CHENGDU -- The Shanghai stock market has been one wild ride for the last few months. The world has watched as stocks soared for months before a precipitous plunge in recent weeks. Millions of "novice investors" got involved in the markets when prices dramatically increased last year, the Associated Press reported.
So what do normal Chinese people think about the roller coaster markets, now that they're in a meltdown?
To find out, we surveyed a few people in the southwestern city of Chengdu. Best known for its spicy food and beautiful women, Chengdu isn’t exactly the epicenter of rabid financial speculation. Here’s what Chengdu residents had to say about the raucous Shanghai stock market.
Lin Liuzhi, 55, retired
Do you or your family play the stock market? I’ve never bought stocks but my daughter bought a few. She lost money but not that much. Have you been paying attention to news about the stock market? Not very much. My daughter might pay more attention. Will the stock market recover? That’s really hard to say. Will the turmoil in the stock market affect your life? It won’t really affect me because I don’t buy stocks and my daughter didn’t buy that many stocks.
Li Zheng, 60, retired
Do you or your family play the stock market? I never get involved with the Chinese stock market because of the way people play it. Ordinary Chinese people are just gambling on stocks. They don’t look at the real value of the companies when they invest. When things look good they rush in, when things look bad they run away. Have you been paying attention to news about the stock market? Yea, I’ve been watching it a bit. Will the stock market recover? Right now this situation has nothing to do with the real value. They talk about capital markets, but I’ve been observing it for 10 years and I don’t know what the real value is. Will the turmoil in the stock market affect your life? It won’t affect me. I’m already retired. I just need my pension to go up a bit every year, and that isn’t connected to the stock markets. This year, salaries have been going up, but that’s because the economy is growing, not because the stock market is growing. The stock market was only growing because of the strategies people used. It’s separate from the real economy.
Mr. Jiang, 33, small business owner
Do you or your family play the stock market? I don’t, but my mom does. She’s played the markets for a long time, but she sold all of her stocks before it crashed. It was really lucky. She made around 200,000 RMB (about $32,000). Have you been paying attention to news about the stock market? Yep. Will the stock market recover? I don’t know, but if it does my mom will get back in. Will the turmoil in the stock market affect your life? It doesn’t influence me personally, but it influences my family.
Xiao Jinhua, 32, manager at Peter’s Tex Mex
Do you or your family play the stock market? I don’t have stocks, but some of my friends do. Some have been playing for a couple years. Have you been paying attention to news about the stock market? Recently it’s been falling, so I started to wonder why it dropped. But overall I’m not that interested. Will the stock market recover? I don’t really have much concept of the market. All I have is a feeling because I’ve never really gotten involved in buying and selling. According to some friends it’s not going to go up much in the short term, but I don’t know why. Will the turmoil in the stock market affect your life? Yes, it will. If people don’t have money then they won’t spend it at places like this. I think there will be some impact.
Hu Wei, left.
Hu Wei, 23, salesman
Do you or your family play the stock market? Never. But I’ve noticed that lots of girls play the stock market. Have you been paying attention to news about the stock market? No. I don’t understand it so why would I pay attention? Will the stock market recover? I have no idea. Will the turmoil in the stock market affect your life? Not at all. Out in this city we won’t feel the effects.
After decades of judging and shaming mothers for "abandoning" their kids while they went off to work to commit the horrible and selfish act of providing for their families, Americans are now overwhelmingly OK with working mothers, according to a paper published in the latest edition of Psychology of Women quarterly.
The study, from researchers at San Diego State University and the University of Georgia, looked at nationally representative survey data from the 1970s through 2013, and found big cultural shifts. In 1977, 68 percent of U.S. adults believed "a preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works," compared to 42 percent in 1998 and 35 percent in 2012. (A recent study found that, actually, having a working mother can have a very positive impact on a child.)
Younger adults were even more supportive of working mothers. The new study found that just 22 percent of high school seniors surveyed from 2010 to 2013 said they believe a child suffers when his or her mother works.
So that's cool. But the thing is, public policy and most private employers haven't caught up to changing attitudes. The U.S. still remains the only democratic nation on the planet without any paid parental leave.
"The reality is, most women with young children are in the workplace," said Jean Twenge, the author of "Generation Me" and a psychology professor at San Diego State University who worked on the new research paper. "Yet among industrialized nations, we don't compare very well in terms of the support we give working families for daycare and preschool."
