Day 29 of UK lock down: Carpe Diem

Despite the catastrophic impact of the pandemic, the global governmental responses, and the environmental consequences, are highlighting a very real opportunity to make some positive changes to our existence.

 At the same time, it’s not just environmental activists (and hedge fund managers) who are seeing opportunities. Trump seems determined to turn the global catastrophe of Covid-19 into a personal campaign to consolidate electoral support from his voter base who somehow seem to believe that he is their best chance of salvation.

 In the UK, Johnson is clearly going for the sympathy vote, despite his piss-poor record in dealing with difficult situations, and his government being disastrously wrong-footed by the pandemic. Meanwhile his under-donkeys, Raab & Gove are frantically gaming the situation for maximum personal career development.

 It’s probably not a complete non-sequitur to visit the definition of the word hypocrite at this point. It’s from the Greek word hypokrites, which means “an actor” or “a stage player,” at a time when the actors wore large masks to mark which character they were playing.

Johnson's failures as a PM so far

More Trumpery

Day 19 of UK lock down: hedging their bets

Recently there have been some heart-chilling reports of how hedge funds are making massive profits out of this global crisis.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-8112273/Millionaire-hedge-fund-bosses-Sir-Paul-Marshall-Ian-Wace-make-50m-coronavirus-crash.html

https://www.9news.com.au/world/bill-ackman-hedge-fund-bet-coronavirus-economy-collapse-pershing-square-capital-management-finance-news/aa519075-202d-4bbb-a853-432240d6bcac

For those of us who normally try not to think too much about the murky world of big finance, this raises the question of what the hell is a hedge fund anyway ?

Seemingly, the hedge bit means a barrier, to prevent losses whether the market is expanding or contracting, so investors will profit either way.

And one of the most dodgy aspects of these dodgy funds is the concept of short selling. Investors look for stock whose worth is likely to drop in the short term, before bouncing back. For instance, budget airlines in a time of global immobility which, despite the hopes of anyone who gives a stuff about the environment, are likely to come back with gusto as soon as the lock downs are lifted, regardless of whether they manage to wheedle some publicly funded bailout from the governments.

So, essentially, hedge funds are a means by which the richest 10% of the global population, who already own 85% of global wealth, can get even richer by betting on the outcome of catastrophes.