Who decides what a trader is worth: His bosses? The government? The public? Inside the tug-of-war over pay at AIG, where compensation has become a proxy for a whole lot more.

At the intersection of high finance and news, the New York Times’ past and its future, and with a new best-selling book about the Wall Street crisis, 32-year-old Andrew Ross Sorkin has thrived by understanding the psyches of big players under attack. Which is a talent that has suddenly come in very handy.

Oversize, overdriven U.S. Attorney Chris Christie is throwing everything to try to topple Governor Jon Corzine. The ex–Goldman Sachs head has plenty to throw back.

Many share the blame for getting us into this mess; this October, Bear Stearns vets Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin stand trial.

Guilty of a shocking crime against his own brother-in-law, real-estate mogul Charles Kushner has been cast out of power. So his son Jared, the 28-year-old Observer owner, has to carry the ambition for the both of them.

As the privileged class loses its privileges, a collective moan rises from the canyons of Wall Street.

“Jeffrey Robbins” strikes again.

When the Speyers bought Stuyvesant Town for over $5 billion, they were buying one of the last refuges of the Manhattan middle class. And remaking it was harder than it looked.

In the bleakest stock market of the past 70 years, when hedge funds and 401(k)s alike have cratered, few people are smiling. But short-seller Jim Chanos, whose fund is up 50 percent, is having the time of his life.

A Manhattan transfer?