matt605's Replies
A few misconceptions that cloud the issue. First, the buyers are not blue-haired grandmothers buying washing machines. They are professionals, highly paid, making transactions they make every day.
And of course, the buyers were supervised just as the sellers were supervised. If a seller believed that the price of an asset was going to appreciate, he was still under direction to sell. If a buyer believed that an asset was going to be worthless very soon, he was still under direction from his managers to buy. The buyers had managers and researchers saying the assets were still good, just as the sellers had managers and researchers saying the assets had to be sold. As it turned out, the sellers were right, but had they been wrong, who would have complained that it was unethical for the buyers to buy?
I went to the pharmacy a few weeks ago to purchase a battery for my car key. I knew it was going to be a super-premium price, because it always is. Batteries at convenience type stores are always overpriced. When I got there, the batteries were on sale! Did I tell them to charge me the full amount because I would have paid it? Nope. Unethical somehow? Nope.
posted 7 years ago in Margin Call (2011)