I hope not, butit doesn't seem hopeful. It just seems increasingly that we have policy makers that are not only beholden to asset markets, but actively intervene to follow those policies. And with the downside tof this all being that increasingly the person on the street thinks the game is rigged. That just has really long term corrosive values, i think, to capitalism. I couldn't agree more and something i've given a lot of thought to. We need to not only get people talking about this kind of thing, because it leads to very, very bad things.
Our guest this week is renowned short-seller Jim Chanos, founder, and president of Kynikos Associates. Over the course of his long and successful career, Jim has publicly bet against companies like Enron, which Barron’s deemed the “market call of the decade, if not the past 50 years.” While many know him for these famous shorts, fewer know that Jim is also a passionate historian, and is a firm believer in the notion that history can act as a useful guide for investors today. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss:
- How Jim started his career in finance
- The Mississippi Bubble
- How past financial frauds and manias can be useful for modern investors
- Tesla
- Lessons from the Great Financial Crisis
- Jim’s financial history course at Yale and Wisconsin
- Theranos
And much, much more… we hope you enjoy.