by TAKEO "BABE" UTSUMI

In last Monday’s financial disaster on Wall Street, the Dow Jones dropped 777 points. It was the biggest recorded drop in Dow Jones history.

This debacle was created by the fact that Congress could not come up with a solution for a bail-out of financial and insurance companies. At this time of writing (Thursday), we will have to wait and see if the House will reverse its votes to pass the bail-out bill.

A mathematician who had nothing better to do, I guess, calculated that if one should withdraw a $20 bill from an ATM 24 hours straight, it would take 13 years to reach the amount of the bail-out.

For a guy like me who is still using fingers, and toes, to count, this is a bewildering statistic. I guess these figures were reached by utilizing high-speed computers. It’s back to the soroban for me.

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Still in the financial world, I see that Warren Buffet, the so-called financial genius, purchased $5 billion worth of Goldman Sachs stock. Then he bought $5 billion worth of General Electric preferred stocks. It’s nice that one could make moves like these, if you have a few billion lying around.

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The latest figures from the California vehicle registry showed that there are over 200 elderly people (aged 100 or over) with driver’s licenses. Since I cannot drive because of my eyes, I kind of raise my eyebrows at this figure.

As long as these oldsters don’t get on the freeway, I guess it’s all right. However, I have heard of too many accidents involving oldsters because of stepping on the wrong pedal or not reacting quickly.

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Lately we have heard of many acts of piracy occurring on the high seas around the Indian Ocean and the African coast. These are carried out by pirates in small, fast boats with machine guns and rocket launchers.

I used to think, why don’t these large cargo ships equip themselves with similar weapons to ward off these gangsters? Then, on a talk show recently, a man well-versed in the laws of the seas said that no weapons are allowed on these ships.

It’s no wonder these thugs on the seas can get away with it.

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Well, the old revolving door at the so-called Raider Nation kicked out another head coach, Lane Kiffin. If one is looking for job security, Oakland is surely not the place. A coach should not completely unpack his suitcase. And, of course, don’t ever buy a house. Kiffin lasted one season plus four games.

Now there is trouble brewing because Al Davis is refusing to pay Kiffin for the balance of his contract. Former Raiders coach Art Shanahan, now of the Denver Broncos, says that he is still suing Davis for $250,000 owed him for his short time with the then-L.A. Raiders.

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By the way, just who is this Takeo Spikes, the linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers? Hey, that’s my name and John Noguchi, my nephew, has the same middle name.

Spikes is nothing like us. He’s big — 6’3” — and weighs 240 pounds. If I walked up to him, the top of my head would be just above his navel.

The name Takeo in Japanese kanji writing is “bushi,” meaning samurai. I am curious to know just how Spikes got his name.

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It has been a long and disappointing season again for the San Francisco Giants. The only bright spot was the performance of pitcher Tim Lincecum. He won 18 games and led the league in strike-outs. He is still a young guy and the future looks bright for him.

If Barry Zito could have won at least four games out of his first eight starts, the Giants would have really been in the thick of the National League West. Actually, Zito pitched quite well after those disastrous eight losses and showed some true grit later on.

As I have said many times, it’s no mystery to all ball fans — the Giants need a big bat or two in the line-up. Perhaps they may have to give up a couple of players for a trade, or they may be able to get a free agent later on this year.

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There is a bit of trouble brewing over the paisano committee choosing Tommy Lasorda as teh grand marshal of the Italian Heritage Day Parade. A city supervisor spoke against this choice because his name is linked to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I think this is rinky-dink. Baseball rivalry is one thing; Lasorda is a real paisano. He looked forward to coming to San Francisco with his team because he loved to eat at the various Italian restaurants.

I used to go and watch the batting practice early in the day, and when the Dodgers came out of the right-field dressing room, the fans would boo Lasorda as he strode toward the dugout. Of course, this was just a “friendly” greeting, and he would throw kisses at the jeering fans.

Let’s be big about this and let common sense rule. He certainly is not Bin Laden, Hitler or Mussolini. San Francisco is a cosmopolitan city, and the citizens should not be small-minded about a situation like this.

After all, it’s a celebration, and Lasorda is Italian. So, go Tommy Lasorda!

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At my age my eyes suffer from MD, and sexually I have ED. Fortunately, I don’t have VD because if so, I would have to cash in my CD to pay the MD.