Wachovia and A.G. Edwards

What a difference a year can make. Thats about how long it has been since Wachovia bought St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards. According to this article, it looks like Wachovia just sold off its banking operations to Citigroup. Apparently the brokerage is not part of the deal, but one has to wonder what kind of affect this could have on St. Louis and the 4,800 jobs currently employed through joint Wachovia/A.G. Edwards operations.

One thing I don’t get is how all these huge companies seem tobe so blindsided by the current status of the economy. If they had their eyes open, knowing what they knoe, they had to expect this. Perhaps that is why Wachovia bought A.G. Edwards in the first place. Maybe they saw the way the wind was blowing and decided to shift gears. What we have is either a brilliant strategy or stupidity. Care to take a pick?