Nothing much has changed at the federal level since the U.S. passed a law requiring employers to offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave for caretakers in 1993. "I don't feel like we've made any progress [on family leave] since then," Anne Weisberg, a senior vice president at the nonprofit research group the Families and Work Institute, told The Huffington Post.
A very young-looking Bill Clinton signs the Family and Medical Leave act in 1993.
One of the big objections to paid leave traditionally comes from businesses, which tend to argue that offering workers paid leave increases costs. But a mounting pile of evidence doesn't support that theory. Nearly 90 percent of California businesses reported no cost increases due to the state's now 10-year-old leave law, according to one survey. In fact, 43 percent of businesses in the state reported a cost savings, because they were able to hold on to more workers (decreasing training costs) and reduce spending on benefits.
Other companies, like Google, have also increased employee retention by increasing paid leave.
Oh, and paid leave saves the government money and disproportionately helps lower-income women. In New Jersey, women who took paid leave were around 40 percent less likely to receive public benefits like food stamps or welfare, according to a Rutgers study cited by Claire Cain Miller in The New York Times.
So what's taking policymakers and business leaders so long to catch up?
First, not all attitudes have shifted, said Weisberg. "We still have a lot of ambivalence about gender roles. Even though most people say they believe women should work outside the home, we know for a fact that there's a lot of maternal bias when it comes to hiring women, promoting women."
Despite what the new study found about shifting attitudes, a 2013 survey from Pew found a majority of Americans still believe it's better for children if the mother stays home. "They don't say the same thing if the dad stays home," Weisberg said.
She also noted that most Americans view having children as a "choice" -- not a societal good. That prevents us from supporting parents at the policy level. Yet if we don't, Weisberg said we could wind up like Japan, a country that offers little policy support for working mothers. Increasingly, young women there are choosing not to have children. The country's birth rate is currently below replacement levels, which could have devastating consequences for Japan's economy.
Of course, there's also the classic American aversion to taxes and spending money on social reform. And there's the issue of who's in charge of making change. Though women make up a huge part of the workforce, they're still largely missing from the corner office -- and from the political sphere.
"Very few members of Congress, I suspect, have dropped a child off at day care," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said recently, speaking of paid family leave. "Very few members of Congress know exactly how much day care costs, because they didn't pay those bills. And so for a lot of members of Congress, they don't relate to the issue -- either because they have enormous wealth so they have unlimited caregivers, or they're men whose wives chose to stay at home and they had the resources to do that."
Still, some progress is happening. Gillibrand's Family Act, which proposes financing paid leave through a small payroll tax, isn't totally dead yet. California, New Jersey and Rhode Island now offer paid parental leave. Other states are considering it.
Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has affirmed her support for universal pre-K.
Businesses also are waking up to the idea that their workers have needs outside the office. Companies are increasingly offering more and better paid leave, on-site childcare and other support for employees. Still, those benefits are typically for higher-paid, white-collar workers.
Only 13 percent of employers in the U.S. offer paid leave to full-time workers, according to the most recent data from the Labor Department. Women in low-wage jobs, a fast-growing group, suffer disproportionately from a lack of support for paid leave.
And for them, the stakes are getting higher. "We are really reaching a breaking point," said Weisberg. "Stress levels are increasing, especially among working women." She pointed out that life expectancy for women has actually been falling in recent years, and she speculated that stress among lower-income women could play a role.
After decades of judging and shaming mothers for "abandoning" their kids while they went off to work to commit the horrible and selfish act of providing for their families, Americans are now overwhelmingly OK with working mothers, according to a paper published in the latest edition of Psychology of Women quarterly.
The study, from researchers at San Diego State University and the University of Georgia, looked at nationally representative survey data from the 1970s through 2013, and found big cultural shifts. In 1977, 68 percent of U.S. adults believed "a preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works," compared to 42 percent in 1998 and 35 percent in 2012. (A recent study found that, actually, having a working mother can have a very positive impact on a child.)
Younger adults were even more supportive of working mothers. The new study found that just 22 percent of high school seniors surveyed from 2010 to 2013 said they believe a child suffers when his or her mother works.
So that's cool. But the thing is, public policy and most private employers haven't caught up to changing attitudes. The U.S. still remains the only democratic nation on the planet without any paid parental leave.
"The reality is, most women with young children are in the workplace," said Jean Twenge, the author of "Generation Me" and a psychology professor at San Diego State University who worked on the new research paper. "Yet among industrialized nations, we don't compare very well in terms of the support we give working families for daycare and preschool."
