[quote=partypup][quote=davelj][quote=scaredycat]lawyer ad something to society.
it’s productive. imagine a society without a legal system. bad.
lawyers are good.[/quote]
How about “some” lawyers are good. Most are degreed overpaid paralegals – empty suits. Who would no more car jack someone than fly to the moon. Nope, I’m not worried about “lawyers gone bad” roaming the streets for victims. I’ve never met any that had the stomach for it. That’s why they choose to battle with each other via briefs. “Hand over that car, Sir, or I will inflict eggregious damage to your person with my genuine leather briefcase! And be hasty about it!!”[/quote]
Speaking as a lawyer, I know very well that some of my colleagues would, if desperate and hungry enough, take you down in a dark alley. Don’t fool yourself.
And you’re forgetting that when highly-compensated professionals lose their jobs, the ripple effect in the economy is greater because their salaries were expended on a greater volume of goods and services than, say, a mechanic at a Chrysler dealership. When their $1 million+ homes go into foreclosure, it will further devastate a housing market that is already on life support. I suspect that you’re visiting this board because you have more than a passing interest in the trajectory of the housing market?
Stop getting hung up on the type of person losing their job and look at the macro effect to the economy. When jobs are lost, EVERYONE loses. And the higher up the food chain the losses occur, the greater the fallout.
Get over your spite and look at the big picture.[/quote]
I have to disagree with some of your statements and I’m not spiteful. I don’t think all lawyers are sleazeballs or get happy when one loses his or her job.
With that said, it’s a good thing some of them are losing their jobs. Just because they’re highly paid doesn’t mean they should continue to be, or greatly contributing to society. Angelo Mozilo or Dick Fuld come to mind instantly on the extreme end of the spectrum. What the heck did they do to deserve their salaries and bonuses? By your own admission earlier in the thread, you did not believe first year lawyers should be paid $175k. Everyone will not lose. Whether it be lawyers or bankers or realtors, the folks who are good at what they do will stick around and still provide superior service. I don’t need an MBA with no experience handling my finances or some lazy schmuck taking me to a home and think he’s doing me a favor when I’m going to pay for the service.
I will not lament this anymore than I’d lament home prices going down. A lot of good people are regrettably hurt during the process, but it’s a necessary process that we must go through. When all is said and done we’ll be (hopefully) better off as a country and society as a whole. We cannot support million dollar cookie cutter homes anymore than we can continually support investment bankers and lawyers just out of school making six figures or millions of realtors sitting around doing nothing and collecting money for giving purchasers an attitude. This is not a slam on lawyers or realtors, as I have a healthy respect for our resident realtor, SDR, from reading his posts. So no, a few lawyers getting laid off does not equal armageddon or a decay in society.
Why don’t you look at things another way, the money that was getting paid to an overpriced white collar worker like Mozilo could have been used to hire literally hundreds of people. Sure seems like a better deal to me. I don’t buy your theory of a greater fallout from the top.
You should also pick better friends and colleagues. I know many physically intimidating individuals who know how to handle themselves and a firearm, but they wouldn’t resort to robbery or murder. As bad as things get (are getting), we’re not in the middle of the Arctic or the Sahara, and this isn’t Mad Max. These individuals would (are) getting second jobs, and would rather starve or temporarily receive government assistance, beg, than hurt another human being. Your colleagues don’t inspire confidence in the ethics of your profession, and sound like inner city hoodlums making excuses and blaming society. “Itz a dog eat dog world n I gotz to get minez homie”. They may also find that they could turn out to be the victim instead of the predator. How good will they be to their family then?
