The naked face of hedge funds

The naked face of hedge funds

Richard Murphy
May 1st, 2009

Chrysler is in administration because Hedge Funds refused trio do a deal on the debt they were owed. As President Obama said:

While many stakeholders made sacrifices and worked constructively, I have to tell you some did not. In particular, a group of investment firms and hedge funds decided to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout. They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none. Some demanded twice the return that other lenders were getting. I don’t stand with them. I stand with Chrysler’s employees and their families and communities. I stand with Chrysler’s management, its dealers, and its suppliers. I stand with the millions of Americans who own and want to buy Chrysler cars. I don’t stand with those who held out when everybody else is making sacrifices.

Quite so.

This is why hedge funds harm the rest of the world. They believe their claim on capital makes them different from the rest of the world. Wrong, wrong and wrong again. It does not.

A little humility helps. Hedge funds might have to learn it if they are to have any place in the world of the future.