U.S. investors have just experienced their worst point-loss week in history, as measured by the Dow, as the nation, and the world, implements policies to end the global financial crisis.

In times like these investors/readers turn to the likes of Warren Buffett or George Soros to analyze the financial and economic state of things.

However, today we turn to another trusted source for time-tested counsel, advise, and wisdom: Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra, retired Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees, owner of 10 World Series championship rings, and author of 'yogiisms' -- incisive malapropisms that reveal eternal truths.

After Yogi came out of a hitting slump in the Yanks' pennant-winning season of 1952, a New York newspaper reporter asked Yogi if it was his bad knee that had caused the slump to start earlier that month.

"No it wasn't my knee, it was my head," Yogi replied. "Ninety percent of this game is half-mental."

Whenever I see a list of contrarian stock picks, I'm reminded of the Yogi Berra witticism about a popular restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded."

A list of stocks to buy because no one is interested in buying them seems paradoxical, but the methods that the Wall Street Journal used to compile its list of contrarian stocks [subscription required] are interesting: Stocks that have lagged the market for six months but have made sizable gains in the past week, have manageable debt levels, solid profits, negative analyst ratings, and PEG ratios below 1.5.

That's a pretty good screen for finding beaten down stocks, and I'm going to try to find a site that will allow me to input all of that into a stock screener. Anyone with any suggestions, please leave a comment.

And to learn more about contrarian investing, I recommend David Dreman's Contrarian Investment Strategies.

Starbucks (SBUX) CFO Michael Casey in Wednesday's conference call: While this [service slowdown] is an issue, and we're working on it, and we're going to get it solved, it perhaps doesn't quite deserve the focus it's been getting" from Wall Street. [via Forbes.com]. Fair enough, but controlling what the Street chooses to focus on is not easy. I'm surprised at that the play that that issue has received, I can only assume that there must be some value to holding it as a concern, because I haven't noticed lines increasing myself. Or am I already so indoctrinated I don't notice time spend in line any more (as we say out here in the sticks-- or on line as they say in NYC). It seems upper management is aware of the situation -- I almost wrote, hyper-aware, but seeing that it is such an issue for many analysts, I suppose they can't be overly concerned about it.

Come to think of it, I've walked out of joints with slow service plenty.