[tcostell]

Yeah ... there's no doubt that the media have caused a great deal of the uproar on their own because the funds tend to be secretive. To a reporter straight from the Leon Trotsky school of journalism, secretive means "illegal" or "too ashamed to be clear about the way they are exploiting the working class".

But as I'm sure you know, there have been more than a few FR members who like to blame hedge funds for anything that's gone wrong anywhere as well.

[GovernmentShrinker]

The concept of secretiveness being the normal and necessary companion to extremely valuable investment decision processes is over the heads of reporters from the Leon Trotsky school of journalism, and unfortunately over the heads of many FReepers as well. I mean what possible reason could a hedge fund have for wanting to keep secret that it has accumulated holdings of 31% of the bank debt of a certain bankrupt company, and is looking to buy a little more? Clearly a sign of nefarious financial wrongdoing, in the minds of people to whom “blocking position” suggests something about a football game.