"It's the economy, stupid" or just the stupid economy?

For those of you not involved in MBA school, here are some rough estimates: typically, out of an average MBA class, about 40% of students want to go into consulting, about 40% into investment banking, and the other 20% of us are apparently just screwing around. At least, that's how it USED to be.

Just how bad is it? So just remember that 40% of my class is about 200 students. And that those investment banking jobs are the most lucrative - those kids pay back the $150k they racked up in loans in no time. I attended a 'pursue your passion' Career Services session with 60 or so of my closest friends this week, and one exercise asked us to choose a function we're interested in and analyze a job description. Marketing? About 10 hands up. Consulting? Another 20 or so (right on target). Investment banking? 4. No, not 40. FOUR.

At this point, I'm tempted to laugh evilly and say 'screwing around looks pretty good now, don't it, you quant nerds??' But then I realize that now I have to compete against all those kids for the jobs I want. F&$#ing economy.