Risky Business

Regarding the Ground Zero Mosque issue once again - one thing I could never figure out was why New York Mayor Bloomberg was so forthright in his support for the mosque, and its location. Why would this former Republican be so out in the forefront of this issue when he must know he is alienating many New Yorkers and 9/11 families. Like the President he could have tried to stay out of the fray.

Well there is only one answer, I guess. It's bidness.

You see the Mayor runs the Bloomberg information business empire - information sharing of stock quotes, business news et al that has reaped him his current fortune. His company provides desk top sets to get on-line stock quotes and information like the big brokerage houses. Even as far back as 15 years ago I would go to the library to look things up on a Bloomberg station. Obviously promoting his business network to other regions of the world is, er...well, is his business.

Now it turns out he is trying to expand in Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates as described here. This would be an amazing sales coup to be able to expand in the Middle East and thus be the leading purveyor of business and market information for the entire region. And one could guess that providing support for an Islamic cause just might further that type of platform. A quid pro quo. I mean, this is just normal business. I can understand this. Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Apparently this business venture has been in discussion for some time.

Look, this is certainly a bit of conjecture - maybe the Mayor feels very strongly about the constitutionality of the mosque issue (...sure he does - he certainly hasn't cared about the Greek Orthodox Church that has tried to rebuild in the past nine years in a spot right across from Ground Zero all this time) - but it doesn't really make much political sense. A plurality of the nation (70%) is opposed to the Mosque. There had to be something else. One thing I know - Guilianni would certainly not be doing this. So why would Bloomberg?

Bidness. Nothing personal - just bidness.