John, RE: Selective disclosure
To: John Fowler (91059 )
From: GVTucker
Did somebody know about the problems at HWP in advance? Probably. But the game is far less rigged today than it was 5 years ago, and was less rigged then than it was 10 years ago. It really is getting better.
I was speaking with one of the most successful hedge fund managers around two weeks ago, a man many have never heard of yet manages multi-billions. He was lamenting 'the good old days' when his best ideas came from sharing drinks with a company CFO. If you knew how to ask the right questions when a guy was drunk, the odds were pretty high that you could get a good tip. Today, it is the rare corporate executive that will breach a confidence in such a circumstance. When there is a leak (as in HWP today), it most probably comes from somebody lower down in the chain who probably has never heard of the phrase 'selective disclosure.' And no matter how much progress we make in information flow, there is nothing we'll be able to do about that kind of situation.
In the days before Marty Siegel/Ivan Boesky, everybody on Wall Street knew everything about every takeover in the works. Today, rumors are still out there, but they are far fewer. Again, when a leak happens, it comes from somebody way down in the food chain. The higher level executives just make too much money to sacrifice their jobs for an extra $50 grand or so.
The system will never be perfect. That would be dependent on everyone in the world being honest, and that is not realistic. But the system is much better today than it ever has been and is getting better all the time. Indeed, a business such as mine would have never been possible under the old system. I don't have enough money. But today, I can play the game on close to an equal level.
Message 11730655 |
