Surrealism and Sovereign Funds

A connection only in that I attended a seminar on sovereign funds investing in the US and wasted an hour listening to a panel of similar minded speakers intone canned statements well-honed on the conference circuit that are designed to say little, please the audience, but not challenge them to think – a sort of intellectual elevator music. The only interesting moment was with one of the required quips flattering the business audience by knocking inept politicians and government bureaucrats. Imagine sitting in a room full of Wall Streeters at a major Wall Street law firm in the midst of the largest financial write-offs in history and listening to them snicker about politicians who “lose other people’s money”? I hope I wasn’t the only one who got the joke.