The demise of Wall Street — once again

The Deal executive editor Yvette Kantrow takes issue Friday with the November issue of Conde Nast Portfolio, which contains an article from Jesse Eisinger predicting the demise of Wall Street.

Kantrow wrote, “So where do we start? First, let’s note that the ‘death of Wall Street’ story is a staple of end-of-a-boom reporting, mindlessly but regularly resurrected each time the cycle takes an ugly turn south. No matter that these pieces tend to be disproved shortly after their appearances.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean that some of Portfolio’s predictions won’t come true. After all, things are bleak; just ask Merrill and its $8.4 billion write-down. But we were struck by the utter simple-mindedness of the piece — not to mention its brevity. A cover story, it weighed in at only 2,100 words, which is shorter than most features that run off the WSJ’s front page. So much for Portfolio’s much-ballyhooed commitment to long-form journalism.

“But we digress. The story blithely declares that the five banks it’s dealing with ‘define Wall Street today.’ Really? Do Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Credit Suisse Group, UBS and Deutsche Bank AG know about this? It argues that beginning in the late 1990s, when stock trading ‘was becoming commoditized’ (Really? We thought that started back in 1975, when commissions were deregulated), the universal banks, namely Citi and J.P. Morgan, ‘languished’ and Deutsche and Credit Suisse ‘remained Wall Street also-rans.’

“Again we ask: Really? Does Sandy Weill know about this?”

Read more here.