Yesterday's Times had a story about how some young bankers, like Gabriel Hammond, the 28-year-old founder of Alerian Capital Management, are forgoing the traditional b-school route in favor of gathering gold bricks at a private-equity firm or hedge fund. After all, 'tis always better to make money than spend it on a degree that, if you're making enough for your employer, won't necessarily matter.

The Gray Lady figures that if a lot of people skip the MBA route, it could mean The End of the Business School. But that just might be the Times being Times-y and all end is nigh, because today's Wall Street Journal has a story about how there's a huge demand for MBA grads. Okay, now we're confused: If we want our kids to buy our retirement mansion in La Jolla, are we supposed to force them into b-school or not?

Anyway. What we can take from both stories is that everyone is trying his damnedest to make as much cash as possible and as quickly as he can, before everyone gets old or the market completely tanks (whichever comes first). And if it keeps up, we just might be hurtling toward some kind of fourteenth-century French Revolutionary mess, in which there are only really, really rich people and very, very poor people, and the rich people stay holed up in their gilded penthouses with their dishwashers and appliances while the less fortunate are left mewling in the outer boroughs. But that's just us being paranoid, right?

Hedge Funds and Private Equity Alter Career Calculus [NYT]
The New Battle for MBA Grads [WSJ]