In Praise Of Hedge Funds

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My latest at Pieria:
Every ecosystem needs its scavengers and its bottom feeders. They clear up the mess that others leave behind, extracting nutrients from decaying corpses and dung piles and leaving only sterile bones behind. We are revolted by them, but without them the world would be a much more unpleasant place.
So it is with hedge funds. They are the financial system's equivalent of slime moulds and flatworms. They buy up distressed companies that no-one else will touch and extract whatever profit they can from them. In many cases they leave only empty shells behind, but they sometimes turn failing companies around with ruthless restructuring programmes, in much the same way that some kinds of maggot were used in field surgery to clean up suppurating wounds. In short, they may be revolting but they serve a useful purpose.....
Read on here.

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