Nothing much has changed at the federal level since the U.S. passed a law requiring employers to offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave for caretakers in 1993. "I don't feel like we've made any progress [on family leave] since then," Anne Weisberg, a senior vice president at the nonprofit advocacy group the Families and Work Institute, told The Huffington Post.
A very young-looking Bill Clinton signs the Family and Medical Leave act in 1993.
One of the big objections to paid leave traditionally comes from businesses, which tend to argue that offering workers paid leave increases costs. But a mounting pile of evidence doesn't support that theory. Nearly 90 percent of California businesses reported no cost increases due to the state's now 10-year-old leave law, according to one survey. In fact, 43 percent of businesses in the state reported a cost savings, because they were able to hold on to more workers (decreasing training costs) and reduce spending on benefits.
Other companies, like Google, have also increased employee retention by increasing paid leave.
Oh, and paid leave saves the government money and disproportionately helps lower-income women. In New Jersey, women who took paid leave were around 40 percent less likely to receive public benefits like food stamps or welfare, according to a Rutgers study cited by Claire Cain Miller in The New York Times.
So what's taking policymakers and business leaders so long to catch up?
First, not all attitudes have shifted, said Weisberg. "We still have a lot of ambivalence about gender roles. Even though most people say they believe women should work outside the home, we know for a fact that there's a lot of maternal bias when it comes to hiring women, promoting women."
Despite what the new study found about shifting attitudes, a 2013 survey from Pew found a majority of Americans still believe it's better for children if the mother stays home. "They don't say the same thing if the dad stays home," Weisberg said.
She also noted that most Americans view having children as a "choice" -- not a societal good. That prevents us from supporting parents at the policy level. Yet if we don't, Weisberg said we could wind up like Japan, a country that offers little policy support for working mothers. Increasingly, young women there are choosing not to have children. The country's birth rate is currently below replacement levels, which could have devastating consequences for Japan's economy.
Of course, there's also the classic American aversion to taxes and spending money on social reform. And there's the issue of who's in charge of making change. Though women make up a huge part of the workforce, they're still largely missing from the corner office -- and from the political sphere.
"Very few members of Congress, I suspect, have dropped a child off at day care," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said recently, speaking of paid family leave. "Very few members of Congress know exactly how much day care costs, because they didn't pay those bills. And so for a lot of members of Congress, they don't relate to the issue -- either because they have enormous wealth so they have unlimited caregivers, or they're men whose wives chose to stay at home and they had the resources to do that."
Still, some progress is happening. Gillibrand's Family Act, which proposes financing paid leave through a small payroll tax, isn't totally dead yet. California, New Jersey and Rhode Island now offer paid parental leave. Other states are considering it.
Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has affirmed her support for universal pre-K.
Businesses also are waking up to the idea that their workers have needs outside the office. Companies are increasingly offering more and better paid leave, on-site childcare and other support for employees. Still, those benefits are typically for higher-paid, white-collar workers.
Only 13 percent of employers in the U.S. offer paid leave to full-time workers, according to the most recent data from the Labor Department. Women in low-wage jobs, a fast-growing group, suffer disproportionately from a lack of support for paid leave.
And for them, the stakes are getting higher. "We are really reaching a breaking point," said Weisberg. "Stress levels are increasing, especially among working women." She pointed out that life expectancy for women has actually been falling in recent years, and she speculated that stress among lower-income women could play a role.
Greeks headed to the polls on Sunday to cast a "yes" or "no" vote in a crucial referendum over a bailout agreement with the country's international creditors.
Follow our live updates on the vote:
live blog
Oldest Newest Share + Today 1:58 AM EDTGreek Finance Minister Resigns
Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis announced his resignation on Monday. In a blog post, he wrote:
Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 9:17 PM EDTFinal Results Are In
The "No" camp won Greece's referendum with 61.31 percent of the vote, the Associated Press reports. The "Yes" side got 38.69 percent.
More from the AP:
A total of 6.16 million Greeks voted in Sunday's referendum, or 62.5 percent of eligible voters. The poll needed a minimum 40 percent turnout to be valid.
The president of the eurozone finance ministers' group said on Sunday he regretted the outcome of Greece's referendum.
The Associated Press reports:
The president of the eurozone finance ministers' group, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, calls the outcome of Sunday's referendum "very regrettable for the future of Greece."
The Dutch finance minister has over the past five months of negotiations resisted Greece's attempts to get easier terms for its bailout program. He says that "for the recovery of the Greek economy, difficult measures and reforms are inevitable. We will now wait for the initiatives of the Greek authorities."
