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Some interesting points made here about the decline in manufacturing and whether we'll be able to sustain growth without it. Is a service economy enough to support 300 million people? Can the lack of manufacturing jobs be blamed for the past 3 "jobless" recoveries?

It was only a matter of time before Clusterstock's 2008 CEO of the Year John Thain emerged from his self-imposed exile and went back to work. In true Thain style, he chose a company with the potential to restore him to rock star status.

Thain is joining embattled commercial lender CIT Group as Chairman and CEO, effective immediately. No word on whether the company has begun its search for antique commodes and priceless area rugs yet.

Looks like Miranda Kerr enthusiast David Kiely gets to keep grinding it out at Macquarie. After an internal review, the company has decided not to sack Dave after his unfortunate Internet browsing on live TV.

Anyone else think this is just hysterical? I always worked with the kind of guys who would do this sort of thing to you if they had the opportunity. I once sent a colleague a video with instructions to turn his speakers up because the audio was really low. It was a video of kittens for about 10 seconds, and then it switched to a guy screaming, "The boss is a c**t!" over and over again at max volume. He told me he got his ass reamed for that one.

So, all is well with Dave at Macquarie.

Alright, so I'm not going to harp on how big a Saints fan I am, because I've done that enough already. Hopefully we see one of the longest winless streaks in sports history become history on Sunday.

But I have to admit, I have almost as much fun watching the Super Bowl commercials as I do watching the game itself (especially since this is the first Super Bowl I've had a vested interest in since the Chargers/49ers Super Bowl in 1994). Some commercials just don't make the cut, though, and lately that's what ad agencies are going for more and more. Who could forget the Bud Light Swear Jar? Well, they've done it again with this slightly-disturbing-though-soon-to-be-classic follow up:

In a ballsy move by the front office, it seems that Warren Buffett's "stuff" just ain't what it used to be. Buffett, who has been a journeyman player for years, has fallen out of favor with the S&P, receiving news today that Berkshire Hathaway is no longer AAA caliber.

As Buffett packed up his locker and prepared for his descent to the minor-minor leagues, he was heard mumbling something about how he would buy the franchise and turn it into a Panty Hose Factory. The coaching staff reported that the billionaire knuckleballer seemed "depressed" upon hearing the news and admitted that his liquidity had clearly suffered in the off season. "He can't believe he was only paying himself $100K."

In a new report bound to disturb those hoping for a comeback in the real estate market this year, TransUnion reveals that Americans across the board are opting to keep their credit card payments up to date while allowing their mortgages to go into foreclosure. I can't for the life of me understand the thinking behind this strategy, though I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that 25% of American mortgages are under water and this trend is merely a precursor to another wave of homeowners leaving their keys in the mailbox and walking away.

So it got me thinking. When I was younger and in school, there was no such thing as a personal finance class. Responsible financial management was completely ignored by academia (of course, back then if a college kid applied for a credit card the application would've received the same reception as Aleksey Vayner's resume). It was a seriously big deal for me to get approved for an AT&T calling card with a $200 limit when I was 19. (Try to imagine a world where there were pay phones everywhere and everyone used them.)

Do the schools today do a better job preparing students for real-life finance? I've heard of high school kids with credit cards now, and I think it goes a long way to explaining this depressing chart. To put it into perspective, 4% of the world's population holds 40% of the world's personal debt. How did we get here?

I thought you guys might appreciate this. I came across this cover letter written by Leonardo da Vinci to a potential employer, the Duke of Milan. It should make you feel better that even one of the greatest minds in human history had to deal with HR.

Unlike some modern-day imitators (ahem, Jeremy King, Jeffrey Chiang...), da Vinci actually brought the wood. And Leonardo was something of a badass, too. I don't know why I was surprised when I read it, but it turns out he was extremely well-versed in siege technology.

Edmundo was kind enough to post the link to the new Money Never Sleeps trailer. Honestly, the trailer failed to get me excited and made the film seem like another steamer courtesy of Oliver Stone. Though I keep hoping the director will return to his glory days, when he made Platoon and Wall Street back to back, I think there's a greater chance of Obama giving Timmy Geithner a happy ending.

But, what should really ease the pain, I think, is the knowledge that Shia TheBeef is a doofy green screen action hero no longer -- beginning in April, when the movie is released, he will show that he is now a master thespian, who knows a thing or two about what it takes to get hired at a little place called Goldman.

Oh yes, according to USA Today (which is now just one large pie chart), Sheba arrived in Manhattan two-and-a-half months early to learn the ins and outs of proprietary trading. Obama's timing on nixing prop trading a coincidence?? Nuh uh.