Trump, though there’s reason for concern, shares some basic qualities that made the “Final Five” and America great.

Sir, Gillian Tett describing a clearly inspiring show by the US Olympic women’s gymnastics team, the “Final Five” asks: “Do they demonstrate discipline and ambition? Undoubtedly: if you want to teach a kid about triumph in the face of adversity Simone Biles’s life story is a good place to start: she overcame the challenges of a very tough childhood to win five Olympic medals” “What Trump can learn from the Final Five” November 12.

But at least in this respect Trump, though born with a silver teaspoon in his mouth, has certainly already demonstrated a willingness to take risks, to make mistakes, to try it again, and that go-get-it spirit that made the Five Final, and that helped make America what it is. If anything some could hold Trump has demonstrated a bit too much of those qualities.

Personally I pray Trump, as a President will want to reignite the building of America based on those qualities, and not just based on unproductive cronyism, which is a much too frequent reason for why some less deserving make it “Great” though not really the Final Five.

PS. Whether popular votes or electoral votes, no winning side has the right to ignore the other almost-half, though unfortunately it seems both sides would want to.

FT, you seem to exploit the needs and wants of the young only when it suits you, like today when fighting Brexit

Sir, you write: “The uplifting notes in this campaign should not be ignored. One of the brightest has come from the younger generation, a majority of whom favour staying in Europe. In a digital age, the young recognise that their future is one of connectedness and participation, not separation and isolation. While older Brexit voters seem to look backwards to an imperial past, the young look forward to a global future. It is their future that is ultimately at stake” “A moment of destiny for Britain and Europe”, June 23.

But you have insisted on keeping mum about the fact that current bank regulations, with its risk-weighted capital requirements, de facto favors the refinancing of your safer past, and impedes so much of those credits to the riskier that are required for the young to have a chance of a decent future.

Sir, to me it seems you bring in the young, only when it suits you, like now when fighting Brexit.

Yes, today’s election is important, and I would have voted to stay in EU, at least if I were sure Britain would raise some hell there. But, a much more important decision than that, is whether Britain wants to go back to being the daring go-get-it nation it once was, or remain the sheepish risk-adverse country that for instance the Basel Committee now wants it to be.

@PerKurowski ©

The Western world is being brought to its knees by mad bank regulators.

The Western world is the result of risk-taking in all shapes and forms… “God make us daring!”, ends one of the psalms sung in its churches. 

And so when regulators, with their capital requirements, decided to give the banks additional incentives to embrace what was perceived as “not-risky” and further avoid the “risky”, like small business and entrepreneurs, only so that banks would not fail, they stuck a dagger in the very soul of the Western world. 

And besides, they used a lousy dagger that could not stop banks from failing, because it is precisely when banks embrace too much something that is perceived as absolutely not risky, when they fail, en masse. 

And Mario Draghi is one of those Western-world-slayers regulators who do not yet even understand he is very much responsible for “L’economia castrata”. Therefore, Sebastian Mallaby’s heading “This will not be enough, Mr. Draghi”, August 8, would have been more precise stating “Nothing Mr. Draghi does, will be enough” 

Survival of Europe has to begin by rescuing the possibilities of its risk-takers to take risks, and that begins by firing the nannies in the Basel Committee and in the Financial Stability Board, and renaming the latter immediately the Financial Functionability Board.