He says the 19 finance ministers will discuss the outcome of the Greek referendum on Tuesday, the same day a summit of the eurozone leaders will be held.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 7:06 PM EDTHuffPost Splashes From Around The World
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 7:00 PM EDTNo-No Or No-Yes?
Greece's Editor-at-Large Pavlos Tsimas weighs in on the implications of today's result:
The people of Greece have shown their confidence in this government. The question now is how the government will interpret this and how it will use its victory.
Two different negations lie within the referendum's "no." A "no-no" (no to the proposed bailout deal and no to any deal that Europe might offer Greece today and consequently no to the euro). And a "no-yes" (no to an austerity deal, but yes to the euro, through a fairer deal). Everything points to the fact that this second interpretation of "no" has probably prevailed. Alexis Tsipras's first reaction in his festive speech seems to also adopt this very interpretation. It's a first sign.
People celebrate in front of the Greek parliament as the people of Greece reject the debt bailout by creditors on July 6, 2015 in Athens, Greece. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
A woman holds a placard as people celebrate in front of the parliament on July 5, 2015 in Athens (IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU/AFP/Getty Images)
People celebrate in Athens on July 5, 2015. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 6:14 PM EDTGreece Divided By Dilemma Once More
Ioannis Karamagalis argues in a piece for HuffPost Greece that Sunday's referendum have left Greek politics and society deeply divided.
The referendum, before being conducted, unfortunately released the darkest aspects and features of Greek political socialization. It reinstated divisive reasoning in the public sphere, and divided society into two camps with no diffusion and without any room for common ground.
Read the full blog here.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 6:03 PM EDTLines At ATMs
Queues forming at cash machines here in Athens, fears banks could run dry by tomorrow #GrReferendum pic.twitter.com/CvobPlu2TB
Greek news outlet Times of Change reports that a skirmish between police and about 100 protesters broke out around 11.30 pm local time. According to the website, the protesters pelted police with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 5:55 PM EDTSchulz Calls For Humanitarian Aid
The head of the European Parliament said on Sunday night that European leaders should discuss a humanitarian aid program for Greece.
The Associated Press reports:
Schulz says in a statement that Athens should make "meaningful and constructive proposals" in the coming hours to get the talks with the other 18 eurozone nations going again. He says: "If not we are entering a very difficult and even dramatic time."
Schulz says ordinary citizens, pensioners, sick people or children in kindergarten should not pay a price for the dramatic situation the country is in, which he blamed the Greek government for. He says the country needs a humanitarian program immediately.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 5:24 PM EDTEU Council President To Hold Referendum Tuesday
European Council President Jean-Claude Juncker has announced that he will hold a summit on Tuesday to address Greece.
BREAKING: Germany, France call for eurozone summit to discuss Greek financial crisis. (Corrects that Germany, France called for EU summit.)
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 5, 2015
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 5:15 PM EDTMemes Of The Referendum
Huffington Post Greece rounds up some of the best memes and cartoons from the Greek vote. Read it here (in Greek).
#Greece is Grease via @EuroStability pic.twitter.com/N2MHSV7YIY
— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) June 10, 2015
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 5:04 PM EDTGreek Prime Minister Calls 'No' Vote A 'Brave Choice'
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took to Twitter to weigh in on the result of Sunday's referendum:
The Greek people made a historic and brave choice. Their response will alter the existing dialogue in Europe. #Greece #Greferendum
Greece's 'No' voters took to Twitter on Sunday to as the results indicate their side has won a decisive victory. Some are asking what the results would have been if fear-inducing elements of the crisis such as bank closures didn't exist:
"With the banks closed and the TV on, still people did not get scared...the 'no' of our lives," @AGiamali wrote.
Με κλειστές τις τράπεζες και ανοιχτά τα κανάλια και πάλι ο κόσμος δεν φοβήθηκε... Τα #OXI της ζωής μας... #Greferendum
— Αναστασία Γιάμαλη (@AGiamali) July 5, 2015
"If the banks WEREN'T closed, what percent would have voted no?" @blacktom1961 asked.
Αν οι τράπεζες ΔΕΝ ήταν κλειστές, τι ποσοστό θα έπαιρνε το #OXI;
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed the nation on Sunday, as referendum results indicated that a "No" vote would win by a large margin. The vote is seen as a victory for Tsipras, who campaigned hard over the last week for citizens to reject the bailout proposal put forward by Greece's creditors.
