Category: Quotes

While the industry seems loath to accept the idea that there should be any limits to its size, there are clear problems associated with scale. It becomes harder to devise distinctive strategies. Funds find it more difficult to trade in and out of markets without moving prices against themselves.

An even bigger concern is that size has turned the industry into what is known as a “loser’s game”. This is one in which victory goes not to the player with the best offensive strategy but to the one who makes the fewest mistakes – and has the lowest costs. Hedge fundery has become a loser’s game because the funds themselves are no longer the exotic and small offshoot of mainstream fund management they were in the 1990s. Increasingly, they are the market-wrote Jonathan Ford in FT

Because while I have no special expertise or experience in forecasting the vicissitudes of core European diplomacy and socioeconomic policy, I do know white people.  And I know wealthy white people, in particular.  And wealthy white people, American or otherwise, can always be counted on to compromise at the last moment so as to preserve the status quo.  And that compromise will typically involve whichever option is the least painful, even if it means that more work must be done in the future (the proverbial can-kick).  And we know that euro printing, even if it means a bit of inflation for the German middle class to wrassle with, is probably worth it if the task is preserving the hegemony of the  creditors, rentiers, landed gentry and aristocracy. And so eventually, no matter how scary the headlines become or how volatile markets become in the short-term, you can expect a compromise that the wealthy and powerful elites (read: the markets) can live with.  You can set your Swiss watch by it.  Keep this in the back of your mind when the bullshit artists come on TV or puke their newsletters into your inbox.  They are very intellectually intelligent, but they are also misanthropic social outcasts who do not and have not ever understood the way people work-wrote Josh Brown in The Reformed Broker

What motivates social activists (like Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand)? Let’s play with humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow’s Humanistic Theory of Self-Actualisation (the “Hierarchy of Needs” theory and self-actualisation). First, it starts with the need to help others and it is altruistic. With a bit of success and acknowledgement of the good work he/she is doing, the activist becomes a hero. He/she gains followers and is surrounded by sycophants. Any challenging views are dismissed. The final stage takes place — the activist falls in love with himself/herself. Now this activist who started with altruistic reasons, has become a danger to society. The activist is so taken in by his/her Jungian Hero Archetype bordering on the Martyr Archetype, that anyone else’s opinion or perspective is held in contempt. Because the Archetype is so enthralled by his/her own sacrifices to the cause, to make them worthwhile, blind faith in one’s self is essential. If he/she admits he/she is wrong on any point, it means a lifetime of service has been wasted.

 

Gujarat 2002 upset and shook me up. Many Tweeters have sincerely tried to convince me that Narendra Modi was not responsible. I, sincerely, have not been convinced so far, since I have seen stories with evidence and footage that show the opposite. But an article like this one by Setalvad-Anand is enough to turn me into what is called an Internet Hindu. India cannot afford to have different rules of engagement based on people’s religion, caste or gender. I believe that is enshrined in our Constitution. Destroying the Constitution for a vote-bank is worse corruption than black money. An incendiary article by Setalvad-Anand can do as much damage as violence in Azad Maidan. To paraphrase Arun Shourie: This is bending over backwards

–wrote Madhu Trehan in the Indian Express

“The unabashed, vulgar indulgence in conspicuous consumption by the noveau-riche has left the underclass seething in frustration. One half of our society guzzles aerated beverages, while the other has to make do with palmfuls of muddied water”-said President Narayanan in his speech to the nation on 25 Jan, 2000

“No management with a credible character would file a criminal case against the authors of a research report. They are trying to show to the market place, and I paraphrase here, ‘The man with the biggest stick gets to take the buffalo home’. They have forgotten that in global capital markets, the intellectual capital of Veritas and other organisations similar to ours is the opinion maker, and the key deciding factor in allocation of capital.India can’t become a superpower by stifling debate. If a company can’t stand up to scrutiny, then it needs new management that can engage and debate.”-said Veritas analyst Neeraj Monga about Indiabulls