Reuter’s says the increasing number of suicides is related to shame more than loss.
Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet (December 23, 2008)
Co-founder and chief executive officer of Access International Advisors. Duped by Bernard Madoff.
Adolf Merckle (January 6, 2009)
German billionaire who made a bad bet on Volkswagen.
Steven L. Good (January 7, 2009)
Real estate power broker.
To my mind, the best hedge fund letters of 2008 were not the most contrite, but those that best conceptualized the financial crisis. Among all letter writers, Michael Lewitt of HCM was most frequently worth reading, but I’ve chosen just one of his letters here, because it so clearly demonstrates his grasp of the issues BEFORE most of the fallout had occurred.
HCM
Lewitt’s September 1 letter is prophetic: “It is becoming increasingly clear to HCM that the financial system is entering a new and prolonged phase of the credit crisis.”
- recall that this letter (and others like it) appeared before the fall of Bear, etc.
Lahde
The most hysterical letter was Andrew Lahde’s, which beyond touting the relative harmlessness and benefits of marijuana, made a great point about the soullessness of Wall Street’s manic culture of greed. Andrew Lahde’s Farewell. “I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life – where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management – with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.” Read more »
Corporations have intruded into every facet of life. We eat corporate food. We buy corporate clothes. We drive corporate cars. We buy our vehicular fuel and our heating oil from corporations. We borrow from corporate banks. We invest our retirement savings with corporations. We are entertained, informed and branded by corporations. We work for corporations. The creation of a mercenary army, the privatization of public utilities and our disgusting for-profit health care system are all legacies of the corporate state. These corporations have no loyalty to America or the American worker. They are not tied to nation states. They are vampires.
GapingVoice: Really really really amazing article on the creative process and its pitfalls, a guide to living the creative life.
I know we’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but I classify that prohibitive superstition alongside black cats and broken mirrors. Anyway…wow!…what a relentlessly unfulfilling year 2008 was. I suppose I could look back and find some moderate professional success, but the real achievement seems to be that I stayed the same in 2008 while everything got worse for others. This is a great relative return, but what everyone really wants is a great Absolute Return, which just happens to be the name of my magnanimous and beautiful employer, long may she remain highly profitable (so far, so good).
I can’t really claim much credit for not screwing the pooch in 2008. Professionally, I did manage to avoid tempting offers in years past that would have left me looking for work now, so that my personal conservatism or cowardice or whatever (good judgment in some cases) has held me in good stead. And I did some good work and I got on TV again and managed to not have a complete nervous breakdown despite being constantly overwhelmed by the amount of information journalists now have to process. Read more »
