ASPEN, JUDAS DUCK HEDGE FUND MANAGER

The greed punks of Wall street have done it again.  At a recent talk to the University Club in Manhattan, a Judas Duck hedge fund manager, told his audience to “Buy a home now, buy two if you can, buy three, and buy one for your relatives.”  Then, with an ultimate display of hubris, he exclaimed to the gathered clapping seals, “These homes will definitely go up in value.”  There was a roar of laughter in the audience and one guy who probably lost millions of dollars listening to these hedge fund jerks before the meltdown, stood up and yelled “Judas Duck”!! at the speaker. Not one other person in the audience knew what a Judas Duck was, but laughed anyway at the combination of words.  I am surprised that the speaker did not yell out the words “Iconic Opportunity” to the assembled group, using the Madison Avenue, “In” word being used by desperate salesmen, with limited vocabularies.  This hedge fund speaker is either too dumb to pour urine out of his wing tipped shoes, or he has now found a job as a real estate agent in Aspen Colorado.  The guy then flew to Aspen and dropped out of a plane with his golden parachute, and closed on a home for 24.5 million greenbacks.  This story has become a common theme after the meltdown on Wall street.  First you rob the street, the American public, then you use the big getaway to Aspen to Buy a trophy home, throw your suit in a town dumpster, and buy some ski bum clothes.  The new Aspen Red Onion Saloon is full of these new greedheads, expatriates who brag about the Big Heist and getaway, like ski bums in the old days used to brag about their powder skiing exploits in beer gulch.  Some smart people are offering 50 cents on the dollar for homes in Aspen, and getting them.  This guy apparently  is either dumb or he wanted to up his bragging rights at cocktail parties on Red Mountain, so when he mentions he bought a home for 24.5 million, the heads of every gold digger in the room whiplash in his direction like a pointing Labrador dog.  The beat goes on, the drum beat of greed, arrogance, hubris, where some are impressed.  Who will lead us out of this phony mess?  Perhaps a new novelist, sent from the gods,  will launch us into a new era , along with deep insights like a Mark Twain or a Faulkner or a Thomas Wolfe from Asheville for our century, and replace the amateurs and escaped bank robbers, with some real wisdom.  This new style of living will not be found from the hedge fund guys at the Red Onion.