More Money Than God

I wanted to dislike this book the moment the author insists in the first chapter that hedge funds have been unfairly maligned and are kind of good actually. But what follows is a fairly unbiased retelling of the history of the industry in a way that is both clear and engaging.

The author concludes that hedge funds are 'just big enough to fail' as opposed to the behemoth investment banks and therefore should be encouraged. I find this take both convincing and remarkably narrow minded. Hedge funds are indeed the ultimate form of capitalism but that doesn't make them good, they still inherit all of the perverse incentives and rot of their big brothers minus the ability to bully others as easily.

The author also has a convenient 'get-out-of-jail-free' card whereby he ceases to classify a hedge fund as such if it gets too big. When your lesser evil is predisposed to lead to your greater one then the distinction is moot.