President Bush Sums Up the Financial Crisis the Best Way He Knows How“Wall Street got drunk,” the president said, “and now it’s got a hangover.” Also, Donald Trump Jr. invests in India, ‘Esquire’ editors decide to flash people, and more, in our daily roundup of finance, real-estate, media, and law news.
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Hedgies of the ApocalypseAs the markets decline, hedge funds like Philip Falcone’s and John Paulson’s still manage to rake in the dough.
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George Soros: You Ain’t Seen Nothing YetPublishing musical chairs, bad news on the economy front, and gripes about law-school rankings — all in our daily roundup.
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John Paulson Acquires an Alan Greenspan
For sub-prime sufferers who blame Alan Greenspan for setting off the collapse with his low-interest-rate policy, today’s announcement that the former Federal Reserve chairman has joined up with John Paulson, the Queens native and hedge-fund manager who famously made billions of dollars betting against the mortgage market, must especially sting. Paulson & Company, which has assets of $28 billion, have hired Greenspan to be their own personal Nostradamus — they’re the only hedge fund he will advise on the direction of the economy and for whom he will assess, according to the Financial Times, “the potential for and severity of a US recession,” so that next time there’s a giant bust (credit cards! Auto loans!), they can roll around in piles of filthy lucre while the rest of us rubes wail and tear our garments in the streets. Although not if we’re canny. According to the Journal, Paulson, who recently gave a presentation titled “The Worst Is Yet to Come,” has been known to tell investors “it’s still not too late” to bet on economic troubles.
Trader Made Billions On Subprime [WSJ]
Greenspan Joins NY Hedge Fund [FT]