Travel|archive-date=October 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005153339/https://traveltips.usatoday.com/walking-tours-nyc-11759.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In addition, images of Wall Street and its figures have loomed large. The 1987 [[Oliver Stone]] film ''[[Wall Street (1987 film)|Wall Street]]'' created the iconic figure of [[Gordon Gekko]] who used the phrase "greed is good", which caught on in the cultural parlance.<ref name="nyt20090908" /> Gekko is reportedly based on multiple real-life individuals on Wall Street, including corporate raider Carl Icahn, disgraced stock trader Ivan Boesky, and investor Michael Ovitz.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chen|first=James|title=Who Is Gordon Gekko?|url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gordon-gekko.asp|access-date=September 6, 2020|website=Investopedia|language=en|archive-date=November 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119052043/https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gordon-gekko.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2009, Stone commented how the film had had an unexpected cultural influence, not causing them to turn away from corporate greed, but causing many young people to choose Wall Street careers because of the film.<ref name="nyt20090908">{{cite news |first=Tim |last=Arango |title=Greed Is Bad, Gekko. So Is a Meltdown. |work=The New York Times: Movies |date=September 7, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/movies/08stone.html |access-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-date=November 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109035921/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/movies/08stone.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A reporter repeated other lines from the film: "I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, Buddy. A player."<ref name="nyt20090908" /> Wall Street firms have, however, also contributed to projects such as [[Habitat for Humanity]], as well as done food programs in [[Haiti]], trauma centers in [[Sudan]], and rescue boats during floods in [[Bangladesh]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Emily |last=Wax |title=Wall Street Greed? Not in This Neighborhood |newspaper=Washington Post |date=October 11, 2008 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101002937.html |access-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108092705/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101002937.html |url-status=live }}</ref>