Hedge fund manager Andrew Lahde spectacularly departed the industry last month after his one-year-old fund returned 866 per cent betting against the subprime collapse. The Californiabased manager’s “goodbye letter” blasted the industry for its greed and stupidity.
The email has already been passed around more times than a credit default swap, but here are a few excerpts for those who missed it. “Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye. What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it. I was in this game for the money.
The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behaviour supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades.
