Will the market always correct itself?

Each year the big firms welcome in their new pack of young, cooler-than-thou first-year
accountants and attorneys to their new jobs on Wall Street.

The scene starts with a lavish gesture of the firm’s wealth: swank hotel ballroom,
shimmering ice sculptures of short, plump firm executives, generous small talk from
second-tier managers who will spend the next two years screaming expletives at you
(“Wow, what nice incisors you have.”)

Then, somewhere along the line, someone explains how things are: Your office has
a bed in it. You will work 17 hours a day. After the first year you will be evaluated.
If you earn more than the person to your immediate left or right, you will get a
raise. The other half of you will be fired.

The same thing happens after your third year. If you make it that far, you will
have enough money to own your own air force.

The Army does a version of the same act — you break down a new recruit’s will and
restructure it as a killing machine. On Wall Street, you get to wash down fish eggs
with white wine in between brainwashing, but the techniques are basically the same:
Alternate fear and love with a disarming lack of sleep while inculcating new recruits
with a self-sustaining mantra: The market will always correct itself; your job is
to poach as much as you can.

Armstrong Williams is on Sirius/XM Power 169, 7-8 p.m. and 4-5 a.m., Monday through Friday. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/arightside, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/arightside.