The Efficient Market Hypothesis, first expounded in 1965 in a paper by Eugene Fama, is the capstone of modern finance theory, that has been responsible for three Nobel prizes in Economics (Modigliani, 1985, Markowitz/Miller/Sharpe, 1990, Merton/Scholes, 1997), although curiously enough not one for Fama himself.

“Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington” caroled Noel Coward in the famous 1936 hit. With the current troubles in the financial services industry, there is another career that a loving mother should best avoid for her offspring: banking.

It was a period of youth and excess, when 20-somethings became billionaires, dress became casual, profits became unnecessary and accounting principles became infinitely flexible. It has ended, and a very different world is taking its place.

Residents of suburban Virginia, like me, are being bombarded with propaganda to vote in favor on Nov. 5 of one of the most indefensible referendum objectives I have ever seen: to pay an additional 0.5 percent sales tax to build new roads and transit projects in the region.