Re:The Man Who Made Too Much
by steveplace on Wednesday January 14, 2009 @10:43AM
(#433736)
How was his trade unethical? Shortsellers are not evil. Financial speculation is amoral.
"Unethical" was tongue-in-cheek. I whole-heartedly agree with you. Short-sellers are necessary. Speculation is amoral. Trading is war. If one does not want to get shot, then one should not go to war, period.
It's soooo amusing to see the big banks who professed "free markets" and "deregulation" now advocating that short-selling is evil. It's the "heads I win, tails you lose" kind of thing. "Free markets" are only good just as long as they're winning...
Re:The Man Who Made Too Much
by steveplace on Wednesday January 14, 2009 @11:02AM
(#433769)
On a related note, I'm kicking myself for not holding on to my HBC puts I bought yesterday. Guess I was feeling a little too ethical.
It's easy to be "noble" when you don't have the chance to be "evil". Don't get me wrong, but I find it very, VERY hard to believe that if you were on Paulson's shoes and had the chance to make some $3.7 billion, you would still be so moralistic.
Paulson made money within the law (though "unethical" his trade may have been). Seems to me that people who bash him are just jealous.
Paulson can now invest some money in new businesses and create some value. He took money from the idiot banks and those who invest in them. I won't shed a tear.