A fascinating article appears [subscription required] on the cover of today's Wall Street Journal discussing the actions of a fund in which politician John Edwards is a large investor. Although I'm not a big John Edwards fan, I need to come to his defense on this issue -- it's simply too low of a blow.The WSJ criticizes Edwards for the actions of fund managers within Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG), seemingly asserting that Edwards is a hypocrite. Why? Because Fortress profited from people's misfortunes in the subprime collapse while Edwards has discussed his negative opinion of "predatory lenders" in the public eye.
Although the Journal does a great job backing its claims, I believe that Edwards wasn't the least bit hypocritical in this situation. Fortress is such a humongous company ($7 billion+ market cap, huge base of assets under management, etc.) that Edwards can't be expected to know and understand all of the doings within the company simply because he's an investor and former employee of the company.
Interestingly, Edwards replied to the Journal by promising to "cleanse" his portfolio of such holdings. If he had been aware of these activities with his dollars I'd believe he would've tried to justify the actions in some way.
As funds and companies become increasingly complex and harder to track, I'm sure moral and ethical issues will continue to arise. However, before one rushes to a judgment, it's imperative to try and put yourself in the investor's shoes.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-17-2007 @ 1:01PM
don stack said...
Holding ANYONE responsible to know the current positions held in their mutual funds is just an ignorant statement. Funds trade daily and the prospectus you are given when you open the account is outdated by 4pm that same day. Gimmee (and Edwards) a break!
8-17-2007 @ 2:27PM
marvins39 said...
come on--everybody knows we should blame george bush for edwards' investment. he gets blamed for everything else
8-17-2007 @ 6:21PM
vern farmer said...
Kevin, Kevin,Kevin. Sounds to me like the "poverty tour" worked out.
What a joke. Typical liberal bs. Dont look at my actions just listen to my words.
8-18-2007 @ 2:45AM
M. Dillon said...
Thank you Wall Street Journal for that insightful story on John Edwards.
Who knew that working for a hedge fund company was on par with the Bush '43 Administration's constant screw-ups since 9-11?
Typical neo-con bait and switch,hood-winked and bamboozle,blah,blah,blah,yakity-smakity,con game.
Thanks,Kevin for calling out The Wall Street Journal.
8-18-2007 @ 8:09AM
Gary P said...
This just shows the continued arrogance and hypocrasy of politics. Sometimes I think it might be good for a poor man to get elected, but not only is that impossible, but he just might give all of our tax dollars away