Tsipras said that Greece will negotiate tomorrow with the goal of restoring the nation's banking system, reports Reuters. He also reaffirmed his stance that the referendum was not about exiting the eurozone but about rejecting the harsh terms of austerity.
"The mandate you have given me is not a mandate against Europe but a mandate to find a sustainable solution," Tsipras said.
BREAKING: Leaders of Germany, France call for an EU summit on Tuesday to discuss Greek financial crisis.
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 5, 2015
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 4:28 PM EDTECB May Be Willing To Keep Funding In Place
The European Central Bank may be willing to keep emergency funding for Greek banks in place, Reuters reports. If confirmed, the decision would give Greek financial institutions a crucial lifeline in the coming days.
European Central Bank policy setters are likely to maintain emergency funding for Greek banks at its current restricted level, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday, following Greece's rejection in a referendum of bailout conditions.
Such a move would give Greek banks little time before they use up all of the roughly 89 billion euros of funding available and ensure that they remain closed for at least the coming days.
But it would avoid the drastic option of withdrawing existing support, a measure that would trigger their immediate collapse.
Read more here.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 4:23 PM EDTKrugman: A Victory For Europe
Economist Paul Krugman argues in the New York Times that Sunday's referendum does not only present a victory for Greek Prime Minister Tsipras, but for Europe as well.
I know that’s not how most people see it. But think of it this way: we have just witnessed Greece stand up to a truly vile campaign of bullying and intimidation, an attempt to scare the Greek public, not just into accepting creditor demands, but into getting rid of their government. It was a shameful moment in modern European history, and would have set a truly ugly precedent if it had succeeded.
The leader of Greece's main opposition party Antonis Samaras announced that he is stepping down, as results continue to pour in indicating a "No" victory in the country's referendum. Samaras was formerly prime minister of Greece until he was ousted by Alexis Tsipras in January's elections.
Despite the loss he remained as leader of the New Democracy party. New Democracy initially opposed the referendum, and campaigned for a "Yes" vote.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 4:07 PM EDTA Breakdown Of How Greeks Voted
Here's a breakdown of how Greeks voted, by occupation and age, from Metron Analysis of behalf of the television station Ant1.
The self-employed and farmers tended to vote "yes," while the unemployed and students tended to vote "no." Interestingly, since the government fought so hard not to cut their income, pensioners were divided, as were housewives.
By Occupation:
Who voted yes: Self-employed 55% Farmers 41% Pensioners 60% Housewives 46% Unemployed 32% Students 25%
Who voted no: Unemployed 64% Students 75% Housewives 46% Pensioners 35%
By Age:
Who Voted Yes:
From 18 to 29 years: 26% From 30-44 years: 45% From 45-59 years: 39% From 60 years and older: 50%
Who Voted No:
From 18 to 29 years: 69% From 30-44 years: 54% From 45-59 years: 59% From 60 years and older: 37%
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the Tagesspiegel daily that it was hard to imagine talks on a new bailout program with Greece after the country clearly rejected bailout terms in a referendum.
"With the rejection of the rules of the euro zone ... negotiations about a program worth billions are barely conceivable," said Gabriel, leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.
"Tsipras and his government are leading the Greek people on a path of bitter abandonment and hopelessness," he said, adding Tsipras had "torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise".
Read the full story here.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 3:51 PM EDTGreeks Can't Tap In Safe Deposit Boxes
Reuters reports:
Greeks cannot withdraw cash left in safe deposit boxes at Greek banks as long as capital restrictions remain in place, a deputy finance minister told Greek television on Sunday.
Greece's government shut banks and imposed capital controls a week ago to prevent the country's banks from collapsing under the weight of mass withdrawals.
Deputy Finance Minister Nadia Valavani told Alpha TV that, as part of those measures, the government and banks had agreed at the time that people would also not be allowed to withdraw cash from safe deposit boxes.
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 3:41 PM EDTGerman Vice Chancellor Says Greece Has Torn Down Last Bridge
BREAKING: German Vice Chancellor Gabriel - Tsipras has torn down last bridge of compromise. #GreeceReferendum #GreekCrisis
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 5, 2015
Share this:TweetSharetumblr Share + 07/05/2015 3:38 PM EDTVaroufakis: 'No' Is A Yes To Democratic Europe
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis spoke out in the wake of Sunday's vote:
BREAKING: Greek Finance Minister says today's 'No' is a big 'Yes' to democratic Europe. #GreeceReferendum
— Reuters Live (@ReutersLive) July 5, 2015
BREAKING: Greek Finance Minister says - As of tomorrow, with this brave 'No' vote, we will call on our partners to find common ground.
