It was a lot like Wall Street in recent years. Junk paper and lots of booze. Roger Sherman, the only man to sign all four great founding documents, wrote in 1752:
But so long as we part with our most valuable Commodities for such Bills of Credit as are no Profit; but rather a Cheat, Vexation and Snare to us, and become a Medium whereby we are continually cheating and wronging one another in our Dealings and Commerce.And so long as we import so much more foreign Goods than are necessary, and keep so many Merchants and Trader employed to procure and deal them out to us: Great Part of which, we might as well make among ourselves; and another great Part of which, we had much better be without, especially the Spiritous Liquors of which vast Quantities are consumed in this Colony every Year, unnecessarily to the great Destruction of the Estates, Morals, Health and even the Lives of many of the Inhabitants.
I say so long as these Things are so we shall spend great Part of our Labour and Substance for that which will not profit us.
Benjamin Franklin, when he moved to England for a spell in his (relative) youth, worked at a print shop. His coworkers would all drink Guiness or some other dark beer during their breaks. Morning and lunchtime. Their productivity dissipated each day after lunch because they were drunk. He convinced the owner to change the policy and got everyone pissed off at him.