in the news: job deflation and naked shorts

While quantitative easing continues to work its magic by nominally reflating risk assets,



CPI and wages are reportedly flat,

(NPR) Social Security: No Cost Of Living Increase Next Year
(AP) Colorado Minimum Wage to Drop as Living Costs Fall

Employment for Wall Street traders is also in decline as the 'smart guys' have replaced the 'average guys.'

The 'smart guys' have become analysts, quants, traders, and risk managers. Increasingly complicated derivatives were developed and sold short in progressively unsustainable size (RIP: LTCM, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia),

(NYT) Wall Street Smarts
(NYT) Rivals Pose Threat to New York Stock Exchange



Some perspective from the good old days of trading, when 'average guys' with modestly capitalized accounts learned to respect the market. Floor traders knew the practice of picking up pennies in front of trains would eventually lead to unrecoverable losses over the long run,