Two unrelated threads came together in my mind on the issue of physics, careers issues and the world.
Did you know that there is an not half-bad science fiction story that as backplot notes that physicists take over the hard drug trade in the US and Europe in the early 21st century - only way to pay for the next generation particle accelerators, natch.
In the meantime, the Incoherent Ponderer has triggered a strong reaction with a post on the GREs and graduate admission - it is worth a read, including the comments. I can't really comment on the issue right now due to conflict of interest.
I also note, parenthetically, that The Female Science Professor has joined the war against whacky graduate admission recommendation letter forms
However, what started the general line of thought, while reading Calculated Risk on the unintended consequences of artificially raising the conforming loan limit on the secondary market for bonds for managers of fixed income funds is:
much of the recent financial turmoil, good and bad, has its root cause in the cancellation of the Superconducting SuperCollider.
Hah! And you thought it was due to a french bond trader playing le Brothers Baring?
I can not reveal my data, such as it is, but theoretically it could be.
Really.
Let me guess: SSC cancellation -> a generation of would-be physicists became quants and financial engineers, starting the trend of ever more complex derivative instruments slicing, repackaging and daisy-chaining debt which is now imploding at last.
Makes sense to me. Academia as a way to keep a certain kind of people off the streets is not a new idea, but maybe the emphasis on Wall Street is.