I know this is a weird day to say this and I know this might shock you, but back in high school, you'd be surprised by the number of girls who turned me down for dates.
Sometimes they weren't even subtle. I remember fumbling through a request with one stunner, who mid-sentence cut me off and simply said, "No, I'm busy, every weekend, Neil."
It could have been my head. Even then, huge. Or it could have been my physique. Even then it was strange. But whatever it was, let's just say I wasn't getting a lot of dates.
My sympathetic Irish mom would say, their loss: "They don't know a good thing when it's staring them in the face, Neil," she'd add. My Italian dad wasn't quite so understanding. "I think it is your face, Neil," he'd say.
Whatever, the proverbial football team captain and his buds were hot. Big nerdy, though dependable, guys were not. Eventually I accepted my inner geek, reminding any girl interested that I wasn't built for speed; but I was built for comfort, which made them quite comfortable telling me they weren't looking for comfort at all.
Regardless, I was happy embracing my inner loser. Which gets me back to this financial crisis. Yes, I do have a point. Stay with me.
I think banks and insurance guys have to get back to embracing their inner loser. They got in trouble when they tried to be something they weren't. The insurance salesman who had had it with the jokes — term life or universal. He wanted to be like that hot shot broker.
So he started selling derivatives and credit default swaps, because they were cool. And they made him rich. Button-down bankers also got restless. They were tired of being boring bankers, with their boring mortgages. So in their own mid-life red Camaro moment, they too got jiggy with it and started pooling those mortgages and selling those mortgages.
Suddenly they were hip. And yes, they were rich… until they weren't. And now they're all just stupid. And we're all paying for their stupidity.
Bankers who didn't want to be bankers.Insurance salesmen who didn't want to be insurance salesmen. And that's what we must stop my friends. Take it from me. And that's when we must tell them, stop. Stop being something you're not.
It's OK. Be a nerd. Embrace your inner loser. You are a winner being a loser. Why in some countries, pocket protectors are the new fashion statement.
Live with it. So look at me, I've built a career on it.
— Watch Neil Cavuto weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on "Your World with Cavuto" and send your comments to cavuto@foxnews.com
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