If you needed anymore evidence that the bond market is more powerful than any moral or ethical canon, just check out the fortunes of Silvio Berlusconi. He skates charges of corruption and bribery of judges dating back to 1994, dodges charges (so far) that he slept with underaged women (his wife called him "the dragon to whom virgins offer themselves for success and notoriety") and, throughout that entire time, wields the wweapon of his media empire to intimidate opponents.

   But, he cannot beat back the ulmighty bond market:

In the end, thus, it was not the sex scandals, the corruption trials against him or even a loss of popular consensus that appeared to end Mr. Berlusconi’s 17 years as a dominant figure in Italian political life. It was, instead, the pressure of the markets and the European Union, which could not risk his dragging down the euro and with it the world economy.

   Beware the bond markets. They rule the world.