Financial Hubris

While we’re on the subject of finance, some claim that the bankers in “The City” (London’s Wall Street) created the meltdown because of hubris and greed. I usually reject ideas like these because I prefer a simpler explanation – stupidity. (In this case: awe-inspiring, colossal, impregnable and incomprehensible stupidity.) However, an article in the Sunday Times has necessitated reassessment. I quote from the first paragraph: “Vanity is not dead in The City. Financers are commissioning nude portraits of their wives made from collages of newspaper clippings telling the story of their own financial conquests.” And, in case you still don’t believe it, see the clipping above. (The "FT" is the Financial Times, the UK's Wall Street Journal)

To clinch the case: “In one commission, Darrit Moussaieff, the wife of the President of Iceland, was seated naked apart from a pair of gloves and a hat created from cuttings of bank notes.” Darius informs me that there are lots of useless banknotes in Iceland.

Nazy, reading the draft, observed that my financial conquests are insufficient to warrant a family commission.

“Were you considering….” I began.

“No!” Nazy ended.... "But, as former President of the American Women's Club, I have been in the news lately. Would you.."

"No."