第1回The Economist読む隊

以前やっていた英語隊(id:eigotai)のノリで、"The Economist"を読む会を開いた。そこで読んだ記事について。Thanks id:shiumachi, id:pho.

3月14日号掲載の「Face Value」。サブプライムローンから始まった金融危機の中でも、利益を上げ続けている投資家・ジョン・ポールソンについて。

感想

雑誌１ページのこの記事をざっと読むのに、所要時間約1.5時間（2時間かかったかも）。10分間各自で黙読して、その後、各段落持ち回りで口頭説明した。よく構造化されているので、読みやすく、理解しやすかった。が、難しい。クレジットデフォルトスワップの意味も知らなかったもので。

Tim Berners-Lee(http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13277389)についても読んだけど、ひとまず今はここまで。(see id:shiumachi:20090320:1237561036)

概略

以下英語で概略。よくわからないところには「？」。
http://www.economist.com/people/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13277415
Paragraph 1: Who he is. He is an investor who continues to win during this financial crisis. His hedge funds marked over 100% returns in 2007, betting against subprime mortgages, netting him $3.7 billion personally. His funds continued to do well last year, too.
Paragraph 2: What he does know for. Risk Arbitrage that involves punting on actual/potential merger targets.
Paragraph 3: His personality. Fitting icon for the post-boom age: mild-mannered, bordering on weedy and soft-spoken.
Paragraph 4: How he won. He avoid leverage, making beds with borrowed money. What he did is "obvious" trade.
Paragraph 5: How he won, in practical. Shorting credit. He targeted BBB-rated tranches, the lowest in subprime securities. The practical method he uses is credit-default swaps(CDSS).
Paragraph 6: His philosophy toward the investment.
Paragraph 7: The reputation and his philanthropic activity.
Paragraph 8: Coming year Market. Markets now follows Mr. Paulson as they used to be followers of Mr. Soros. And Mr. Paulson still a net short-seller as he doen't see the economy reaching bottom.
Paragraph 9: His recent focus. He starts to recapitalise sick but viable banks. The Recovery Fund, his new funds, took a 25% stocks(?) of Indy Mac, a Californian bank that the government took in hand last July.