Thursday 18 September 2008

Spivs and Speculators

Lest anyone think that old Fishface up in Scotland actually knows what he's doing, let this be a hasty cold shower to your fervour:

Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, said his country's oldest bank was being forced into a 'shotgun marriage'.

He added: 'I am very angry that we can have a situation of a bank being forced into a merger by a short-selling bunch of spivs and speculators in the financial markets.'


Nice going, you demagogic, populist, but above all, economically-illiterate cunt:

... [some other cunt] harassing the small group of informed financial people who have been trying to tell the truth to the markets: the short sellers. They bet against the stock price of a company and so have always had a bad reputation with the public. But in this case, they are the closest thing we have to heroes.


Those nasty, scary short-sellers, eh? Spivvy, dubious and using secretive manipulation to shut down their targets:

A man named David Einhorn is a case study. He runs a hedge fund called Greenlight Capital, which sells short some stocks and buys others. That is, he doesn't just bet against companies but for them, too.

Still, for some time now, he's been standing up in front of large audiences, announcing that he was short Lehman Brothers stock, and then explaining in great detail its dubious accounting practices. The SEC responded by demanding to see his firm's e- mail, hinting darkly that he was part of some conspiracy to drive Lehman Brothers out of business, and generally making him feel that he'd pay a price for telling the truth.


For fuck's sake, Fishface: go out and get yourself a fucking basic economics text book. (And read it!) Please.

HBOS didn't go tits-up because people shorted the stock, it went tits-up because the people who held the stock wanted to get rid of it at any fucking price.

(As an aside, did you see the value that the LibDumbs added to the debate?
Liberal Democrat spokesman Vince Cable labelled the hedge funds which profit from short-selling as 'masters of the universe'.


Wow, Vince, that's really, really old hat. Welcome to the 1980's anyway!)

Update: more at the Kitchen.

10 comments:

Old Holborn said...

FSA to BAN shortselling!!

The FT has the story:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/16102460-85a0-11dd-a1ac-0000779fd18c.html

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Jesus H Christ!!

Truly the inmates have taken charge of the asylum!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Salmond may be many things but economically illiterate is not one of them - bear in mind he was a professional economist before going into politics and generally recognised as a Big Beast in his field.

The shit coming out of his mouth isn't a sign of economic ignorance. Rather it's a calculated populist appeal intended, as so many things are where Big Alex is concerned, to stoke up resentment. In this case, Big Alex wants to make the Scottish electorate resentful of Westminster's mishandling of the economy and of the direct price Scotland is paying for Labour's errors.

When you get right down to it, it's a very clever, very well-crafted piece of politicking by a man whose sole aim is to break the country in two. It's a pity Alex wasn't in a mainstream UK-wide party because he'd do a far better job of running UK PLC than ZanuLab.

Patrick said...

He's a short arsed statist oyster faced twat... SNP short for Suck the Nipple of the Proletariat... Cunt!!.. Christ I'm angry today...

Patrick said...

Anonymous

...'It's a pity Alex wasn't in a mainstream UK-wide party because he'd do a far better job of running UK PLC than ZanuLab'...

Excuse me while I puke over the missus....

Anonymous said...

Good brave Clown, I salute you. You told it like it is. I'm not brave enough.

Anonymous said...

@ xelent

Being a foolish boy, you judge Salmond by what your goals are. You have a particular vision for how you think the country should be and you assume that any deviation from that vision is the result of stupidity on the part of whatever politician is under discussion at the time.

You do not recognise that Salmond has a very specific purpose that he has worked towards for decades and that all his actions have a particular function towards fulfilling that purpose.

Fact of the matter is, Alex Salmond is the single most effective politician in British politics today. He has turned the SNP from a ragtag of loony-tunes Sinn Fein wannabes into Scotland's party of government. He has done this by playing a far better, far cleverer and far more subtle political game than any contemporary politician.

You can hate the man's politics but he's a fucking genius as a strategist. Which is why he has successfully raped Labour's flared asshole in its traditional heartland. The real problem, for Salmond and the SNP, is that a lot of people understand that he is an excellent politician and are willing to vote for him even though they will vote against independence in a referendum.

Expect many years of SNP rule in Scotland but likewise expect any referendum to go down in flames.

Patrick said...

...'You do not recognise that Salmond has a very specific purpose'...

My previous comment described him perdectly I felt....

..'He's a short arsed statist oyster faced twat'..

I am quite aware of his strategy to break the country in half.. Like most Scots completely incapable of making any decision without state direction of course..

I frankly care little for this little twats 'career strategy'... He's an odious little toad... And like most politicians offer nothing towards furthering mankind whether by thought or strategy...

Anonymous said...

Anonymous

While Salmond may be an "effective politician" and may or may not achieve his own goals, the results of his implied economic policy that his comments suggest would be another step on the road to hell and further destruction of wealth for the UK population in general.

Of course if that is what you want to see......

Anonymous said...

It couldn't have had anything to do with how what was Scotland's 4th biggest company was actually RUN, now could it? I mean, that would suggest the responsibility lay within Scotland's borders.

Hang on, isn't that what the SNP want?

Salmond may be a good economist and a talented politician, but that word "angry" points to the problem. This is all a grudge match for him.

When the "spivs and speculators" came in, it was all over bar the shorting. Ahem. Salmond must have been delighted at being able to find someone south of the border to pin it on.

Salmond seems to live permanently in the politics of blame. I think it's disgusting that he uses the potential job losses etc etc as a political capital growth opportunity. Could be he feels secure in doing this because he knows they'd never win an independence referendum anyway - so his arguments for the economic viability of an independent Scotland will never even HAVE to stand up.