After reading the introduction to Karen Ho's text, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street, my perception of Wall Street and the American economy came into question. On pages 22-23 Karen described how E*Trade marketed itself to the mass market to garner interest. At the same time they were constructing a new image of Wall Street being accessible to everyone. Previously, as in before the 1990's investing was perceived as a mostly white and middle/upper class privilege. I believe that the eruption of mass media and accessibility of information changed the image of Wall Street and investing. For example (See Above), here is a commercial from E*Trade dating back to 1999-2000 aired during the Super-Bowl XXXIV. At the end of the commercial, the viewer is asked, "We just wasted 2 million dollars. What are you doing with your money?". The commercial was aired to millions of viewers and continues to this day to air similar ads but with a baby instead. Throughout Karen's intro, she touches on how Wall Streets practices could be perceived as a learned and evolving culture (3-4). The most intriguing analysis made by Karen was tracing increased profits to massive layoffs and the influences Wall Street has which also effects itself (6-7). Overall she offers an insiders view of Wall Street with most of her experience coming from working as a consultant. I would also like to note that she does not completely credit Wall Street for the changes but more as a part of a larger neoliberal scheme (12-13). After finishing her introduction a picture sent to me by an old friend came to mind (see below).
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