Bethany McLean
Bethany McLean
Bethany McLeanis a contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine, and known for her work on the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis. She had been an editor at large and columnist for Fortune and a contributor to Slate...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEditor
Date of Birth12 December 1970
CountryUnited States of America
ability access advise banks cities financing market states whether
The big banks advise cities about whether privatization is a wise choice. They also control the ability of states and cities to access the market for their financing needs.
When Warren Buffett invests in a company, he is conferring upon that company something very unique: his credibility.
assets goods highways history public
Privatization of assets that most of us consider public goods - like airports and highways - has a long, often-uncontroversial history.
accounting capital money pile sitting
Capital isn't this pile of money sitting somewhere; it's an accounting construct.
choose people presented sure
Choices of right or wrong are not presented to you in black and white. If they were, I'm sure most people would choose white.
believed billions company deserve dollars enron gone importance investors later lost naive people picked rest thousands took underlying whether wrote
The story took on an importance later that it did not deserve originally. Whether I wrote that story or not, Enron would have gone bankrupt, investors would have lost billions of dollars and thousands of people would have lost their jobs. I just picked up on an underlying skepticism. If you had told me then that the company would go under by the end of the year, I would have never believed it. I was as naive as the rest of us.
bankrupt company enron fault fraud meek nine quite retrospect time
It was actually in retrospect a pretty meek story. It didn't say that the company is a fraud and going to go bankrupt in nine months. In fact, if you had said to me at the time that Enron is going to go under, I'd have said, 'Are you kidding?' It just didn't quite make sense. In retrospect I fault myself for not questioning it more than I did.
attention cap companies complain constantly earning five follow grown last pay percent research small street time tough wall
Small cap companies complain constantly that they are neglected. They have a very tough time getting Wall Street research analysts to follow them, to pay attention to them. There are small companies that will say that I have grown my earning at 20 percent over the last five years and no one will pay attention to me.
thinking people claims
I think synergies are a lot like UFOs: Lots of people claim to have seen them, but few can actually prove they exist.
believe past average
... skepticism about past returns is crucial. The truth is, much as you may wish you could know which funds will be hot, you can't - and neither can the legions of advisers and publications that claim they can. That's why building a portfolio around index funds isn't really settling for average. It's just refusing to believe in magic.
believe average magic
Building a portfolio around index funds isn’t really settling for the average. It’s just refusing to believe in magic.
advantage gets
There is an advantage to size. It gets you noticed.