"I think there is not a Greek that is not proud. Because regardless of what they voted, Greeks showed that, above all, this country respects democracy. The government now has a strong mandate, a strong bargaining chip, to bring an agreement that will open up other roads, "Labor Minister P. Skourletis said as he entered the prime minister's mansion.
Dick Fuld, part villain and part unforgivably very confused bystander to the financial crisis in the eyes of most -- and a victim of the financial crisis to himself -- made a bizarre comeback at a conference in midtown New York hotel on Thursday.
In his first public appearance (other than sworn congressional testimony) since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Fuld blamed regulators, borrowers and rumors for the end of the 158-year-old, $47 billion firm he led. It was a “perfect storm” that sank Lehman, not his own leadership or decisions, Fuld said, while touting Lehman’s “success” to the audience. He also claimed that every one of the 27,000 employees who once worked for Lehman had been a risk manager, because they owned stock in the firm.
Lehman’s September 2008 collapse was the first of many bank failures and market seizures that fall. It sparked the financial crisis that ended in a $416 billion bank bailout and left the country mired in the Great Recession.
Fuld's comments were initially carried live on the financial news network CNBC, but the feed was pulled by conference organizers part way through his remarks. Technically, Fuld was at the Marcum Microcap conference to deliver a keynote address titled, "How Emerging Growth Companies Can Succeed in Today's Capital Markets: Perspectives from My Journey." His comments, however, were a well-rehearsed if less-than-convincing defense of his own actions leading up to the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
He denied that Lehman was a failed company in September 2008 and intimated that he and the firm were victims of a conspiracy centered around former competitors in regulatory positions with a vendetta against him. Fuld, nicknamed the “Gorilla” during his career for his overly aggressive style, seemed temperamentally unchanged, telling one conference questioner, “Why don’t you bite me?”
Months prior to Lehman’s fall, Fuld had declared that “the worst of the impact of the financial markets is behind us” and pushed subordinates to take more risk, sidelining or firing those who disagreed with him.
Fuld is now working at his own firm, Matrix Advisors, which is focused on the kind of small deals he would have scoffed at as CEO of a massive investment bank. The venue itself was an indication of his fall: an otherwise barely noteworthy conference focused on selling shares in tiny public companies.
Guests enjoy Smirnoff Ice and a Nail Salon at the Ladies With Game Tailgate at The Diageo Liquid Cellar on January 29, 2014 in New York City. (Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images)
When Anthony Pham read The New York Times’ expose about the exploitation of manicurists in New York, the California nail salon owner was at once horrified and comforted by how clear-cut the fix could be.
“To me, it’s so obvious,” Pham, owner of Spa Elysee in Burlingame, where workers start out earning $11 an hour, told The Huffington Post. “I can say with absolute conviction that the state of New York needs to tighten up and make their licensing process much more strict than it is.”
After a 13-month investigation, which involved interviewing nail salon workers and owners across ethnicities and languages, The Times unveiled a laundry list of offenses, which included wage theft, physical abuse and the health consequences of being exposed to toxic products. While the expose shocked readers into boycotting nail salons, and moved Mayor Bill de Blasio into declaring a Nail Salon Day of Action on Thursday, advocates who have been addressing injustices like these for more than a decade have warned against taking drastic, and potentially harmful, steps.
They say it will require coaxing workers out of the shadows, demanding more oversight among politicians and developing a trusting collaborative of nail salons, similar to a successful program in California.
San Mateo supervisor Don Horshey present Spa Elysee with the Healthy Nail Salon award.
“It’s really important for workers who are affected to be centered in the conversation,” Miriam Yeung, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, a group that focuses on Asian Americans’ reproductive, economic health and education rights, told The Huffington Post. “They have insight into what’s most wrong and what they most need, and what will be most effective policy making.”
This very concept of taking into consideration nail salon workers’ pressing needs has helped clean up the industry in California.
"This Isn't About Boycotting Salons"
After Asian Health Services, a community health center and other advocacy groups took inventory of the health “epidemic” nail salon workers faced, they developed the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative in 2005.
A conglomerate of manicurists, nonprofits, justice and environmental organizations, the collaborative aimed to develop a program that would reward salon owners for prioritizing workers' health and safety. Nail technicians are believed to have miscarriages, develop cancer and other conditions on the job due to exposure to toxins.
