"I should have invested in Budweiser"

[HamdenRice]

Given the financial gloom and doom, I thought I'd tell you guys a true story about what a Wall Streeter told me during one of the Bush era's earlier financial meltdowns.

It was around the time of the collapse of the telecoms. I was sitting in a bar in the lower east side and a Wall Street guy was complaining about having all his telecom shares being wiped out. Both of us were drinking beer.

The guy holds up his Bud from the tap and says, "you know, I should have invested that money in Bud."

I said something like, "you mean because it's a consumer product that people buy whether the economy is good or bad?"

And he said, "No. I should have used all that money to buy cases and cases of Bud, drunk the beer, and turned in the cans for a nickel each. My return would have been higher."

We did a quick calculation and he was right.

[eShirl]

1. lol

[Tallison]

2. What's he gonna do now?

I wonder when I hear these anecdotes about how big the finance labor force is, and what professional recourse is available to them. For example, how transferrable are their skills sets to other industries? Or will there still be a place for them in the restructured market?