Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Jim Chanos Portrait

New York Magazine's Jim Chanos, hedge fund manager, portrait, is worth reading, 7 December 2008, link: http://nymag.com/news/business/52754

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But pity only goes so far. Chanos sees himself as a kind of truth-teller.

“I’ll always understand the Schadenfreude aspect to short-selling. I get that no one will always like it,” Chanos says. “I’m also convinced to the deepest part of my bones that short-selling plays the role of real-time financial watchdog. It’s one of the few checks and balances in the market.”

He’s not in the game for charity, though. “It’s from enlightened self-interest,” he says. “I’m not doing this for free.”

If Chanos is something of a Wall Street pariah, the feeling is mutual.

A self-professed “limousine liberal,” Chanos disdains Wall Street’s elite culture. “The sense of entitlement that everybody has because nothing has gone wrong for them is frightening to me,” he says.

Independent Accountant said...

Anonymous:
At least Chanos is honest enough to admit he wants to stuff his pockets. What's wrong with that? Suppose Richard Fuld had created a real company that did something and he made say $5 billion. What's wrong with that? Nothing as far as I can see.
I agree with Chanos, short-sellers are among the most honest people on Wall Street. Why? With the powers that be arranged against them, when they are wrong they get clobbered.
Who would you rather have "police" Wall Street, Chanos, Ackman and such or Chris Cox?

Anonymous said...

Put Fuld in chains...

Put Chanos and his brethren in bulletproof offices on Park or nearby... I don't begrudge him a cent of his earnings...

Policing the markets... hummm... sure... why not all of them?