LONDON — I am reading some excerpts from the Treasury Select Committee. (It’s a slow day.). This is the UK Parliament’s most powerful economic over-sight committee. One assumes these guys have big brains and powerful calculators.

“There’s not one person here in this room that could read HSBC’s accounts and understand them,” said Jon Moulton of Alchemy Partners.

Wow. That’s a bit worrying, no?

Dr Jon Danielsson of LSE added: “Complexity is profitable. [...] Complexity makes people believe you understand it.”

I get it.

Or do I?

I see this as permission for all of us to raise our hands and ask for a proper explanation.

In business simplicity has now got to be close to godliness, though, right?

Amen to that.

/df