$$$ George Soros: What if the world isn’t worth saving? [MarketPlace]

$$$ Citigroup Loses Municipal Bond Case [WSJ]

$$$ Meet My Departed Grandma, Fledgling Facebook Investor [WSJ]

$$$ JPMorgan Ex-Structured Product CDO Head Llodra May Face SEC Suit [Bloomberg]

$$$ Deutsche Bank Maneuvers Around Capital Rules [WSJ]

$$$ Japan valuations “are getting very attractive,” said Templeton Emerging Markets Executive Chairman Mark Mobius, so much so that the country is beginning to resemble an emerging market. [CNBC]

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In 2009, the 25 best paid hedge fund managers made a combined $25.33 billion. To score a place on the list, you had to make at least $350 million. This time around? The group took home a collective pool of $22.07 billion (down 13 percent) and a mere $210 million got you access to the VIP lounge. We’re not mad, we’re just…disappointed. And hope game will be upped next year, whether it’s through improved performance, increased fees, or a trimmed staff. Here’s the Top 10, as ranked by AR Magazine:

10. Paul Tudor Jones (Tudor Investment Corp): 440 million
9. George Soros (Soros Fund Management): 450 million
8. Bruce Kovner (Caxton Associates): 640 million
7. Carl Icahn (Icahn Management): 900 million
6. Eddie Lampert (ESL Investments): 1.1 billion
5. Steve Cohen (SAC Capital): 1.3 billion
4. David Tepper: 2.2 billion
3. Jim Simons (Renaissance Technologies): 2.5 billion
2. Ray Dalio (Bridgewater Associates): 3.1 billion
1. John Paulson (Paulson and Co): 4.9 billion

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Asked yesterday about Icahn’s decision to return outside capital to investors, and if Icahn was correct in the opinion the current state of the market ‘poses a threat for hedge funds,’ Soros said: “Carl Icahn has his own problems.”

Like his car is about to be repossessed? He’s in trouble with his bookie again? He has deep-seated intimacy issues and can’t get close to people? He’s in the doghouse with his wife, on account of never taking out the trash? What is it, George?

Soros: The World Does Not Need Order [Dealbook]

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Talking of the wave of governments being challenged in North Africa and the Middle East, Mr Soros said: “What has caused the revolutions is a revulsion against a corruption that is fed by the misuse of natural resources like for instance in Libya. “Transparency and even more importantly accountability in the use of natural resources is what you need for people living in those countries to get the benefit of those national resources. “Libya produced enormous wealth which Gaddafi took as his own and now the people rebelled against it.” Asked whether there should be more transparency with what happened to oil incomes, Mr Soros said: “Very much so.” And he said the US and Europe needed to more actively support the revolutions in Libya and elsewhere so that the new regimes will co-operate with the West. [BBC]

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The piano bar in Davos that is, where the Big Guy is headed this week for the first time ever. Once in Switzerland he’ll do whatever it is people do during the day (talk about Ideas?) and then presumably meet up with the gang (World Economic Forum mascots Nouriel Roubini, George Soros, et al) for some late night drunk karaoke at PB in the Tonic Hotel. If you’ve a request, get it in now. [Dealbook]

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Remember, back in the day, when hedge funds were where investors went when they wanted a thrill? Where there was something exhilarating about locking up your money for a matter of years with a manger who would make insanely risky bets? Where it felt dangerous but that was part of the fun- thinking about the fact that at any moment, you could be getting a letter informing you that the fund was shutting down, and for every dollar you invested, you’d be getting 9 cents back? Where you gladly turned your money over to a guy wearing only fleece, who would slap you on the mouth if you dared inquire as to how things were looking but part of you liked it because it only stung for a few seconds and also because one year he handed you 69.8% and 71.8%? Where you were at times seriously fearful for what was being done to your money and some months you’d lose big and other times you’d win and in fact you never knew what to expect but that’s what made it so exciting? So worth it, for the tingling feeling it gave you, down in your plums? For the chance to feel alive again? Yeah. You’d better start looking for that sensation elsewhere.

Hedge funds may finally be losing their sex appeal. A small but growing number of investors believe these once-free spirited portfolios, viewed as the cutting edge of finance for most of the past decade, have become too conservative and boring.

[...]

Many rich people were attracted to hedge funds by stories of George Soros’s $1 billion profit from his speculative attack on the Bank of England or John Paulson’s $3.7 billion earnings in 2007 betting on the subprime meltdown. But institutions — who now account for over half of all hedge fund assets — often prefer lower-risk funds, targeting single-digit or low double-digit gains. “Steady, low double-digit returns are typically much better at attracting institutional investors than higher but more erratic performance,” said Odi Lahav, vice president at Moody’s alternative investment group.

“There is a tendency for managers to run lower levels of risk in their portfolios than they used to. The risk is that some portfolios are no longer running with the spice or edge they used to,” he said.

“There is certainly a pocket of family offices and high net worth individuals who are looking for more interesting returns, but from an asset-weighted standpoint, that is not where the industry is trending,” said Dan McNicholas, head of Asia financing sales at Merrill Lynch. The changes could eventually create a two-speed industry, with many larger firms offering more conservative returns, while the hunt by other investors for higher returns could drive part of the industry back to its roots.

We know of at least one guy doing his part. For anyone looking to feel alive again- join him.

Hedge Funds Lose Sex Appeal [Reuters]

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THEhotel at Mandalay Bay has recently opened Top Chef contestant Hubert Keller’s new restaurant, Fleur. The menu includes a burger priced at $5,000 (which comes with a $2,500 bottle of wine, so manage your expectations about what this mere $2,500 piece of meat will taste like now) and Fleur representatives optimistically believe they’ll sell 6 of these things this year.

Sure, bonus expectations at banks this year are not great. But, a) they could surprise on the upside b) you could be one of the top performers whose number balances out those getting zero dollars or c) you could work at a hedge fund or private equity firm where people are getting paid. Should one of those scenarios apply to your life, will you be the idiot go who goes for it? Will it be your drunk co-worker, after winning a few bucks playing Black Jack? Will it be George Soros buying and forcing the chef into a blind taste test in an attempt to prove you can’t tell the difference between the burger for 5 g’s and a Big Mac with a couple truffles thrown on top?

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“I’m 44 years old, my plan is to be a billionaire by 50, which these days, that’s very doable,” the actor, recovery drug addict and born again Christian who told Daily Intel’s Chris Rovzar. “And once I achieve that goal, my plan would be to be the George Soros for Jesus.”

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Mr. Soros devoted much of his talk [at the Canadian International Council in Toronto] to China because the country’s rapid rise is taking place at the exact same time that the U.S. is losing its global economic dominance. “There is a really remarkable, rapid shift of power and influence from the United States to China,” Mr. Soros said, likening the U.S.’s decline to that of the U.K. after the Second World War. Because global economic power is shifting, Mr. Soros said China needs to change its focus. “China has risen very rapidly by looking out for its own interests,” he said. “They have now got to accept responsibility for world order and the interests of other people as well.” [Globe and Mail]

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Last night on his show, Glenn Beck shared some “scary” “secrets” about George Soros. Though Beck did not do the entire thing with the lights off and a flashlight under his chin, he might as well have. That’s how pants-pissingly scary it was. For instance– did you know Soros is just a stage name? Jorge was really born “George Schwartz.” And that’s not all.

Beck also informs us that Soros started the Quantum fund “to attack currencies across the world,” that “he’s waged a war against capitalism,” and that his next target? “Is us. America.” Beck ends on terrifyingly ominous note: “There’s a lot more meat here I need you to do your homework on.”

[Media Matters via BI]

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