How are the financial whiz kids faring? Two vignettes…

From the Economist

As a banker from Citigroup placed his chips on the roulette table, a watching wise-guy sniggered: “There goes another $15 billion.”

and

John Devaney, a hedge-fund manager who had to sell his 142-foot yacht, Positive Carry, and his Gulfstream IV after making bad bets on mortgage bonds, told an audience: “I’d like to thank the market for dealing me a direct hit. As a trader if you don’t get sucker-punched every once in a while, you don’t understand what risk is.”