Michael Lewis the best-selling author of "Liar's Poker" and now hedge-fund manager has written two really obnoxious columns for Bloomberg where he tries to combine sarcasm with satire. And fails.
How far this guy has fallen: Liar's Poker I thought was really a witty and well-written book. After that he wrote that awful "The New New Thing". Now he is reduced to complaining about how the poor are wrecking his portfolio. What an ass. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=afAnsXuy.zaE http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a5lhZkEauCu8 ---------------------------snip So right after the Bear Stearns funds blew up, I had a thought: This is what happens when you lend money to poor people. Don't get me wrong: I have nothing personally against the poor. To my knowledge, I have nothing personally to do with the poor at all. It's not personal when a guy cuts your grass: that's business. He does what you say, you pay him. But you don't pay him in advance: That would be finance. And finance is one thing you should never engage in with the poor. (By poor, I mean anyone who the SEC wouldn't allow to invest in my hedge fund.) That's the biggest lesson I've learned from the subprime crisis. Along the way, as these people have torpedoed my portfolio, I had some other thoughts about the poor. I'll share them with you. 1) They're masters of public relations. I had no idea how my open-handedness could be made to look, after the fact. At the time I bought the subprime portfolio I thought: This is sort of like my way of giving something back. I didn't expect a profile in Philanthropy Today or anything like that. I mean, I bought at a discount. But I thought people would admire the Wall Street big shot who found a way to help the little guy. Sort of like a money doctor helping a sick person. Then the little guy wheels around and gives me this financial enema. And I'm the one who gets crap in the papers! Everyone feels sorry for the poor, and no one feels sorry for me. Even though it's my money! No good deed goes unpunished. -raghu.
