In the months since the economy collapsed, it's become something of a bittersweet parlor game to try to pinpoint exactly when the overwhelming confidence of the financial boom tipped over into something closer to hubris.

The bank executives who spent their days on the golf course or at the card table while their companies collapsed? The condo in Florida that was flipped so many times it doubled in value without ever being lived in? The college graduates who earned more in their first year on Wall Street than their parents made in a decade for doing—what exactly?

The metals sector wasn't part of that particular bubble. This industry isn't in the business of hawking...