a diversion, but not a light one / hedge fund 'winners'

some of my best friends edition
A diversion does not have to be light or frothy, does it? If you agree with me (‘no’), then you might find this Matt Yglesias piece diverting, if not downright charming.

He points to and quotes from an Economist piece that is, in turn, based on a new book by Simon Lack (“The Hedge Fund Mirage: The Illusion of Big Money and Why It’s Too Good to Be True”, published by John Wiley & Sons, January 2012), the thrust of which (almost said ‘money quote’) is:

since 1998, the effective return to hedge-fund clients has only been 2.1% a year, half the return they could have achieved by investing in boring old Treasury bills

Since Yglesias often asks questions about why things are as they are, he pivots from that to this:

That in turn makes me wonder to what extent some of the dysfunctional aspects of the financial system can be traced back to dysfunctional governance of those institutions [foundation endowments and pension funds].

I love people who ask questions about why things are as they are. Yup: MLG (hearts) MattY.

© Sandy Mattingly 2012