patrick.net

Not so sure who is an idiot in this case. The very fact that Mr. Devaney cannot afford his yacht clearly indicates that he was hoping that the subprime loan music will last forever which is obviously defies the common sense. On the other hand subprime borrowers have a good chance that their distressed baaah-ing will be heard by the government. No mercy for the private fund manager though (predatory lending anyone?).

@Bork,

No kidding. I wonder, did Mr. Devaney recognize the irony of his "idiot" comment after the fact? (I doubt it)

Maybe Devaney himself paid for the yacht with a no-doc home equity extraction.

HARM,

I swear it was like just a year ago someone was doing an article on what a genius this guy was and look at his pretty new yacht! I'll try to google this @$$clown and see what I come up with.

My how things change.

Interesting. So is the contrast between today and this 2004 profile.

http://tinyurl.com/33gvj8

A few quotes:

(In early 2004) “…this man was running his business out of a three-bedroom residential house in Florida.”
“…UCM moved out of the residential house and into a Key Biscayne’s largest office building; the company owns a 142-foot corporate yacht with a crew of nine, a Gulf Stream G400 helicopter and a corporate jet.”

“…as a move to add diversity to the firm and balance the risks in UCM’s other markets, UCM also launched a collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) trading desk based in California run by Dan Steuer, formerly of Countrywide Securities.”

Steveoh,

Thanks, nice find. I'm positive they ran the exact same photograph when running the "genius" article a few short months back! I never forget a smug face. Not so smug NOW are ya!

(What is the market for ridiculous yachts these days anyway?)

Amazing how interconnected the housing bubble-blog world is. It looks like Aaron Krowne (of ML-Implode-O-Meter fame) has bought and taken possession of Casey's site:

http://iamfacingforeclosure.com/history.html

"...I believe that some government regulation of credit/capital markets is necessary and good for the economy, and why private firms cannot always be trusted to “self-regulate” all the time.
"

Absolutely!

But who is in a position to regulate the (private) Fed? They are the definitive *puppet masters* of this whole mess IMHO, and in no danger of being labeled philanthropists

DinOR,

I had that same deja vu feeling. And yes, that is the same (not sure what to do with my hands) picture.

"Devaney’s cohort on the trading desk is a former ABS trader at Bear Stearns, Sean Kirk"

Now there's a really good recommendation for you! A Bear Stearns whiz kid!

Sorry of the slightly OT post, but I’m a recovering boat-nut and wondered what this yacht, “Positive Carry” looked like inside. Nice!

http://tinyurl.com/32t9ah

Interiors and other pictures of 'Positive Carry' at

http://www.trinityyachts.com/141positivecarry.asp

But who is in a position to regulate the (private) Fed?

Good question. The President appoints the Fed Chief and the Senate confirms and (in theory) oversees him/her. However, as you pointed out, the Fed isn't a true state "Central Bank" under direct public control, as is the case in most other countries. Personally, I would like to see the private Fed abolished, it's policy of interest rate manipulation (mainly for Wall Street insiders' gain) ended, and its (mostly neglected) "policing" powers passed over to the Treasury Dept --a real government agency. See this previous thread for more details if you're curious.