Bailout of Hedge Fund

Re “Bailout of Hedge Fund for Wealthy Rattles Wall Street,” Sept. 25:

There seems to be a disconnect between many Wall Street “geniuses’ ” abilities and the realities of the marketplace. One can’t help but notice that Long-Term Capital Management’s two Nobel laureates and squadrons of MBAs believed that they were smarter than the market and that “other people’s money” was simply a cheap tool to enhance their flawed self-image of “Masters of the Universe.”

The lesson for small investors is that good judgment and common sense are far more relevant than genius.

WILLIAM JOHN MIKUS

Manhattan Beach

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I hope the Federal Reserve Bank is around to bail me out as Alan Greenspan drives down interest rates.

The $3.5-billion deal to save the Long-Term Capital Management fund is just one more example of pouring more money down the proverbial rat hole. It goes hand in hand with the billions sent to foreign countries by the IMF, which end up siphoned off by corrupt politicians eager to save their own investments. (The Russian fiasco is a perfect example.)

Who gains directly from the lowered interest rates? Certainly not the average taxpayer. And remember, those retirees who lose income on their modest investment returns will not be putting money back into the economy.

MARIA DENKER

Studio City

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Am I the only one who sees the double standard applied by Wall Street to those who have incurred too much debt during the good times of the late economic “boom”? Preaching personal responsibility, the banking and credit industry exerts pressure on Congress to squeeze middle-class debtors by tightening the nation’s bankruptcy laws. At the same time, Wall Street’s biggest banks, with the assistance of New York Federal Reserve Bank President William McDonough, bail out a bankrupt Wall Street hedge fund.

When middle-class families, living paycheck to paycheck and lured by easy credit, face financial collapse because they borrowed too much, the message is: tough luck.

Now it becomes easier to see who will bear the brunt of the pain in the looming global recession.

JOHN P. LLOYD

Sierra Madre