Female Piratery or Female Lies?

CNN is running a story claiming a woman was the greatest pirate of all time. Based on what we know about women and investing, could this be possible?

The article's claims are incredulistic. They say that Cheng I Sao (allegedly a chick's name fyi) "controlled a fleet of more than 1,500 ships and upwards of 80,000 sailors" and "expanded the scope of the business, branching out from simple attack-and-pillage jobs to protection schemes, blackmail, and extortion [and] set up an extensive spy network and developed economic ties with farmers who would supply her men with food."

Some known facts about women:

1. They are bad at investing. Otherwise, I'd know more of them professionally, rather than just "professionally."
2. They suck at cutlasses. Have you ever seen a woman successfully dominate someone with a cutlass. It just doesn't happen.
3. They cannot hold their rum. Try this out at home with a female you know, forcing them to take down 1 part rum for every 1 part you take down. The results will surprise and please you.
4. They do not have peg legs or eye patches. Again, a quick survey of your female "friends" will show this to be the case

Now we checked the article and it did mention several times "she" but the most logical conclusion is that they misunderstood Chinese (we are fluent in both oral Mandarin and written Cantonese) and confused Cheng I Sao's gender accordingly.

Consider this clear evidence that Cheng I Sao was a very savvy and very male investor:

Cheng I Sao's most famous laws applied to the taking of female prisoners. Ugly women were returned to shore, free of charge. Attractive captives were auctioned off to the crew, unless a pirate personally purchased the captive, in which case they were considered married.

Recommendation: We maintain a "Do not buy" rating on piratery, after calling the top perfectly last year. While fundamentals are improving, there is continued risk that a global economic downturn would impact the richness of pillaging shipping lanes and destroy the return on capital invested in piratery machinery and assets.

Bernanke in Pictures

Hi, my name is Ben. I am in charge of the economy, more or less. To my left, a man far less important. To my right, Greenspan. Last night, the three of us held a secret meeting in our hidden Fed safehouse. There we drank, ate, told some amazing jokes and then decided to cut the Fed Discount Rate 50 basis points.



The rate cut was approximately this big. The technical issue as to what the Discount Rate actually means is largely irrelevant -- the takeaway for you is that we cut a Rate 50 bips. Does that make you happy?




I knew it would make you happy. It made me happy too, that's why I did it. Some have concerns that this is a ham-handed intervention into a free market and worse, a temporary salve, that will give people a delusional sense of comfort. These are really good points, so let's switch to a profile shot.



As I mentioned above, I am in charge of the economy, more or less. And the economy, more or less, is the stock market. As you can see there is nothing temporary about today's bump in the DJIA. Also did I mention that the Rate cut was this big?

On Liquidating Your PA

Do:
Contact your broker and say "Sell! Sell! Sell!"

Don't:
Contact your broker and say "Buy! Buy! Buy!". This will lead to liquidation, especially if your account is of the margin variety, but it will take a few more weeks and involve having no money left.

Do:
Wear a whale belt. Let the market know you still feel Nantucket, even if deep inside you know you are Jersey Shore now that the market's scythe has reaped what you have sown.

Don't:
Drink heavily. Yet. There will be plenty of time come Friday to reenact The Lost Weekend. The drugs don't work, but the sauce does.

Do:
Invest your new newly found liquidity in sexy parties. Sexy parties are one of very few assets with no-downside

Don't:
Invest your money in stocks, bonds, phantom bonds, subprime mortgages, hedge funds, put options, call options, securities, US dollars, New Zealand dollars, Renminbi, currencies, real estate, gold, commodities.

Do:
Yell. Primal screaming has proven therapeutic effects. We read this on the internet.

Don't:
Worry. Now that you aren't invested in the markets, they can only go up.

Possibly Fake but very Full Disclosure: I own nothing

The Jitters

Guy #1: Subprime?
Guy #2: Subprime?
Guy #1: Subprime.
Guy #2: Jitters.
Guy #1: Exposure?
Guy #2: Subprime Jitters.
Guy #1: INFLATION.
Guy #2: No, CONTAGION.
Guy #1: But the expected loss on all residential subprime loans is de minimis to the greater economy.
Guy #2: Liquidity. And contagion.
Guy #1: Oh. Fuck.
Guy #2: Commercial paper.
Guy #1: The end.

Cerberus: Den of Mini-Ballers or of Satan?

Portfolio.com has a portrait of Cerberus Management founder Stephen Feinberg.

Some choice quotes:

But then, Feinberg is not trying to win a popularity contest.

