CT Programmer

The Emperor (Mr. Ackman) Has No Clothes

I'm no fan of Ackman, and I'm also long MBIA. But let's really put the blame where it belongs. Ackman didn't make ABK and MBI start investing in a riskier type of business in order to make a better return. They chose to do so, and just like everyone else wrapped up in all this mortgage mess didn't realize the true risk of those investments. There must have been an entire generation of actuaries that weren't doing their jobs, or caving to pressure to make more money. Did Ackman contribute to the knee-jerk reaction to all this and cause their shares to plummet more than they would have? Yes. But my guess is that without Ackman MBI's share still would have gone below $10, just maybe not all the way down to $4.