patrick.net

By the way, does anyone know what strategies that hedge fund employs? It must be a tiny firm to manage only $250M. I used to work for one with a few B's AUM and it was quite small.

Peter P says

Many a time the label "sociopath" is used out of jealousy.

Or used to describe a person with an inflated ego and absolutely no care for his or her fellow human beings. Sound familiar?

P N Dr Lo R says

Quigley says

Sociopathy often runs in families...

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/is-wall-street-full-of-psychopaths/254944/

Yes, you get it.

Already high on my long list of reasons not to have kids.

High-functioning individuals tend to spend too little time on their kids, who grow up living in the shadow of their parents.

Call it Crazy says

Rin says

If I were this kid's dad, I would have disowned him, 2 years after his P'ton graduation and said goodbye.

2 years?? You're generous!! It should be after only a handful of months, at the most.

It does take some time for someone to get a book or paper published or a musical venue going.

But once that person hits the 2 year mark and still says that his 'band is just about to break out', then you know that he's a BS artist.

Call it Crazy says

Rin says

There's so way that traditional middle class families tolerate bozos like him. You either find work or sleep on the basement floor.

The basement floor is too nice. You kick them out to go sleep in their car. It's amazing how productive they become after a few nights in the car!

Obviously, it would be my car and not his, since he's not working and not doing anything with his life.

One does not have to be doing something with his life. If you do not invest in quality child-raising you should prepare to sponsor him for the rest of his life.

Perhaps it's cheaper to have a few kept-women. :-)

Kids killing their parents for money isn't that uncommon. I would suspect that some get away with it.

There was a couple killed in Castlewood a couple of years ago by son with gambling addiction. I remember an Orthodontist on the peninsula killed by his son awhile ago to get his dough.

Some of these rich kids have intensive and committed sociopathy, partly entitlement and partly the genetic fruits of their narcissistic/sociopathic but financially successful parents. I knew some in college and they were real pieces of work. Extraordinarily clever, but if you let on that you pierced their veil or their hinky chinks, they gunned for you.

You could say karma is a bitch.

Ceffer says

Some of these rich kids have intensive and committed sociopathy, partly entitlement and partly the genetic fruits of their narcissistic/sociopathic but financially successful parents.

No, they live in the shadow of their parents and they tend to aim too low. These rich kids become nihilistic just like poor kids. They are just on different levels.

Passion is the key.

A Sociopathic mental state is almost certainly a genetic trait. This one just didn't channel it down a more socially respectable avenue like his father. Not all sociopaths are geniuses; most aren't.

thunderlips11 says

A Sociopathic mental state is almost certainly a genetic trait.

It is a label invented by social "scientists" to make themselves feel more important.

There is no profession more honest than hedge-funds. If you lie to yourself for a split-second the market will eat you alive. (Unless you run a long-only equities "hedge" fund. Then you are a leech.)

Peter P says

There is no profession more honest than hedge-funds.

What you're talking about are the prop traders. There are other members of the HF team, whose job it is to bamboozle portfolio and asset managers out there. I'm a not so proud member of that support staff, though I like the bonuses.

Peter P says

These rich kids become nihilistic just like poor kids. They are just on different levels.

These are losers.

With ample resources and free time, I could write the great American novel/screenplay, play guitar like a Malmsteen, do the equivalent of three masters degrees in engineering/applied sciences, travel to Indonesia to study Silat Martial arts, etc, etc.

Rin says

I'm a not so proud member of that support staff, though I like the bonuses.

Story-telling is fine too. :-)

Rin says

With ample resources and free time, I could write the great American novel/screenplay, play guitar like a Malmsteen, do the equivalent of three masters degrees in engineering/applied sciences, travel to Indonesia to study Silat Martial arts, etc, etc.

Some trust-fund babies are doing that...

On the other hand, psychopaths are just fine. Now they don't even have to return video tapes. :-)

Peter P says

just a few hundred dollars.

Do you know how much he was getting in allowance and how much more he wanted?

Anyway, the whole thing is just hilarious.

Why do people even have offsprings if they do not spend the time to raise the kids?

If you have the means, allow your children to live under your shade, not in your shadow. Make them want more, not entitled.

Peter P says

It is a label invented by social "scientists" to make themselves feel more important.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/05/11/scans-show-psychopaths-have-brain-abnormalities/38540.html
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/nov/25/could-a-brain-scan-diagnose-you-as-a-psychopath

Just a few studies done so far are more evidence than the origins of Gender coming from the splitting in half of round-shaped hermaphrodites.

thunderlips11 says

Peter P says

It is a label invented by social "scientists" to make themselves feel more important.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/05/11/scans-show-psychopaths-have-brain-abnormalities/38540.html

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/nov/25/could-a-brain-scan-diagnose-you-as-a-psychopath

Yep. They have created a whole "science" around that too. I bet ancient Egyptians could divine with modern brain scans if such technology existed back than. I think tea leaves are more elegant.

thunderlips11 says

the origins of Gender

Gender is just evolution's answer to horny men.

It was $600 he shaved it down to $400, but the old man was also footing the $2500 rent on his apartment.