The scrappy organization, which has only four full-time staff members, is also involved in community organizing and advocacy work on the policy level.
“This isn’t about boycotting nail salons,” Julia Liou, co-founder of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative and planning and development director at Asian Health Services, told HuffPost. “It’s about how we can come together and help this industry become healthier and safer.”
One of the collaborative’s most effective measures was developing a healthy nail salon recognition program. In 2009, the group devised a three-part certification campaign that would earn participating nail salons a visible placard to place on the window, so that customers could feel confident knowing that the workers’ health isn’t being jeopardized.
Throwing Out The Toxicity
The program requires salons to dump any nail polishes containing the “Toxic Trio,” which is formaldehyde, toluene, and dibutyl phthalate. This move was particularly critical considering that repeated inhalation of such ingredients can be harmful, yet companies aren’t required to list the contents of their products on the bottle.
California's chemical regulators randomly sampled dozens of professional grade nail polishes in 2012 that claimed to be free of a "toxic trio" of dangerous substances and found that many still contained the chemicals in high levels. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
“Even though you’re in that profession you can have huge blind spots,” said Pham, a Vietnamese-American who grew up in the salon he eventually took over from his mother. “We were just oblivious. Why would companies produce a nail polish that’s dangerous? If someone is selling something to human beings, why would they include harmful ingredients?”
The program also requires workers to wear protective gloves at all times and masks when they’re working with acrylics. Salons also must install ventilation systems, which vacuum out fine dust particles in the air.
The air filtration systems cost about $800, but Pham was able to secure one for free since he was one of the first salons to get involved in the program. The county of San Mateo footed the bill and Liou hopes to get additional government funding to provide the system for any salon that wants to participate.
A Certification Program To Ensure Ethical Practices
The certification program, which is currently available in San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Santa Monica and Santa Clara County, was initially met with some skepticism.
“People were very scared,” Liou said. “It’s going to be really expensive for us,” was a common concern she heard over and over.
But what Liou uncovered over time was that most nail salon owners wanted to run ethically responsible businesses. But as is typically the case in New York City, the owners –- who are often immigrants just like many of their workers -- struggle with English and just didn’t have the information readily accessible to take the necessary steps.
To ameliorate any concerns, the collaborative delivers a training packet that’s translated into a number of languages and holds a one-day seminar for every employee in the salon, so that everyone involved can fully grasp the protocol involved.
Considering that his ventilation system was covered, Pham said the process wasn’t cost prohibitive.
He estimates having spent about $300 on discarding old, toxic polishes and forks over about $40 a month for protective gloves and masks.
To date, 55 salons have been certified. That figure is expected to climb to 75 by fall, Liou said.
And while the recognition program doesn’t outright address wage issues, Pham noted that any salons that are eager to protect their workers’ health, likely aren’t interested in undercutting their employees.
But getting paid paltry wages is also so much less of an overall concern in California, where nail technicians are mandated to undergo a rigorous 300-hour licensing process.
A nail technician at Spa Elysee gives a customer a pedicure.
Nail salons also undergo strict inspections two to three times a year. Those that are found guilty of violating of standard procedures are fined heavily and it’s “very, very easy” for a salon to have its license revoked, Pham added.
Worker Training
While manicurists in New York are technically required to be licensed, The Times found that many simply work without them, and the licenses are easily bought, sold or forged.
Taking on inexperienced workers was one of the oft-repeated justifications for not paying workers a living wage.
The Times learned that workers often first pay about $100 to get in the door and then work for free until the salon owner deems them worthy enough to earn an hourly wage.
Since manicurists are considered “tipped workers” in New York City, owners are permitted to compensate a little less than the $8.75 minimum wage. But many earn far less. One woman who was profiled got under $3 an hour.
The average wage for a nail technician in California is $9.88, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
But Pham says that due to the extensive licensing process, pay is even more competitive in the industry.
Employees just starting out at Pham’s salon earn $100 a day, and put in about nine hours. They keep all of their tips and earn a $10 bonus if a tech completes $300 in services.
He said a “lower end” salary for a nail technician is a daily rate of $80 to $85.
Pham said about 20 to 30 customers come through Spa Elysee’s door every day, where clients can also get waxing and facial services, but the salon doesn’t actually charge that much more than those in New York City.
The average manicure in New York costs $10.50, according to The Times.
Pham said he charges $15. A manicure-pedicure combination runs $30.
