How hedge fund titans are testing the quality of US democracy and other news and views for Monday 12 May

  • 2 Banking Giants Implore U.S. Authorities to Go Easy – “Two of the world’s biggest banks, facing the threat of criminal charges, are mounting final bids for leniency. To avoid the fallout from pleading guilty — no giant bank has done so in more than two decades — BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse made last-ditch appeals to prosecutors and regulators in recent weeks, according to people briefed on the talks.”
  • Hedge fund titans are testing the quality of US democracy – “John Paulson made his fortune by taking a massive short position against the US housing bubble. Today the hedge fund billionaire is betting that the US political system will fail. This time he has company. Other billionaires have launched a lawsuit to force the US Treasury to pay shareholders vast sums from the government-sponsored housing enterprises that it bailed out in 2008. Betting on Washington’s largesse has become a routine investment strategy. Whether this one works, aspiring billionaires should take note: if you want to strike it lucky, try shorting American democracy. The risk is small and the rewards are spectacular.”
  • ‘Democrats argue. Republicans contend. We have no idea.’ A he said, she said at the Times – “Look, we have no idea who’s right. How would we? Figure it out for yourselves! Don’t be asking us to sort out what’s real from what’s fiction. We’re just New York Times journalists. We don’t do ‘there’s no basis for that.’ We do ‘Republicans contend…’ “
  • How Google money is helping turn the political right against strong copyrights
  • Crazy Climate Economics – “How environmentalism became a Marxist plot.”
  • Revealed: Mossad’s most wanted – “The Mossad is searching Facebook to find its latest recruits. Should we worry?”

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