Once upon a time, there were seven titans that crowned Wall Street, the world’s financial epicenter that situates at the Fulton/Nassau station of New York City. These financial institutions included Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup Incorporated, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merryl Lynch, and Lehman Brothers ². Suddenly everything went wrong in a very short time starting at the end of 2007. During the recession of 2008-2010, Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, JPMorgan Chase acquired Bear Stearns with blessing from the SEC, and Merrill Lynch investment bank went under the control of Bank of America ³.

The above-mentioned downsizing of Wall Street originated from the crash of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. The exposure of risky underlying assets of the mortgage-and-loan market triggers the plunge of stocks, and bonds, and housing prices. Investment banks and financial institutions headquartered in Wall Street thus suffered huge losses and crumbled.

Wall Street culture has caused the widening of the gap of wealth between Wall Street bankers and non-Wall-Street workers before the crisis began an intense animosity between the two groups. Now the financial crisis of 2008-2010, the direct result of Wall Street’s low ethics, rekindled conflicts between the two classes. The Occupy Wall Street Movement was founded in September 17, 2011 as a symbol of rage toward Wall Street. Headquartered in Zucotti Park, a privately-owned park three steps away from Fulton/Nassau station, with the slogan-now-turn-cliche “we are the 99 percent,” Wall Street Occupiers alongside government agencies and politicians rattled financial institutions across the nation, urging them to overhaul their culture of greed. The movement spread to dozens of American cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Chicago, and Boston and to major campuses across the nation. Occupy Wall Street lasted until mayor Bloomberg of New York City outed Zucotti Park’s settlers during a raid in November 2011, ending the movement ⁶.

The above-mentioned summary of Wall Street clearly is not and can never be sufficient enough to narrate the glorious yet controversial history of greatest financial hub of the world. With that said, Wall Street during the Great Recession and post-recession era has a few highlighted events that shook the Earth and of which aftermaths still resonate until this very day: the stock market crash, Lehman Brothers’ debacle, and Occupy Wall Street.

In conclusion, Wall Street, aside from the minor reallocation of new firms moving in and old firms going out, still holds onto the culture of greed and money that caused the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Yet the public nowadays is more responsive and angry than ever before. Wall Street needs to completely change the way it functions before it tampers with the world’s economy once more and this time obliterates it for good. The Fulton/Nassau station will be forever remembered for its unique location at Wall Street, whether its uniqueness is appreciated or not is up for debate.

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