Agoracom Blog

BREAKING – Barry Ritholtz Bets $1,000,000 Against “Profitable Paulson Plan”

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:33 AM on Thursday, September 25th, 2008

Barry Ritholtz, a colleague and Wall Street super-brain blogger that has called this banking fiasco pretty dead on from the outset, is calling “bullshit” on the bailout profit spin now floating around.  In fact, he is going PYMWYMI (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is) by issuing the following $1,000,000 challenge:

“I have a 10 year bet for those folks now pushing the “Trust me, we will make it all back
on this one trade” spin. If you who think the Paulson plan is a money maker, a cash winner,`and a net after-fees taxpayer surplus creator, put your money where your mouth is. I`bet you one million dollars, to the charity of the winner’s choice, that the current plan is a ginormous money loser.”

Anybody want to man up? Given the fact Warren Buffet laid down $5 Billion for Goldman Preferred Shares, I’d love to see him take up the challenge. To be fair, Buffet is betting on Goldman and not the government – but we’re not going to split hairs.

Unfortunately, the bigger problem is that:

  • You don’t accumulate $50 billion in wealth by making too many $1,000,000 side bets
  • Warren has already given away every penny to his favourite charity. That’s pretty much a deal-breaker.

Regards,
George

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