tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post3180835758952071510..comments2024-03-27T18:24:19.683-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: Harry Markopolous's 19-page letter to the SEC in 2005: "The World's Largest Hedge Fund Is a Fraud"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-82591165390119308982009-09-20T06:13:01.777-07:002009-09-20T06:13:01.777-07:00As a person of Greek decent, I note Mr. Markopolou...As a person of Greek decent, I note Mr. Markopolous' contribution and warning to the SEC with pride. For me it is akin to the ancient runner,Phidippedes, who ran barefoot 140 from Athenian camps to Spartan camps twice to elicit helpl in defeating the Persians, then after fighting in heavy armor, ran another 26 miles to warn of the Persian fleet--after which he dropped dead of exhaustion. <br /><br />Mr. Markopolous raised the banner of integrity which knew no friends among the policy makers of Wall Street or the political forces in Washington. Like the protagonist in Postman Always Rings Twice, his Greek voice was trampled by less scrupulous forces. <br /><br />As in the first days of the Christian Church, Greeks make the observation that the Jewish converts seem to be cheating...it hasn't changed in 2000 years.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-16138814706220208812009-01-11T09:20:00.000-08:002009-01-11T09:20:00.000-08:00I believe if you read the NY Times or the Boston G...I believe if you read the NY Times or the Boston Globe story you will see that there was 1 SEC official who did something about it. Edward Manion took Mr. Markopolous's complaints seriously and acted on them the best he could. He is not allowed to conduct any interviews and reveal what happened from his point of view. However, it is his paper trail in the Bureau that substantiates Mr. Markopolous efforts from the beginning. It is my opinion that the workers in the SEC who couldn't go after investor frauds suffer the same frustration as other Bush-era civil servants who couldn't protect labor in the Dept. of Labor, couldn't protect the environment in the EAP and couldn't protect our resources in the Dept. of the Interior. Just to name a few of the Government agencies who were held hostage by an administrations' efforts to promote greed at all cost.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-4873691710197980402008-12-20T01:15:00.000-08:002008-12-20T01:15:00.000-08:00"Mr. Truth, you forgot your "Not that there's anyt..."Mr. Truth, you forgot your "Not that there's anything wrong with that."<BR/><BR/>You mean being gay, or the insinuation?Truthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17286755693955361308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-3909981853372720522008-12-19T05:16:00.000-08:002008-12-19T05:16:00.000-08:00Mr. Truth, you forgot your "Not that there's anyth...Mr. Truth, you forgot your "Not that there's anything wrong with that."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-25094417925917507672008-12-19T00:24:00.000-08:002008-12-19T00:24:00.000-08:00I second ben tillman on Steve vs. Gladwell.I second ben tillman on Steve vs. Gladwell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-59903613052349585212008-12-19T00:21:00.000-08:002008-12-19T00:21:00.000-08:00albertosaurus,Congrats for actually reading the bo...albertosaurus,<BR/>Congrats for actually reading the book. Your comments seem to underpin Steve's assessment of Gladwell. And I hope its not jealousy that makes Steve criticize Gladwell. First he doesn't need it because his logic is on a much higher plane than Gladwell's. And second I would stop reading Steve if he were to hit the NY jet set. Where's an ordinary white male engineer like me, who by definition is a failure according to PC, going to get his data from? It will be the wilderness all over again.<BR/><BR/>And that bit about Mozart: Bach must be the quintessential repudiation of the nonsense Gladwell wrote.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-71718523484404823452008-12-18T22:34:00.000-08:002008-12-18T22:34:00.000-08:00as a high profile dispenser of political correctne...as a high profile dispenser of political correctness gladwell is either a trotskyite or he is a useful idiot. <BR/><BR/>either way he deserves scorn. keep up the good work steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-20302532221609525042008-12-18T20:32:00.000-08:002008-12-18T20:32:00.000-08:00Why the petulant dig at Gladwell.It may have somet...<I>Why the petulant dig at Gladwell.</I><BR/><BR/>It may have something to do with the fact that he makes money by telling lies that hurt people. Good people try to rectify situations like that. That's what Steve's doing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-7139096146536881722008-12-18T20:30:00.000-08:002008-12-18T20:30:00.000-08:00Second, the SEC seems to have been populated mainl...