The Financial Follies: It's Raining Yen

The New York Financial Writers Association hosts the “Financial Follies” dinner every year for business journalists and sources to mingle. Marshall Heyman of The Wall Street Journal has some highlights of Friday’s festivities.

Heyman writes, “Because it’s a staged show, the Financial Follies has what it calls a book and lyrics committee. Some of the people on the committee this year were Josh Friedlander, who’s the President Emeritus of NYFWA and the online editor of AR: Absolute Return + Alpha; Peter Coy, the economics editor for BusinessWeek; and Imogen Rose-Smith, a reporter for Institutional Investor.

“This year’s cast was made of an equally eclectic crowd, including reporters from Market News International and Reuters, as well as professional actors like Tim Kubart, who appeared as a character named Spencer in the Teen.com Web series ‘Haute & Bothered.’ Accompaniment is provided by Broadway musicians.

“The program featured a cautionary warning containing its own brand of fiscal ha-ha: ‘This show’s humor is an unregulated derivative of past events. Pursue an investment at your own risk. Past hilarity is no guarantee of future humor.’

“Featured prominently: an illustration of President Obama, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury secretary Timothy F. Geithner among dolphins and fish in the oil spill, and included Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein dressed like Lady Gaga.”

Read more here.