Smelling the panic

My brother works in the City for an investment bank. He has survived in the city for 20 years so I figure he must be doing some things right. Things are hard at the moment although he predicted this at Easter when he said he walked into to work and it smelt different with an air of uncertainty around. He explained how the whole economy was based on faith and belief. A faith that things are what they claim to be and a belief that a £10 note is actually worth £10 and not a just a piece of paper. What seems to be happening now is a lack of faith (and yet still a few people willing to speculate and put other people's livelihoods at risk). I find the whole thing a mixture of reassuring (at the thought that in fact the city is run on basic human instinct) and for exactly the same reason deeply worrying. It makes me think that the correct training for working in the city should include philosophy and emotional intelligence and not just economics!