Wall Street parasites make out like bandits

April 17, 2008 on 4:11 pm | Friedrich Braun | Economics & Finance , Economy, Jewish Diaspora , The Jewish Question | | Email This Post | Print this Post

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WHILE THOSE THEY HARMED STRUGGLE AND SUFFER

Wall Street parasites make out like bandits

By JENNY ANDERSON
The New York Times Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Hedge fund managers, those masters of a secretive, sometimes
volatile financial universe, are making money on a scale that once
seemed unimaginable, even in Wall Street’s rarefied realms.

One manager, John Paulson, made $3.7 billion last year. He reaped
that bounty, probably the richest in Wall Street history, by betting
against certain mortgages and complex financial products that held
them.

Mr. Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Company, was not the only
big winner. The hedge fund managers James H. Simons and
George Soros each earned almost $3 billion last year, according to
an annual ranking of top hedge fund earners by Institutional Investor’s
Alpha magazine, which comes out Wednesday.

John Paulson of Paulson & Company earned $3.7 billion.

James H. Simons, once a code breaker, made $2.8 billion.

George Soros earned $2.9 billion for the year.

Hedge fund managers have redefined notions of wealth in recent years.
And the richest among them are redefining those notions once again.

Their unprecedented and growing affluence underscores the gaping
inequality between the millions of Americans facing stagnating wages
and rising home foreclosures and an agile financial elite that seems
to thrive in good times and bad. Such profits may also prompt more
calls for regulation of the industry.

Even on Wall Street, where money is the ultimate measure of success,
the size of the winnings makes some uneasy. “There is nothing wrong
with it — it’s not illegal,” said William H. Gross, the chief investment
officer of the bond fund Pimco. “But it’s ugly.”

The richest hedge fund managers keep getting richer — fast. To make
it into the top 25 of Alpha’s list, the industry standard for hedge fund
pay, a manager needed to earn at least $360 million last year, more
than 18 times the amount in 2002. The median American family,
by contrast, earned $60,500 last year.

Since 1913, the United States witnessed only one other year of such
unequal wealth distribution — 1928, the year before the stock market
crashed …

FOR THE WHOLE STORY GO TO:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/business/16wall.html_r=2&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

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