Paul Singer's Inconvenient Truth
Paul Singer, founder and CEO of hedge fund firm Elliott Management Corp., writes in an opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal that there is "an urgent need for a new global regulatory initiative that addresses the primary cause of the financial collapse: highly leveraged and concentrated positions."
You heard it right, the conservative Singer appears to have had a conversion, endorsing regulation instead of market fundamentalism. Singer's new-found embrace of "some regulation" is noteworthy because he is widely known and respected in Republican Party circles. Some may remember him as a financial backer of the infamous 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Whether Singer's opinion piece represents a true change of heart or opportunism in the face of political reality, we do not know.