BerkeleyBob

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

I am puzzled by the jury's acquittal of the two Bear Stearns fund managers. Looked like a prima facie case of misrepresentation, looked quite similar to what caused Henry Blodgett to change careers. As to AIG, it was not (just) a rogue division headquartered in London that imploded. Hank Greenberg, quite unrepentant, was forced to resign because he approved sham transactions with a reinsurer to prop up AIG's stated assets. I am sure many fine and ethical people worked for AIG but there was rot at the top of that organization, which was structured to evade to the maximum extent possible, any and all government regulation.

Einhorn Comes Off No-Short List

I am long GE and painfully acquired lessons teach me that I don't know or understand a lot. However, I really did not understand your blog. How would a private hedge fund manager (Einhorn) get a short target off of the protected financial list? From at least skimming his book and the interviews I saw, my impression is that Einhorn is fairly ethical and honest, and is very unhappy with SEC lack of enforcement. Of course, Mozillo made a good impression before he sold off Countrywide and the extent of his "favors" for his "friends of Angelo" became public. At least we are both banging our heads over GE; I added to my position a while ago, but don't think we will see $40 a share for a long, long time.