“Did Ben Bernanke see the crisis?” Nassim Taleb asked on Bloomberg TV today. “No,” Taleb answered himself, “He was flying the plane and he crashed the plane…[Bernanke] reminds me of the LTCM people. They had brilliant people with great academic records and they blew up the fund and almost blew up Wall Street…Bernanke is someone who talks about returns without talking about risk. It’s identical to a pilot who is talking about speed — not talking about safety. The measures he is using, this quantitative easing, may work but should it fail the risks are humongous.” Continue reading »
LTCM
Here’s a lil’ pick me up for all you bankers thinking you’re the only ones taking it up the tailpipe– JWM Partners, the fund started by John Meriwether after things started to go downhill at LTCM, which recently lost 24 percent in its $1 billion fixed-income hedge fund this year through March 14, just laid off ten employees and two partners have “quit.” DealBreaker has obtained a portion of the heartfelt note Meriwether sent to the unlucky staffers, which you’ll find after the jump.
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Hedge Funds
Third Time’s A Charm?
How Much Investor Money Can John Meriwether Lose In One Lifetime?
By John Carney
The investment firm run by chief John Meriwether lost 24 percent in its $1 billion fixed-income hedge fund this year through March 14, two people “with knowledge of the matter” have told Bloomberg. Meriwether, of course, was one of the big men behind Long-Term Capital Management LP, which collapsed in the late 1990s. LTCM lost almost $4 billion. Not even two years ago, Alternative Investment News gave him their Lifetime Achievement Award.
John Meriwether’s Bond Fund Loses 24% on Credit-Market Plunge [Bloomberg]
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