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“I’m a Little Lamb Who’s Lost in the Wood…”

‘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.)

Margaret Soltan, February 12, 2009 12:45PM
Posted in: merkin muffley

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6 Responses to ““I’m a Little Lamb Who’s Lost in the Wood…””

  1. francofou Says:
    February 12th, 2009 at 1:40PM

    Not harsh enough.
    Where is Robespierre now that we need him?

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:
    February 12th, 2009 at 1:48PM

    I agree. Should have been harsher. But still – for the WSJ – quite nice.

  3. tzvee Says:
    February 12th, 2009 at 4:11PM

    a whitewash

  4. MikeM Says:
    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.

  5. Margaret Soltan Says:
    February 12th, 2009 at 10:46PM

    Didn’t Mussolini go that way?

  6. University Diaries » “I’m a Little Lamb Who’s Lost in the Woods,” Part II. Says:
    February 14th, 2009 at 2:00AM

    […] Part I here. (Scroll […]

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