To: Ian Davidson who wrote (42649 ) 5/17/1998 11:48:00 AM From: James L. Fleckenstein Read Replies (2) | Respond to
Ian, you asked me what I think about my bro's views. As the market sails ever upward, I feel a little sorry for him. And then I realize that this is wasted grief on the momentous days that he is correct. As you probably know, his fund returned a 57% profit last year. He recently returned from an some alternative investment banquet in London where he was given the "best short fund in the world" sort of award. So the pity stops. I think he sees himself as Copernicus or Columbus, who were correct about what they thought in spite of the rest of world certain that they are wrong. I still wince just a tad when the tomatoes come landing on his face, but he doesn't seem to mind. He is very thick-skinned (and bone-headed, I am sure many of you would add--probably so, too). I admire his convictions; he is not one to sway like many do, despite the unpopularity of his views. "the facts don't matter till they matter", he is fond of saying. That keeps him going when stocks go up even after bad news is announced. Bottom line for me is I am a doctor and I am far better at it than I am at playing in the market. He gives me advice only on extremely rare occasions, one of which was before the meltdown in late '97. I am generally quite conservative in that I am mostly in cash right now, but I am not so cocky that Bill is right that I short anything. As for whether he reads SI, the answer is no, even though the company that owns his website also bought SI: stocksite.com members.aol.com
