Exotic investment Vehicles: An Unproductive Abuse of Capital

[Joanne98]

For OpEdNews: OilGuy - Writer

Michael Lewitt has an interesting new book out, called "The Death of Capital".

In it, Lewitt attacks speculative investment activities such as private equity buyouts. He notes that such speculation "has been a prime abuser of capital as it has diverted an inordinate amount of capital into unproductive uses while producing (at best) mediocre returns and charging unjustifiably exorbitant fees."

He also cites naked credit default swaps, leveraged buyouts and quantitative stock trading strategies as cases where capital has been channeled into unproductive use.

Surveying the base metals this week, his point is driven home.

The aluminum price ticked up the last couple of days. The reason? A note from Citigroup analysts reporting that an ETF backed by physical aluminum may be in the works.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Exotic-investment-Vehicles-by-OilGuy-100512-171.html

[Po_d Mainiac]

1. Would that be the

transparent aluminum that Scotty referred to in Star Trek IV? :shrug:

The only foreseeable difference between an aluminum ETF and the precious metal ETF's, already in existance, is you can make an airplane out of paper.

[Mopar151]

2. "Funny Money" took my job

In an indirect way... But Mr. Lewitt is on to something. Speculation and arbitrage do not create wealth/value, they are just a skim. But our accounting rules and tax law encourage this, as does an inordinate emphasis on short-term "numbers" by Wall Street.