CaptainShuddup says

It was $600 he shaved it down to $400, but the old man was also footing the $2500 rent on his apartment.

It takes half a lifetime to create a non-functioning offspring. If he had tolerated his son for so long he should have continued funding a lost cause.

A $2500 pad in NYC is hardly luxurious.

Couldn't Dad have gotten him a job as a Realtor? Good money in that.

Peter P says

A $2500 pad in NYC is hardly luxurious.

Yep.

It's quite bare living, a studio apartment or tiny one-bedroom in an older building with few services at best, esp. if it was in Manhattan.

Peter P says

Yep. They have created a whole "science" around that too. I bet ancient Egyptians could divine with modern brain scans if such technology existed back than. I think tea leaves are more elegant.

So modern medicine is not a science?

There really is no reasonable doubt that brain damage and birth defects cause abnormal mental conditions.

thunderlips11 says

Peter P says

Yep. They have created a whole "science" around that too. I bet ancient Egyptians could divine with modern brain scans if such technology existed back than. I think tea leaves are more elegant.

So modern medicine is not a science?

There really is no reasonable doubt that brain damage and birth defects cause abnormal mental conditions.

This is the real danger of reductionism.

True, brain damage can cause psychological and behavioral issues, but made-up conditions like "sociopathy" are not necessarily "caused" by anything physical.

Don't get me wrong. I think psychology is very useful. However, it is more useful in helping to understand yourself and your opponents than to "fix" anything.

I am not sure why folks are blaming the parents. There are far worse parents that do horrible things to their kids and the kids turned out fine.

This man probably put the kid through Princeton and is paying for the necesseties of life and trying to the good thing by nudging him to independence.

lostand confused says

I am not sure why folks are blaming the parents. There are far worse parents that do horrible things to their kids and the kids turned out fine.

It is a game of chance. Bad parenting increases the chance of having bad offsprings.

This is just like sleeping with many people who sleep with many other people increases the chance of contracting STDs.

lostand confused says

This man probably put the kid through Princeton and is paying for the necesseties of life and trying to the good thing by nudging him to independence.

You cannot raise a dependent child and later "nudge" him to become independent.

Peter P says

Some trust-fund babies are doing that...

One of them is Rin Rockefeller the Great.

Rin says

Peter P says

Some trust-fund babies are doing that...

One of them is Rin Rockefeller the Great.

Quick debate...

Is Oyster Rockefeller made with spinach, water cress, or some other greens?

Peter P says

Is Oyster Rockefeller made with spinach, water cress, or some other greens?

Spinach and it's from New Orleans, not the NYC region. The creamy sauce is almost like Hollandaise, though not eggy

Thus, the Rockefeller name was just to tell everyone that it's a rich dish.

Peter P says

lostand confused says

This man probably put the kid through Princeton and is paying for the necesseties of life and trying to the good thing by nudging him to independence.

You cannot raise a dependent child and later "nudge" him to become independent.

Ok. Children are dependant. There is not a single child in the world that is born indepenant. Parents/society teach them to be independant. That age varies-in some cultures could be before 10-with poor children expected to earn and contribute to the household by that age. In others it may be after 18 and then in some families it is later. But there is not a single child in this whole world that is born independent. They need to fed, clothed, cleaned and it takes a while-the same is true for most mammals.

Rin says

The creamy sauce is almost like Hollandaise, though not eggy

Avoid cheap New England knockoffs, who use cheese. Seriously, that's like turning a delicacy into Potato Skins. Gross!

Peter P says

lostand confused says

I am not sure why folks are blaming the parents. There are far worse parents that do horrible things to their kids and the kids turned out fine.

It is a game of chance. Bad parenting increases the chance of having bad offsprings.

This is just like sleeping with many people who sleep with many other people increases the chance of contracting STDs.

Why do you think this is bad parenting. Maybe it is the greedy entitlement mentality of this country's welfare hordes. Where hard work, success is maligned and entitled , obese whales blame the rich for everything. Only here kid killed his welfare check-err dad-perhaps hoping he would not be caught and would inherit his entire fortune. Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs is hardly a new phenomenon.

Rin says

Spinach and it's from New Orleans, not the NYC region. The creamy sauce is almost like Hollandaise, though not eggy

Hmm, I thought it was a mix of water cress and herbs.

lostand confused says

Why do you think this is bad parenting.

Good parents would have instill greed in the children, who will strive to do even better in life.

Sadly, many parents, rich or poor, never really intend their offsprings to grow beyond themselves.

Poor people claim to want their kids to do better, yet they teach falsehoods like the "evil" of wealth.

Rich people somehow think "good" genes from their supermodel trophy wives would alone be sufficient.

Asset managment is not particularly useful or honest. The difference between successful and unsuccessful financial managers is luck. People's poor grasp of statistics lets them get bamboozled by random chance, a hot hand, and some marketing.

YesYNot says

Asset managment is not particularly useful or honest. The difference between successful and unsuccessful financial managers is luck. People's poor grasp of statistics lets them get bamboozled by random chance, a hot hand, and some marketing.

That can be said of anything. Luck is everywhere. It takes skills to exploit chance.

Let's not get judgmental about professions.

On average, do actively managed funds do any better than passively managed funds?