<I>Second, the SEC seems to have been populated mainly by lawyers and not folks with anywhere near the quantitative finance chops Markopolous has.</I><BR/><BR/>You don't have to practice law for very long before you realize that lawyers are generally more numerate than accountants, and accountants recognize and joke about that fact all the time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-5223437370891441852008-12-18T18:47:00.000-08:002008-12-18T18:47:00.000-08:00Steve-O;I think Mark is insinuating that you are g...Steve-O;<BR/><BR/>I think Mark is insinuating that you are gay.Truthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17286755693955361308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-55366144519599873172008-12-18T17:25:00.000-08:002008-12-18T17:25:00.000-08:00It is time to analyze Mr Sailer's obsession with M...It is time to analyze Mr Sailer's obsession with Malcolm Gladwell. My intuition tells me something more than professional jealousy is involved.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24115384482321539342008-12-18T16:06:00.000-08:002008-12-18T16:06:00.000-08:00I saw Gladwell at a corporate function once. He w...I saw Gladwell at a corporate function once. He was a pretty run of the mill speaker. A little more smug than most but certainly not inspiring. At the time I thought his "genius" was in telling lower middle managers what they wanted to hear: "you are an expert and nobody should question your decisions by asking for actual data." But maybe there is more too him if he is pissing Steve off so much.Statsquatchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17817921893921527627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-49507157160370132202008-12-18T15:53:00.000-08:002008-12-18T15:53:00.000-08:00This guy was running a con game on a global scale....This guy was running a con game on a global scale. The sophisticated investors knew Madoff was crooked, but they thought they were buying into an insider trading scheme, when in fact they were being milked for a Ponzi scheme. Beautiful really, it reminded me of a line from Guy Ritchie's Revolver: <BR/><BR/>"The bigger the trick and the older the trick, the easier it is to pull, because-- <BR/>1. They think it can't be that old, <BR/>2. They think it can't be that big... for so many people to have fallen for it."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-31499072873705928232008-12-18T15:51:00.000-08:002008-12-18T15:51:00.000-08:00Now you tell me?I assumed that you endorsed Malcol...Now you tell me?<BR/><BR/>I assumed that you endorsed Malcolm Gladwell and recommended his book. Therefore on that supposed recommendation I bought his book.<BR/><BR/>The first chapter or three was entertaining but soon the bloom was off the rose. He revealed himself to be like the late Steven Jay Gould - a clever defender of political correctness with anecdotes and sophistries.<BR/><BR/>My first hint was when he comforted all those who are troubled by the notion that some other people might have more talent than they do themselves, by explaining that Mozart wasn't realy a prodigy he just had practiced a lot. <BR/><BR/>Gladwell claims that exeptional acheivement is not due to any sort of inherent advantage but just to practicing 10,000 hours or more. Mozart he argues never wrote anything very good until he was 21, by which time he had gotten in his 10,000 hours. This is an astounding assertion. It is breathtakingly wrong headed.<BR/><BR/>What about his opera <I>Mithradate, Re de Ponto</I> written when he was 14? This was no juvenile exercise. It is a six hour opera seria (serious work) that was mounted on the contemporary stage and has remained in the repertory for more than two hundred years. There are many modern recordings and at least two videos.<BR/><BR/>Gladwell does not make serious assertions just anecdotes. If he were serious he would have to consider all the other composers who had also put in their 10,000 hours practice. The simple fact is that in the 17th century there were plenty of other opera composers but no other Mozarts. Haydn was closest, but Cimarosa and Salieri were very much inferior - and all three had had more practice.<BR/><BR/>Gladwell's ideas only amuse as long as you don't think about them very long. He promotes a fuzzy headed defense of extreme 'nuture' and a stout hearted attack on any kind of 'nature'.albertosaurushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13209465319904999278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-30772670843471143282008-12-18T14:33:00.000-08:002008-12-18T14:33:00.000-08:00How much money do the elite have to acquire throug...How much money do the elite have to acquire through despicable means and then misappropriate before they lose their social status in the eyes of fertile young women?<BR/><BR/>What does this say about the fate of civilization over evolutionary time?Jim Boweryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12686155123469135528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-59471145351042712732008-12-18T13:48:00.000-08:002008-12-18T13:48:00.000-08:00Today's American literary elite is positively Trot...