The UBS deal is not looking too healthy at this point in time. Hopefully our investment has provided for the latest can of worms. If we are just extending a loan, collecting dividend and can get our money back if we elect not to convert to shares, then we are ok.
What is evident now is that putting money in ailing banks or organisations is not enough. We need to put our people in charge. With the resignation of Marcel Ospel, it would be good if we can put our top talents in to restructure the bank and save it before it goes to the pawnshop.
I think temasek and gic have already psychologically written off the 'investments' in these banks. I can only hope that they learnt something from this very expensive debacle.
ReplyDeleteHaha, they have forgotten one very basic rule: If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Luckily I have withdrawn my CPF, so any fallout will not affect me. For the rest of you guys who have not, better start praying hard that your hard-earned money will still be there when your turn comes. :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, they have forgotten one very basic rule: If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Luckily I have withdrawn my CPF, so any fallout will not affect me. For the rest of you guys who have not, better start praying hard that your hard-earned money will still be there when your turn comes. :)
ReplyDeleteIf the deal is so good, why didn't the richest man on earth invest in it? Fools always rushed into deal thinking they've got a good catch.
ReplyDeleteHave we ever hear the people in charge of Temasek and GIC admit they were wrong? Never admitting they were wrong means they can never learn anything from their mistakes, because all along they think they have never made any mistakes.
ReplyDeleteWill this be the end of UBS write-offs? It is like an apple rotting from the core. You cannot see how bad it is on the inside, but the outside still looks alright. Luckily I have also withdrawn my CPF.
ReplyDeleteWOW! There are a number of "lucky" people around who spotted the farce of CPF and took the money (as much of it as legally possible) and ran.
ReplyDeleteCorporations, as a rule of being lying motherfuckers, tend to understate losses and overstate earnings.
I have no sympathy for those idiots who ought to have known better to invest in the SIV's made up of unpayable debt. Serves them right to think they could get "something for nothing".
To me there is no sweeter music than to learn that the GIC and Temasek have lost BILLIONS of the Sheeple's money. As an "encore" I would cum in my pants and scream "bravo!" if CPF collapsed into a smouldering heap of shit and everyone lost their retirement savings!
Oh happy day!
To The Sheeple reading this: Keep voting for the Lee family and take pleasure in being anally raped daily by Lee Kuan Yew and his thugs.
And no, they are not as "smart" as they'd want you to believe, nor do they possess "super-human" talents or omniscinece.
ok, this is for long term investment and not for short term gain. don't worry. just like our reserves, for long term.
ReplyDeleteno one is going to benefit from it in the short term except the fund managers. short term loss, just say it is for long term investment. short term paper gain, ha, time to ask for huge bonuses.
no bad being long term fund managers.
'For long term investment and not for short term gain'. That's a lousy excuse. Why not 'for long term investment with short term gain' ie by buying cheaper. Simple logic.
ReplyDeletewhere angels fear to tread, a shrewd investor wudnt have rushed in; whatever methodologies were used, and one dun need much brains to know abt bottom fishing bargains during a global meltdown, these deals they made were not bottom fishing; so what was the hurry and why pay such high prices?
ReplyDeletei like being a fund manager. when you make money, you get paid plus huge bonuses and people all says how clever you are.
ReplyDeletewhen you lose money, other people's money, you still get paid except lesser bonuses. just take the loss as a bad call.
either way you get paid and have fun.
Actually that is not true. No one wants to be a failure and "lose face" amongst his peers.
ReplyDeleteThe point is, the great majority of fund managers lose, and eventually, after experiencing too many losses, leave the industry. They'll have to carry their "failures" for their whole lives — this is a lousy psychological proposition.
The consistently good fund managers become "heros" and rightly deserve their hard-earned fame: e.g. Templeton, Buffet, Soros etc.