Posts tagged with banks

Autumn cannibalism

Adam Ma'anit, Monday, October 20, 2008

A recent farewell letter by famed hedge fund manager Andrew Lahde, gives an interesting insider’s perpsective into the financial crisis. Lahde’s fund, Santa Monica-based Ladhe Capital, made headlines when it produced over 1000% returns for its investors in 2007. How did it achieve this? By betting on the sub-prime mortgage market. The more it fell, the more money was made through clever use of 'short selling' – borrowing assets such as stocks, then selling them on with the assumption that their value will drop, and then buying them back cheaper so they can be returned to the lender, with the profits pocketed by the short seller.    

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It's funny, don't you think?

Alan Hughes, Monday, October 13, 2008

It’s funny, but has it struck anyone how amazing it is that in capitalism’s latest crisis, governments can suddenly find billions, nay, trillions of dollars to buy out the ailing banks? All with taxpayers’ money of course.
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Sub-prime people

David Ransom, Tuesday, March 18, 2008

What turns a credit crunch into a financial crisis? One reliable sign is when people who have always advocated privatization, free markets and deregulation start demanding - without apology - government intervention, hand-outs, even 'nationalization'. People like themselves, they say, are not to be trusted with money, so they won't lend it to each other. Government must do it instead. Besides, it's so fiendishly complex that there's a good chance no-one else will have a clue what's going on.
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