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Responsibility
Steven Lang, The Truth About CarsI'm a crook, and I'm glad to admit it. Back when GM was trading in the 20's I decided to sell the company short. Way short. In fact I didn't cover my short until GM's price reached a bankruptcy teetering $3 a share. The reasons were endless...of course. But the crux of my decision was based on the very same observation Goldman Sachs had with American's sub-prime mortgages...the books were essentially cooked. I saw how crappy Aveo's, Cobalt's and Ion's were once they came to the auctions and how little they sold for. I ran my fingers through the misaligned panels of $40,000 Corvettes and Cadillacs. I even studied GM's future pension obligations and could only conclude that a low margin company with millions of sub-standard vehicles and hundreds of billions in obligations would go right down the Chapter 11 tubes. Did I warn anyone? Yes, my wife's Grandma who eventually took a six figure bath with her 'safe' GM Bonds. Well let's face it. Am I a villain for simply betting the right away? For betting against America' even though my upbringing left me little in the ways of GM's country club cronyism? How about Goldman Sachs? Should the folks there be allowed to profit and congratulate each other for the collective stupidity of their competitors AND some holier than thou Americans? I think so. I think we both just happened to have done our due diligence and bet right. To be frank, if the politicians du jour think that they are entitled to reform' our way of thinking they better think twice. Why? Because you can't reform any company or industry (or country) by eliminating the opportunity to criticize their decisions by selling it short. If there are systemic risks out there, a short gives opportunity to give those things the notice and attention they deserve. Whether the powers that be listen in the end is not up to any of us. But as in investor, you have the right to put your money in whatever you wish.... Posted by: Mike 2010-04-27 |
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