New York Already Ups Its Game
While New York appears to have taken a page out of California’s healthy nail book, advocates say politicians needs to devote additional resources to make effective systemic changes.
“We need politicians to commit to staying around for long haul,” Yeung said, “or else what we’re looking at is tissue paper when you cut yourself. It’s not going to work.”
Spa Elysee hosts healthy nail salon event.
The day after The Times piece ran, Gov. Andrew Cuomo implemented a number of emergency measures, which included requiring salons to post signs informing workers of their rights. They notify employees, for example, that it’s illegal to work for no pay and that they’re required to wear gloves to protect themselves.
Hundreds of volunteers hit the streets on Thursday to dole out fliers further explaining nail salon workers’ rights. And while the agencies involved in the task force said they won’t ask workers about their legal status, advocates say part of the rehabilitative process needs to involve engaging with every worker, undocumented or not, in a meaningful way.
Volunteers distribute flyers in multiple languages about health concerns, labor practices, regulations and wages at nail salons, to commuters outside a subway station in New York on May 21, 2015.
On a federal level, advocates want to see toxic ingredients regulated for safety.
The Patron's Power
In terms of what concerned customers do, advocates say they need to recognize the invaluable power of their voices.
They say clients need to approach owners and ask about their tipping policies, breaks for workers and request the salon only carry non-toxic products, Yeung said. If customers notice something suspicious, they should contact a trafficking hotline and they should contact their legislators asking that their cities replicated California’s healthy nail salon program.
“You’ve taken care of my beauty needs and I care about you,” Yeung said of how customers should view their relationship with their nail technician. “It’s almost a sisterhood. We have to support each other.”
This story has been updated to clarify the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative's healthy nail salon program.
It is not just FIFA officials and little-known sports marketing groups who are finding themselves in the crosshairs of the U.S.'s investigation into long-term corruption in international soccer. Nike seems to be caught up in the maelstrom as well.
Remarks by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday, as well as indictments released by the Justice Department the same day, indicate that the iconic American corporation has been pulled into the massive global corruption scandal. Detailing the long history of bribery by some of the world's soccer governing bodies, Lynch said those offenses also extended to "agreements regarding sponsorship of the Brazilian national soccer team by a major U.S. sportswear company."
Her remarks referred to the landmark ten-year, $160 million deal that Nike struck in 1996 to sponsor the Brazil national team's well-known yellow, blue and green uniforms. Last year, Jose Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Florida- and Brazil-based sports marketing firm the Traffic Group, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for, among other things, accepting and passing along bribes and kickbacks in connection with that deal. Hawilla paid these bribes and kickbacks to a senior official in the Brazilian Football federation (CBF), who signed the deal along with Hawilla and four Nike executives.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch discusses the investigation during a press conference on Wednesday.
Lynch's comments followed the Justice Department's announcement that 14 people, including nine FIFA officials, had been arrested and indicted on Wednesday on numerous charges that include "racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies."
The Justice Department's indictment notes that Hawilla and the unnamed Brazilian official also engaged in other corrupt deals in the years following the Nike contract. While it does not accuse Nike of any wrongdoing or of any knowledge of Hawilla's corrupt practices, it is unclear to what extent Nike vetted Hawilla before allowing him to act as their middleman with the Brazilian soccer federation.
"Like fans everywhere we care passionately about the game and are concerned by the very serious allegations," Nike said in a statement to The Huffington Post on Wednesday. "Nike believes in ethical and fair play in both business and sport and strongly opposes any form of manipulation or bribery. We have been cooperating, and will continue to cooperate, with the authorities."
Nike introduced its first soccer boot in 1971, but its market share remained small. Globally, it was barely a player in a multibillion-dollar market, then dominated by its chief competitor, Adidas. In 1994, Nike began a major push to increase its presence in the soccer world. As part of this effort, the company's co-founder and chairman, Phil Knight, "openly set his sights" on sponsoring Brazil's national team that year. By 1996, the company was able to sign the deal with CBF and has supplied the Brazilian team's uniforms ever since.
Brazil soccer player Luiz Gustavo poses for pictures during the presentation of the team's new uniform for the 2014 FIFA World Cup on Nov. 24, 2013.
Now, however, Brazil's soccer federation is named in the Justice Department's investigation.
"Other alleged schemes relate to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of CBF by a major U.S. sportswear company, the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election," read a statement from the department.
In 2008, Nike renegotiated its contract with Brazil, which now lasts until 2018 and is expected to be worth $34 million, SportsPro Media reported last year.
