“More than 60% of dogs assessed do not meet the testing requirements,” ... but if the ones who do meet the standards are bringing in $1.8 million a year then maybe you should lower the standards?
Or maybe ... this is a superstar economy, the top dogs are bringing in $20 million a year, and the marginal dog is barely breaking even after deducting the handler’s salary and the cost of kibble. ... I guess they can’t really quit to go work for Zimbabwe.
#MattLevine 19 June
<MattLevine> This is pretty stupid, but on the other hand I bet there will be an absolutely straight-faced launch of a prediction markets index in like two weeks. I really like the idea of television commentators saying “prediction markets were up today.” </MattLevine>
Writing in his latest newsletter, the great #MattLevine breaks it down:
Here's the deal: say you're a PE guy who's raised a $1b fund. That entitles you to a 2% annual "carry" on the fund: $20,000,000/year. But you've managed to buy and asset strip so many productive businesses that it's now worth $5b. Your carry doesn't go up fivefold. You could sell the company and collect your 20% commission - $800m - but you stop collecting that annual carry.
9/
If you buy a company for $1 billion and make it worth $5 billion, and then you tell your investors that you will buy it from them at $3 billion but they can stay in, then (1) they kind of have to stay in, no? and (2) now they’re paying you management fees on $3 billion for another 10 years.
@billyjoebowers @memory Matt Levine, yesterday:
If I told you that US venture capitalists promoted a Ponzi scheme that used a cartoon computer game to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from poor workers in the Philippines and send it to North Korea to fund a ballistic missile program, you probably wouldn’t believe me. Unless I said “… using crypto,” in which case you would probably say “oh yeah that sounds about right.”
Today's #smbccomics is #MattLevine's "Theory 2" of banking made manifest!
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/moat
"In Theory 2, bank deposits are actually long-term, because the banks have enduring relationships with their customers and their customers are unlikely to leave," [because of the moat of fire]
#MattLevine sez: Being cruel to orcas is securities fraud
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-02-12/investors-get-the-advice-they-want
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