I used to work at Merrill Lynch, I saw what the focus on short term results did and the culture it created. It was almost always about the quarterly results. I

I used to work at Merrill Lynch, I saw what the focus on short term results did and the culture it created. It was almost always about the quarterly results. I once saw an entire team of bond traders fired because their quarterly results weren't up to scratch, only to literally be hired back within days at a much, much higher cost, because the market suddenly turned almost overnight and Merrill Lynch was caught without a bond team in that area and had to frantically scramble to get one at almost any price. That particular team had been highly profitable, but their last quarterly result were poor. It mattered not that overall they were still vastly ahead in terms of profit for the company. They had a bad quarter and the next was looking poor, so they had to go, in order for the managers to have something to say to their investors. If the share price dropped a few cents or if the results weren't up to or exceeding market expectations, they would fire a few thousand people. I kid you not, this is how investment bank culture works. You are only as good as your last quarter. Traders would take very risky positions with huge or unknown long term risks, in order to make short term gains - for which they are richly rewarded. No one cared that this wonderful basket of exotic options was actually full of potential toxic waste, as long as it was printing money right now. By the time it exploded, most of those traders and managers would have made their millions and be retired or working somewhere else. It was and probably still is this intense focus on the short term that caused ML to very nearly go under and why ML is now called Bank of America ML. I doubt they have learned and the next black swan event is going to take them out, or the one after that.