This Says It All (Redux)

From AFP:

Gawking tourists and panicky financiers brought a bizarrely carnival-like atmosphere to Wall Street on Friday.

Outside the New York Stock Exchange hundreds of tourists joined police, TV crews, school children, hot dog vendors, and a white-bearded busker playing "Amazing Grace" on the flute.

Swedish visitor Agneta Blomgren, 43, photographed her mother Berit outside the exchange. An electronic board displaying plunging share prices provided the backdrop.

"We wanted to come and see it," Blomgren said. "The Americans aren't world leaders any more. It's time for a shift and this is the symptom of that. Power is shifting away -- perhaps to China."

The Chinese were there too.

Tour guide Ying Wang had added the stock exchange to her 10-strong group's itinerary that included Times Square, the site of the destroyed World Trade Center, and Central Park.

"Everyone wants to see what's going on, what the place really looks like," Wang said, waving a long toy flower to catch the attention of her excited flock, all clutching cameras.

The tourists and school groups come to witness history barely noticed the tense, well-dressed figures flitting through the finance district's dark, narrow streets.

These shock troops of the world's ruined financial capital cut a sad sight.