UBS Securities Trader Who Lost $2.3 Billion is Sorry, Rick Perry Mad That Obama Makes Political Attack, the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ Lives On . . .

And Other News that Needs Observation and Comment

The UBS Securities Trade who lost $2.3 billion has said that he was “sorry beyond words”.  The Dismal Political Economist, who likes to think he has a way with words admits that there probably are no words to express how one feels about losing $2.3 billion.

In a related development UBS officials said they thought the statement by their errant employee was all that was needed to close the issue, and the fact that he said he was sorry was ample proof that oversight and regulation of the banking industry was not needed at any level.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, running for the Republican Presidential nomination was outraged, outraged, that President Obama would use the out of control fires and draught in Texas in a political attack on the Governor and his position of denial of global warming.

"It's outrageous President Obama would use the burning of 1,500 homes, the worst fires in state history, as a political attack," Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan told Politico.

Given that the Republican House has used disaster relief from the recent Hurricane and Topical Storm that hit the east coast as a political wedge to force their political ideology on an unwilling Senate, Mr. Perry’s outrage was probably directed at the fact that a Democrat was using a Republican tactic.  Mr. Perry, one must remember, has a policy of solving the wild fire problems in Texas by praying for rain, a position that is at least in his mind fiscally responsible even if it is not very effective.

Two American hikers who were recently freed after being held in an Iranian prison for two years have made a statement that they were held simply because they’re American.  These two gentlemen were captured by Iran after they were hiking near the Iranian border.  They are wrong, however, about why there were held.  It was because of “gross stupidity”.  Exactly what kind of American thinks that hiking in or near Iran is a smart and intelligent thing to do?

Remember the famous “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska that dominated the 2008 Presidential campaign?  Remember how former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin claimed she was the one who killed the project?  Well apparently Ms. Palin is better at killing moose from a helicopter than she is at killing pork barrel spending.

But the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, or KABATA — the group behind a bridge project linking Anchorage to a peninsula nearby — is still wooing private investors and trying to pry loose a considerable amount of state financial backing. And more than $50 million of the money it has spent promoting the project has been covered by federal funds.

So the elimination of the “bridge to nowhere” turns out to be just another hollow political statement, unsupported by the facts. What a surprise!

When the Godfather movies were released many Italian Americans were upset that the movies were showing the Italian community in an unfair way, portraying all of them as Mafia involved criminals when in fact they were a strong, vibrant and law abiding member of the American community. 

Now a Wall Street Journal article levels another blow at the Italian population.  The article examines the issue of how Italy’s leader has been able to stay in power despite the fact that his professional life in government, his professional life in business and his personal life are all severely “ethically challenged”.   It states that Italy’s prime minister is

the quintessential Italian and has been able to read the nation's mood like no one else.

To call Silvio Berlusconi a “quintessential Italian” seems to be a far greater insult to the Italian people than the Godfather movies ever were. 

The whole world is well acquainted with Mr. Berlusconi's scandals and shenanigans—wild parties, prostitutes, unsavory business partners. Though he denies any wrongdoing, he is currently embroiled in no fewer than nine judicial tangles. The charges range from corrupting a witness to paying for sex with a minor.

The article is meant to be explanatory and not in any way an attack on the character of the Italian people.  But the charge that Mr. Berlusconi has remained in power because he is the embodiment of Italians is just plain wrong.