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TIME MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 15, 1999 VOL. 153 NO. 6 The Three Marketeers Economist heroes? It sounds silly unless you understand how close we came to economic meltdown last year. BY JOSHUA COOPER RAMO The Phone Rings. You Are on Vacation in the Virgin Islands. You have been dreaming about the fishing for the better part of two months, and you are about to head out to chase the Christmastime bonefish running offshore and to spend a day on the water, with the sun leaching six months of Washington baloney from your brain. The phone rings, and because you are Secretary...

No Auto Bailout? Investors May Just Say 'No Problem' BAILOUT, AUTOMAKERS, BIG THREE, FORD, GENERAL MOTORS, GM, CHRYSLER, CARS, ECONOMY, STOCK MARKET NEWS CNBC.com | 19 Nov 2008 | 01:28 PM ET If Congress turns its back on the Big Three auto makers—as many expect—investors probably won't drive the stock market off a cliff. Instead, some market experts see at most a brief selloff once news hits that Ford , General Motors and Chrysler won't be getting a bailout. Market reaction otherwise could be muted, despite the big scare headlines such a development would generate—and worries among average investors (see...

The bailout culture turns 10 Commentary: Today's bailouts find roots in the Fed's handling of LTCM By David Weidner, MarketWatch Last update: 12:01 a.m. EDT Sept. 11, 2008 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- In less than two weeks, Wall Street will pass a milestone that on the surface probably doesn't seem to have much relevance today: the 10th anniversary of the bailout of Long-Term Capital Management. But the LTCM near-collapse and rescue set in motion Wall Street's unchecked rush to risk during the decade by signaling to the market that the government would ultimately come to the rescue. Wall Street is...

Nobel economist Merton to open new hedge fund Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:36AM BST Email this Article |Print this Article | Reprints [-] Text [+] By Elzio Barreto CAMPOS DO JORDAO, Brazil (Reuters) - Robert Merton, the Nobel Prize winner who co-founded the failed hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, said his new firm plans to start an asset management business and open new hedge funds. Trinsum Group, the firm created when Merton's Integrated Finance merged with Marakon Associates, will launch the new business before the end of the year, he said in an interview on Thursday. The firm, which already...

May 11, 2005 Hedge Fund Rumors Rattle Markets By RIVA D. ATLAS Long-simmering worries about the growing influence of hedge funds erupted yesterday in a wave of nervous selling on world stock markets after talk that hedge funds had suffered large losses tied to the debt of General Motors. Shares of banks with connections to hedge funds fell sharply, even though the rumors could not be substantiated. Hedge funds, lightly regulated investment pools for the wealthy and institutions like pension funds, have been a source of concern for some investors because the recent flood of money into the funds appears...

Experts Assess the Influence of Long-Term Capital's Loss By LYNNLEY BROWNING Published: August 30, 2004 In the end, the Nobel prizes, doctoral degrees and dizzying financial transactions could not obscure what Long-Term Capital Management was doing, according to a court ruling on Friday. And that, the judge said, was dodging taxes. Still, leading tax lawyers, economists and tax executives who digested the decision over the weekend are focusing less on why Long-Term Capital's brainpower chose to skirt the law and more on what the decision means for future cases. The judge, Janet Bond Arterton of Federal District Court in New...

In a future remake of "The Graduate," the phrase replacing "plastics" to be whispered in the ear of the title role is "hedge funds." That's where the action is. The number of such unregulated collections of capital has doubled in the last five years to 8,000. Managers make 20 percent of any profits, and if they bet wrong, simply close up the fund, distribute what's left and start a new one; the liquidation rate is about one-fourth every year. That's why so many of the hottest Wall Streeters are joining the stampede into managing these high-end mutual funds. Because hedge...