The thing about useful stuff is: "I was being ironic" says John Mack

"I was being ironic" says John Mack Friday, September 19, 2008

Some people just don't get irony. When John Mack, Morgan Stanley's CEO, took a swipe at people short selling Morgan Stanley stock, he was clearly being ironic, given the large sums of money his firm make from lending stock to hedge funds to enable them to undertake short selling, not to mention the commission on trades. Had Morgan Stanley found this to be an unseemly practice, they wouldn't have been willing accomplices would they?

Sure, his company stock was being battered, but that was due to a loss of confidence in the bank and not through market manipulation. I'm sure you will find countless examples where he has defended short selling as being a legitimate strategy.

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He will have been as horrified as the rest of us when the SEC moved to ban short selling on financial services stock and is probably complaining behind closed doors, using the influence that goes with being in charge of one of the last remaining investment banks, during intermissions from his discussions with potential merger/funding partners.

Then again.........