Posted on 12/09/2008 9:22:25 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Fleckenstein to Shutter Short-Selling Hedge Fund
December 8, 2008, 7:25 am
Topics Hedge FundsIndustries Financial Services
One of the most public defenders of short-selling is closing down his fund.
Bill Fleckenstein, the hedge fund manager, wrote in his Daily Rap column that he was closing down his Fleckenstein Capital fund. Mr. Fleckenstein’s column was reprinted on the Calculated Risk blog.
In it, the fund manager writes that he always intended to return to the long side of investing, as opposed to the short-seller’s strategy of betting against stocks. He became a short seller in part because of what he described as a bubble that stemmed from Alan Greenspan-era policies. At the same time, being a short seller, he writes, is “very stressful, nerve-wracking and generally not very much fun.”
Only two months ago, Mr. Fleckenstein was one of several short-selling hedge fund managers profiled by Bloomberg Markets magazine. He argued that the coterie of short sellers wasn’t responsible for the panic and chaos that rolled across Wall Street.
(Excerpt) Read more at dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Ping!
Listening to all the talk about it is like listening to debates about theology at Teamsters meeting.
shorting is part of the investment game and a way for people to speculate on market conditions. People whine about the shorts attacking companies without mercy but the fact is not every company deserves to survive and without shorts we lack a means to counter bubble seekers.
What’s your evidence this guy was engaging in naked short selling? My guess is that anyone who’s vocal about a short position is doing it legitimately, since naked short sellers won’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to themselves.
Shortsellers have a bad reputation because of the bad apples among them. The ones who spread lies and profit from them. The ones who work with ambulance chasing lawyers to invent class action lawsuits to drive down prices. The ones who are in jail for their illegal stunts.
Despite all their tactics, it’s still a very hard way to make money so I understand where Fleckenstein is coming from. I stick to bear market index ETFs ‘cause shorting individual stocks is too nerve wracking.
I’ll have this dialog with you AFTER you’ve visited that website. Copy and paste it if necessary.
If you’re still asking that question AFTER visiting the site, you are one sick puppy and apparently have no friends or family in the military.
Forgot to add that even if this sob was shorting with borrowed shares, he is STILL probably indirectly responsible for the deaths of some of our folks and should be prosecuted.
Bulls---. You really think Force Protection's fall had more to do with naked short selling than with this?
Force Protection to Restate Interim Consolidated Financial Statements for First and... (along with earlier suspicions that management wasn't trustworthy)
I'd suggest you stop spreading lies like that based on naked class envy.
I like your style!
In my first post I was talking about Fleckenstein, whom you seem to condemn without any basis. Was he even involved in Force Protection?
Naked short selling is already illegal. Has been for years.
I’d believe Bill Clinton talking about the joy of celibacy before I believed anything Patrick Byrne says about short sellers. LOL!
He's a conspiracy head case. Here's what he said on Fox Business:
Can you imagine journalists taking orders from hedge fund managers? Most of 'em wouldn't even have a clue as to what they were being instructed to do. Byrne's a first rate tin foiler whose only redeeming quality is entertainment.
I wonder if Pat has the same illness as Paul Craig Roberts?
SURE! And, while I personally like Chris Cox, the current SEC is there to police every trade.
Uh huh!!
Let me know if you have any questions, I'm always glad to help.
There seems to be a lot of that illness going around these days. I expect a miracle cure to become available on January 20th.
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