No shit, really?

There is little at the office to distract staffers from the business at hand—almost no art on the walls, no fancy woodwork. “It’s not a place you bring clients to impress them,” says a former employee, who adds that those in the satellite offices refer to headquarters as the Death Star.

“His ego is having no ego.”

Do real people say things like this about people? Have you ever thought about one of your colleagues or friends something along these lines? "He has an 800lb gorilla on his back, and its the desire to make money for his clients." Do Business rags just make this up?

“Steve didn’t care. He was a get-it-done person, and he wanted to get it done.”

Mini-baller?

They named their new company after the three-headed dog that guards the gates of hell in Greek mythology. The company has long held that the symbolism refers to the fact that one eye is always open, presumably protecting investors’ money.

The symbolism refers also to the fact that Cerberus Capital Management serves at Hell's pleasure.

Recommendation: We recommend a Steve pair trade -- long Feinberg, short Schwarzmann, a bet on Stevevergence. Feinberg may be a "get-it-done" person, but minions of the dark lord are excluded from mini-baller status. (Aside to Portfolio, how could you not mention Cerberus deals which aren't getting gone? Or are they getting done?)

How to Say All Their Money is Gone - Part II

Dear Valued Client:

Last week you received a letter from the head of Long or Short Capital Management, Mr Juggles. In this letter Mr. Juggles told you that although your money was invested wisely according to the prospectus, that money has subsequently disappeared. We wanted to write you to let you know that after further diligence this is 100% accurate. Your money is definitely, definitely gone, for sure.

The feedback we received on the previous letter has revealed that you are unhappy that your money is gone but you were especially upset with our refusal to accept responsibility for your money being gone. Well first we would like to remind all of our valued clients that you shouldn't point fingers. This is not just your fault, it's everyone's fault. Even ours, just to a much lesser degree than it is yours( especially important point for you to take away). We have completed a detailed and rigorous analysis of whose fault it is and thought it was important to share the results:



The chart depicts graphically the small size of our fault. After further study it was determined that all of our market share of the fault stems from one person: Mr. Juggles. As of this morning we have resigned him. Kaiser Edamame, our Germo-Japo restructuring expert and portfolio manager of our anti-union humor portfolio, will take-over for Mr. Juggles effective immediately.

We have also implemented several restructuring measures to ensure that when your money disappears in the future, it is less our fault than it was this time. Starting on August 30th, before we invest in low-yield, illiquid securities with high default risk we promise to "think-twice". This represents a 100% increase in the amount of thinking we have done in the past. Also, in the case of our most risky investments, before we increase our exposure to them we will now "sleep on it," something we have not done previously. We feel confident that these measures will significantly increase your returns and hence our fees over time.

Please contact me with any questions.

Subprimely,
Johnny Debacle
EVP Long or Short Capital Managment

How to Say All Their Money is Gone

Dear Valued Client:

As you may know, the investment process has a normal course. Generally accepted investing practices follows that you, the investor, give us, the manager, money. As manager we take that money and buy something with it. This something generates profits and at the end of the year, we pay ourselves some percentage of what we bought with your money, as well as some percentage of the generated profits. Everyone profits which is a good thing.

Unfortunately, the money you gave us did not follow this normal course. Per usual, we "invested" your money in tranches of CDOs comprised solely of loans to people who specifically would never be able to pay down their mortgage. Their inability to pay was the very thing that made these such great loans and allowed us to demonstrate to you a profitable two year record of performance. This could have continued but your money decided to disappear.

As far as we can tell, there is no current record that points to existence of your money. It's no longer part of our assets under management. Look, it's up to you how you raise your money and I don't want to get into a nature vs nurture sidebar with you, our valued client. But don't you think that maybe you should have imbued your money with more of a sense of sticktuitiveness? I mean, it literally seems to have vanished at the worst possible time, what with the depressed prices and attractive yields which now litter our market. This is when we could be printing profits for you (if only your money hadn't disappeared).

I guess, for us, we're disappointed in you. Your role is to let us take your money, assume none of the risk and allow us to give you some of the return. Don't you see how this relationship breaks down if you allow your money to disappear? We're not angry with you, just disappointed. It's your loss, as we still earned our management fee, it just seems like a waste for you.

I have enormous confidence in Long or Short Capital management and the ability of our talented professionals to bring you the highest quality products and services now and in the future as they have in the past. You can count on us to deliver...if you don't let your money vanish.

Sincerely,
Mister Juggles




Related: PDF of Bear Stearns Asset Management Letter via Dealbreaker.