‘WHERE MERKIN LOST HIS WAY’ headlines a Wall Street Journal blogger who invites us to regard Bernard Madoff’s middleman (as the blogger points out, Ezra Merkin did things like “put about $15 million of [Yeshiva’s] endowment into [his] Ascot [fund]. He thus captured a 1.5% annual fee for himself, even though Yeshiva could have given its money directly to Bernie Madoff — who was later treasurer of the university’s board — for nothing.”) as a lost sheep.
Now, sadly, Mr. Merkin seems to have become the latest testament [The writer means testimony.] to the emotional struggle even the greatest investors must undertake to resist temptation. Of all the seductions that can lead a value investor to stray from the true path, perhaps the worst is simply making too much money.
Reader comments are … harsh. (There are twelve comments. The link only opens two of them, so to see them all you need to click on previous.)
February 12th, 2009 at 1:40PM
Not harsh enough.
Where is Robespierre now that we need him?
February 12th, 2009 at 1:48PM
I agree. Should have been harsher. But still – for the WSJ – quite nice.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:11PM
a whitewash
February 12th, 2009 at 10:39PM
This ass should be strung up by his nuts in a public square and beaten to death with golf clubs. Same goes for any other conscienceless shithead scam artist.
$1 a swing, proceeds to the local food bank. Fee waived for the recently unemployed. Participation limited to those who have spent their lives busting their butt in honest work helping build value-creating enterprises.
I predict no shortage of takers.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:46PM
Didn’t Mussolini go that way?
February 14th, 2009 at 2:00AM
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