Friday 10 October 2008

Jim Chanos Tells it Like it is

I've mentioned before that sometimes CNBC has some great interviews. Yesterday, legendary investor Jim Chanos co-hosted squawk box on CNBC and gave his views on a number of issues such as short selling and mark to market.

Jim Chanos on short selling.

Expiration of Short Selling Ban
Expiration of Short Selling Ban



On government intervention. Interesting perspective, the problems may be too big for government to fix.

Government's Involvement in Banks
Government's Involvement in Banks



...on mark to market, such a common sense argument, these phony free market capitalists that praise the virtues of the free market but then want to suspend prices that they don't like are the biggest of big hypocrites.

Market to Market Controversy
Market to Market Controversy



On his short position on Macquarie Bank and its flawed business model.

Legendary Short Seller Jim Chanos
Legendary Short Seller Jim Chanos


Well worth a watch.


2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Good point made about MacBank. They moaned about the shorts decimating their shareprice, however since the ban they have still dropped to 28.50. I wish the shorts were still in, might push them into the teens. Millionaire factory my arse! What do you reckon about Rudd guaranteeing ADI's here? For the next 3 years aussie bank debt is akin to AAA.

The Fundamental Analyst said...

I think it's laughable that governments are now scrambling to guarantee all deposits. Take Ireland for example, total bank deposits are 3 times GDP, if all Irish banks went under where is the government going to get the money from? They either have to borrow it or print it.

It's all a big confidence game at the moment, it will only work as long as the masses avert their eyes and don't peak behind the curtain. However we've collectively been looking the other way for a century so surely it can continue on a little longer.