The former Alaskan 1/2-term governor and noted mentally challenged politician is coming to Hong Kong to talk to fund managers. The appearance suggests to me than the recession is officially over for our pals in the financial services industry, who are once again participating in a blatant display of conspicuous consumption.

I’m serious. Bear with me, I do have a point to make. But first, the facts:

CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, a Hong Kong-based brokerage, announced Monday that the former Republican candidate for the U.S. vice presidency and, until she resigned last month, governor of Alaska, will address the Sept. 21-25 event [the CLSA Investors' Forum] in what a press release called “her first international speaking engagement outside North America.”

Palin – who’s never been to East Asia and isn’t exactly famous for her mastery of public speaking or her expertise in finance and international affairs – might seem an unusual choice for an event that, according to CLSA, is “Asia’s premier investment conference providing unrivaled corporate access to 1,300 global fund managers from 32 countries, representing more than $10 trillion in funds under management.”

CLSA spokeswoman Simone Wheeler says that orators at the forum often come from outside the securities industry. “Our keynote speakers are always notable luminaries, and they usually address subjects that go beyond finance, such as geopolitics,” she says. (WSJ blog)

I assume that Palin was invited to address subjects like teenage pregnancy or small-town corruption?

OK, enough of the small talk. The woman is not qualified to speak on any subject, period. Mind you, my opinion of fund managers leaves a lot to be desired (apologies to certain members of my family), but even they deserve better than Sarah Palin.

So if these folks are paying good money (in travel costs, if nothing else) to attend this conference, and assuming as we can that the Palin speech has zero redeeming value, then a portion of those expenses are being wasted.

Logically, then, we can say that these attendees must be doing quite well financially to engage in such excess.

In other words, this is a public display of wealth, and these folks are simply flaunting their ability to waste money. They should forget about Palin and simply burn some currency at a press conference.

Makes me sick.