I agree regarding Tom Brown. He has made a number of very well reasoned arguments on various subjects, but I think he has missed the forest for the trees. One example is personal. We owned a stake in First Marblehead, of which Second Curve was/is a large holder. Brown argued repeatedly about the soundness of the business and how loss assumptions were too aggressive by the bears. Of course, Brown may end up being correct on that narrow point but completely missed the risk of the “forest” as the entire asset backed securitization function has seized up! Brown made these arguments when FMD was at $40 and it is now at $4.

Everyone makes mistakes, but Brown’s holier than though tone leaves me less than broken up by what is likely a major debacle at his fund(s).

I think the past year has exposed those who were simply along for the ride on the credit bubble formation and those who really know what they are doing. It seems to me Brown is likely the former.