<I>Today's American literary elite is positively Trotsky-errific. Read The End of Intelligent Writing published 30 years ago. And so much more "progress" has been made since then.<BR/><BR/>Anonymous: 12/18/2008</I><BR/><BR/>Good comment, good book, lots of quotes at this link:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://mailstar.net/kostel.html" REL="nofollow">http://mailstar.net/kostel.html</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-51716930687855724122008-12-18T11:43:00.000-08:002008-12-18T11:43:00.000-08:00Malcolm Gladwell is certainly funny looking. With ...Malcolm Gladwell is certainly funny looking. With his afro and John Lennon granny glassess he looks like he is trying to look like some kind of '60s oh-so-deep Marxist professor-bedding-his -young-pretty-whitegirl-students. Hmmm...Re John Mansfield,they better NOT try any funny stuff with that money! Henry Paulson is on the case!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-38412015249662695142008-12-18T11:09:00.000-08:002008-12-18T11:09:00.000-08:00Steve's Gladwell hate is at least partly driven by...Steve's Gladwell hate is at least partly driven by resentment ("Why don't I make $1 million per year in speaking fees?), as much as disagreements. A person of Steve's views will never write for <I>The New Yorker</I>, nor will he attend fancy parties with hipster literatis.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-6221033833132068392008-12-18T11:07:00.000-08:002008-12-18T11:07:00.000-08:00Gladwell is a genius. It's just that his genius l...Gladwell is a genius. It's just that his genius lies in speaking and writing, not in analysis or understanding. He's really a phenomenal writer and speaker. I find him mesmerizing even when I think what he's actually saying is full of shit.Jewish Atheisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04616617537150446818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-77864721938756636622008-12-18T10:52:00.000-08:002008-12-18T10:52:00.000-08:00Can you make it a little less obvious that you fol...Can you make it a little less obvious that you follow Carney and vice versa?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-84674614260644489012008-12-18T09:25:00.000-08:002008-12-18T09:25:00.000-08:00Three year old story here:http://www.elitetrader.c...Three year old story here:<BR/>http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=da7fa90a811dfc2ea22790d781b38996&threadid=61866&perpage=6&pagenumber=1<BR/><BR/>"SEC/Spitzer is going to shut down Madoff financial and all of their hedge funds for SEC violations. Can anyone confirm this?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-71248521613981133752008-12-18T09:13:00.000-08:002008-12-18T09:13:00.000-08:00LOL at the last two lines. !! good job Stevie!LOL at the last two lines. !! <BR/>good job Stevie!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-82113018874365840852008-12-18T08:04:00.000-08:002008-12-18T08:04:00.000-08:00Steve, I just wanted you to know that Gladwell is ...Steve, I just wanted you to know that Gladwell is deeply hurt by your constant criticism. He just called me from his private jet to tell me.Truthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17286755693955361308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-89840446011605821012008-12-18T07:25:00.000-08:002008-12-18T07:25:00.000-08:00Maybe all of Made-off's victims can get together c...Maybe all of Made-off's victims can get together class-action- style and sue the SEC for incompetence, and get taxpayer monies paid to them THAT way. <BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>I will be UBER-ticked off if the defrauded get paid by the taxpayer in this case. We have all had investments go bad. My Fidelity Fund had a "Red Oak Tech" or some such stock that went from $44 a share down to pocket change, and nobody bailed out my dear ol' dad, who lost over $100K on this stock ALONE. Neither should anyone bail out Mort Zuckerman.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-19581689395699425812008-12-18T06:37:00.000-08:002008-12-18T06:37:00.000-08:00Why the petulant dig at Gladwell. I understand tha...Why the petulant dig at Gladwell. I understand that he glosses over a lot of details and seems to take credit for others research. Among all the people who think his books are a great and light read, no one I know thinks he is a genius. <BR/>The reason for invoking him in this post is tenuous; even the dimwitted attribute riches to something other than genius (Ok, in non-geeky fields and finance is a neo-geeky field). They might not attribute it to luck, which may often be the case, but definitely not to genius.MakkhiChoosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17768552266303184033noreply@blogger.com