Financier thanks "idiots" for success, wants weed - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

Wandering the information superhighway, he came upon the last refuge of civilization, PoFo, the only forum on the internet ...

Talk about what you've seen in the news today.

Moderator: PoFo Today's News Mods

#1663159
Lahde Quits Hedge Funds, Thanks `Idiots' for Success

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Lahde, the hedge-fund manager who quit after posting an 870 percent gain last year, said farewell to clients in a letter that thanks stupid traders for making him rich and ends with a plea to legalize marijuana.

Lahde, head of Santa Monica, California-based Lahde Capital Management LLC, told investors last month he was returning their cash because the risk of using credit derivatives -- his means of betting on the falling value of bonds and loans, including subprime mortgages -- was too risky given the weakness of the banks he was trading with.

``I was in this game for money,'' Lahde, 37, wrote in a two-page letter today in which he said he had come to hate the hedge-fund business. ``The low-hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government.

``All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other sides of my trades. God Bless America.''

Lahde, who managed about $80 million, told clients he'll be content to invest his own money, rather than taking cash from wealthy individuals and institutions and trying to amass a fortune worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.

``I do not understand the legacy thing,'' he wrote. ``Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.''

Request for Soros

He said he'd spend his time repairing his health ``as well as my entire life -- where I had to compete for spaces at universities, and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management -- with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not.''

He also suggested that billionaire George Soros sponsor a forum in which ``great minds'' would come together to create a new system of government, as the current system ``is clearly broken.''

Lahde ended his letter with a plea for the increased use of hemp as an alternative source of food and energy that segued into a call for the legalization of marijuana.

``Hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products,'' he wrote. ``Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term.''

`Innocuous Plant'

He added, ``The evil female plant -- marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country.''

Lahde said the only reason marijuana remains illegal is because ``Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers.''

Lahde graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in finance and holds an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles. He worked at Los Angeles-based hedge fund Dalton Investments LLC before founding his own firm two years ago with about $10 million.

Lahde wasn't available for comment. A woman at his firm, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the authenticity of the letter.

:lol:
User avatar
By pikachu
#1663170
Now that's a fun news article. I'd say that I wish I could be in his place, but that's even theoretically impossible. Well, good luck to him, at least he had enough sense to quit this nightmare half-way. Which is more than what you could say about most people who work in that area.
By edgarsnow
#1663178
That is so cool.

Its rare you get someone who speaks the truth like that.
User avatar
By Spintroll
#1663209
May doG bless Lahde for his sincerity - very refreshing.
:lol:
User avatar
By Nattering Nabob
#1663236
I'd vote for that guy...until all the crap in his past came out that is... :p
User avatar
By Oxymoron
#1663283
This guy rules, he should run on that platform.
User avatar
By QatzelOk
#1663321
The low-hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government.

The presidency even?

:lol:
User avatar
By Sheilanagig
#1664165
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Thanks for this article, because I truly needed a laugh.
By skinster
#1664231
All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other sides of my trades. God Bless America.


:lol:
User avatar
By Potemkin
#1665409
It's hilarious when one of these fuckers actually tells it like it is. :lol:
User avatar
By QatzelOk
#1665592
Another last laugh before we all starve to death in the gutters!

:lol:
User avatar
By Nets
#1668412
...Lahde, who managed about $80 million...


Chumpt change, this guy is a little fish.
User avatar
By Potemkin
#1668415
after posting an 870 percent gain last year

I agree that he's a small fish, but that rate of return makes his opinion worth listening to.
User avatar
By Nets
#1668430
Data from one year is an aberration, you can't base anything on it.
By stalker
#1668574
Nets can you please send me a little chump change?

I'll give you a thank you note with cookies!! :)
User avatar
By Roland
#1669693
Man, this guy is great. Find the entire letter somewhere (I had a link to it at one point, but it's been lost), it's even better than the excerpts.

stalker wrote:Nets can you please send me a little chump change?

I'll give you a thank you note with cookies!!
I'll do the same, and include a glass of milk!

Edited once to fix bad quote tag.

There are conditions that must be met for Ukraine[…]

Israel-Palestinian War 2023

@JohnRawls There is no ethnic cleansing going o[…]

They are building a Russian Type nuclear reactor..[…]

Russia-Ukraine War 2022

Hamas are terrorist animals who started this and […]