This post is not about the Ruling Classes (CEOs, government bureaucrats and politicians) who loot the public to get richer & more powerful while failing to deliver anything to the common man and woman. This post is about the beefers, aka big, evil funds, mostly private investment partnerships also known as hedge funds, who led the hoard of financial vikings who looted the nation before and during the Panic of 2008 and its aftermath. A new book shows that nearly the entire industry is a scam. The hedge fund managers make plenty of money, but the investors get nothing cumulatively. Remember that old book and adage about the financial industry during the Great Depression - "Where are the Customers' Yachts?". The hedge fund industry is a reprise writ large.
A review of "The Hedge Fund Mirage: The Illusion of Big Money and Why It's Too Good to be True" [Simon Lack, Wiley] in the weekend Financial Times contains all you need to know. "If all the money that's ever been invested in hedge funds had been put in Treasury bills instead, the results would have been twice as good."
More: "Never in the field of human finance has so much been charged for so little."
And: "The prime purpose of the sector is to provide jobs and wealth creation for the industry professionals: managers, consultants, allocators, prime brokers, and other service providers."
The total amount of money lost by hedge funds in the Panic of 2008 - "some $450bn-odd vaporised in a single year ... destroyed all the value that hedge funds ever created."
The managers made big money. "From 1998 to 2010, the cumulative split was just $9bn to investors versus $440bn to managers." That is a breathtaking vision of pure greed and fraud.
The author has the numbers and data to back up every conclusion ... and every smirk of disgust at the hogs at the trough. In the end, though, he blames the investors. They are the stupid cows being milked and leeched by the parasites in the hedge fund industry. They want to get ... more. And they get what they deserve - less.
Your author, the Bunkerman, has been saying and writing this for years, to the smirks and jibes of various pontificating (and well paid) pundits and some hedge fund managers themselves. It's nice to see Bunkerman proven right ... again.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Woof! Woof!
This little rally in the morning has woken up Krypto from her nap. She has given me re-balancing sell orders in US stocks, Europe and Emerging Market stocks. All proceeds to cash. The larger orders are in Europe, next US, last Emerging Markets.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Hmmmm ...
Krypto opened her eyes to check the markets, but stayed on the couch. Close, but ...
Jobs data were better. Without Ben doing his heavy shelling, the common man would be suffering far more than he now is.
Giants win. Oh well, it was a good game. My Super Bowl feast of roast beef, sweet potatoes, sauteed red peppers & onions, Lucky Star Pinot Noir wine (vintage 2009) and a whoopie pie for dessert was suberb.
Interesting article in the NY Times about the views of an officer with mucho experience in Afghanistan. His opinions check with what I've heard from some grunts. That ten year war is another Vietnam - a complete waste on faulty strategy & tactics that is merely enriching the military-industrial complex. Thank you Bush-Rumsfeld-Barry for making the same mistake of your grandfathers. Dopes.
Declare victory for getting bin Ladin and come home.
Newt is cratering - good. What a whiner! That guy is a disgrace, self-promoter and seems to think with another organ of his body.
Davos was a non-event. Good. People are learning.
The common man and woman are still in shock and suffering much hardship. Either they or someone they know are out of work or seriously underemployed or have no hopes. There savings are disappearing. Retirement is a dream. Bagging groceries at 80 ... but wait - the supermarkets want to replace them with machines, too. Thank you, US government tax policy.
The rich & powerful comtinue to feed at the trough. Witness P&G executives. They write off billions, yet collect millions in pay without bearing the pain of their mistakes ... and try to cover up their failures with more layoffs of the innocent.
When will people begin to say the Emperor is naked as a jaybird?
CFOs contine to hoard cash in the US and overseas and refuse to pay dividends, while buying back stock to prop up the value of their restricted stock and options. Utterly dishonest behavior. Why is Apple stock at such a low P/E ratio? The market thinks they will waste the cash.
There is nothing wrong with free enterprise that a heavy dose of integrity and fair play cannot fix. Get rid of the trough and made the hogs truly perform for their pay. Cut their pay!!!
Barry is a joke. He has done nothing for three years to help the common man and woman. Without Ben, he'd be at 30% in the polls.
Oh well ... Is there nothing new under the Sun?
Yes ... the solar cycle is weak, likely a harbinger of a multi-decade cooling period with major storms.
Jobs data were better. Without Ben doing his heavy shelling, the common man would be suffering far more than he now is.
Giants win. Oh well, it was a good game. My Super Bowl feast of roast beef, sweet potatoes, sauteed red peppers & onions, Lucky Star Pinot Noir wine (vintage 2009) and a whoopie pie for dessert was suberb.
Interesting article in the NY Times about the views of an officer with mucho experience in Afghanistan. His opinions check with what I've heard from some grunts. That ten year war is another Vietnam - a complete waste on faulty strategy & tactics that is merely enriching the military-industrial complex. Thank you Bush-Rumsfeld-Barry for making the same mistake of your grandfathers. Dopes.
Declare victory for getting bin Ladin and come home.
Newt is cratering - good. What a whiner! That guy is a disgrace, self-promoter and seems to think with another organ of his body.
Davos was a non-event. Good. People are learning.
The common man and woman are still in shock and suffering much hardship. Either they or someone they know are out of work or seriously underemployed or have no hopes. There savings are disappearing. Retirement is a dream. Bagging groceries at 80 ... but wait - the supermarkets want to replace them with machines, too. Thank you, US government tax policy.
The rich & powerful comtinue to feed at the trough. Witness P&G executives. They write off billions, yet collect millions in pay without bearing the pain of their mistakes ... and try to cover up their failures with more layoffs of the innocent.
When will people begin to say the Emperor is naked as a jaybird?
CFOs contine to hoard cash in the US and overseas and refuse to pay dividends, while buying back stock to prop up the value of their restricted stock and options. Utterly dishonest behavior. Why is Apple stock at such a low P/E ratio? The market thinks they will waste the cash.
There is nothing wrong with free enterprise that a heavy dose of integrity and fair play cannot fix. Get rid of the trough and made the hogs truly perform for their pay. Cut their pay!!!
Barry is a joke. He has done nothing for three years to help the common man and woman. Without Ben, he'd be at 30% in the polls.
Oh well ... Is there nothing new under the Sun?
Yes ... the solar cycle is weak, likely a harbinger of a multi-decade cooling period with major storms.
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