The economic bloodbath could reach Cloverfield-like proportions, with thousands of Wall Streeters at risk of losing their positions thanks to the relentlessly bad financial situation in the US.

Personally I’m more concerned about ethanol, corn, and the skyrocketing price of meat and chicken at the grocery thanks to mandates that make this boondoggle of an alternative fuel a much more costly prospect for everyday life than a few thousand MBAs having to try and get their taxi medallions in Manhattan. But whatever.

Investment banking isn’t looking all that great as a career choice right now. Seems that the credit crisis that rewarded JP Morgan & Chase with a bargain basement pickup of Bear Stearns won’t reward the rank and file white collar types in the cubicles, according to ABC News:

At the end of last month, there were 182,300 people working at banks and brokerages, down more than 5,000 jobs since September. The smaller scope of the layoffs seen so far, however, likely reflects the lag between the end of severance payments and when job hunters file for unemployment benefits, Brown explained.

Unlike much of the nation, layoffs and falling profits on Wall Street pose a bigger risk to New York City’s economy than the housing-led downturn that threatens the nation, according to economists and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Bankers, brokers and traders earned an average salary and bonus of $340,312 a year in 2006, Brown said.

A quick back of the napkin calculation tells me that 36,000 jobs vanishing would be over $12 billion in paychecks and bonuses not being collected. That’s a lot of bagels and cream cheese to sit on the shelves until the next bubble happens. Unless the US were to adopt a Ron Paul-influenced monetary policy, no one’s holding their breath for that to happen of course.