Gallows Humor

Forwarded from a friend at Citi (market caps are a bit outdated):

Gallows humor: Wall Street might have lost tons of money, but that doesn't mean traders have lost their ability to laugh. Some faves making the rounds:

• What's the definition of optimism?
• An investment banker who irons five shirts on a Sunday evening.
• What is the capital of Iceland?
• About $3.50
• I tried to get cash from an ATM today, but it said "insufficient funds."
• I don't know if that meant them or me.
• What's the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza?
• The pizza can still feed a family of four.
• What does a hedge-fund manager with no fund to manage say?
• Would you like fries with that sir?
• The credit crunch is getting bad, isn't it?
• I mean, I let my brother borrow 10 bucks a couple weeks back. It turns out I'm now America's fourth-biggest lender.

One year ago RBS, Santander and Fortis paid $100bn for ABN Amrobank.

For this amount they could now buy:

Citibank $22.5bn

Morgan Stanley $10.5bn

Goldman Sachs $21bn

Merrill Lynch $12.3bn

Deutsche Bank $13bn

Barclays $12.7bn

And still have $8bn change......

with which you would be able to pick up

GM,

Ford,

Chrysler

and the Honda Formula 1 Rac