Hedge funds generally do not track benchmarks as the point of them is to provide diversified return streams. Over a specific time window, any hedge fund worth its salt should outperform vs SPX but really shouldn't be month to month.

Yes, and their long term returns support this. My phrasing was regrettable, but my feeling is that they are doing a post hoc rationalization for what maximizes their profit (or are describing themselves as an amoral agent in a complex system, at best).

Obviously their entire reason for existence is to make money and no one believes anything different. I think that they also provide a valuable service to the markets and that Paul Singer (at least at this stage in his life) sees himself as an activist beyond the investment world.

I don't agree with all of their methods but think that they're a necessary boogieman in order to prevent shareholders from getting ripped off. Definitely the most aggressive in their space and they attract a lot of attention for it but no one ever seems to ask about why these companies were run in such a poor fashion to begin with.

they are not trying to beat the spx... they are trying to produce positive, low volatility, uncorrelated returns...