Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street: April 11

5. Flying the Paranoid Skies

Take off your shoes; pour out your liquids; don your surgical mask and enjoy a safe flight. On second-thought, just go home.

American Airlines AMR, the nation's largest carrier, had, at press time, scrubbed more than 2,400 flights since Tuesday in the latest chapter in the ongoing tale of woe of that is the U.S. airline industry.

Never mind that it's statistically the safest transportation in the history of mankind. In the post-9/11 era, air travel is all about bureaucratic infighting and political grandstanding, leaving any investor with even a shred of sanity no choice but to steer clear at all costs.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been taking fire from Democrats in Congress for being too lax in its oversight responsibilities, so now it's stepping up its reviews and getting all draconian at the expense of its already miserable customer-base.

On Tuesday, federal regulators warned the airline, which is routinely praised in Washington, D.C., for not shipping jobs overseas like its competitors, that nearly half its planes could violate a safety regulation designed to prevent fires.

Daniel Garton, an executive vice president at the airline, apologized for the snafu and vowed to fix the problem.

"We simply cannot put our customers through this again," said Garton.

Dumb-o-meter score: 68. Memo to Garton: Thanks for the empathy, but you've been putting customers through this for years and we expect you'll continue to do so at will.