Wow. You know times are weird when a former “master of the universe” closes up his hedge fund and goes out with a bang by endorsing industrial hemp in a big way.
That’s what Andrew Lahde, former manager of the California-based hedge fund Lahde Capital did last month. Lahde Capital racked up returns of 866 percent by betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, but Lahde concluded the lifestyle of a hedge fund manager — even a successful one — was not one worth the steep personal costs:
“I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths,” Lahde writes in a farewell message to the world of finance. “Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.”
Wise words, but the adios saves a knock-out punch for the last paragraph, in which Lahde touts industrial hemp as the U.S.’s answer to its energy and food production problems. Read on:
“Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, ‘Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,’ television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. … My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other additive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.”
Amazing stuff. Read the whole farewell letter here — it’s worth it. (Tip of the hat to Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture.)
If hemp isn’t marijuana, then how would it replace xanax or zoloft?
Andrew is right we were idiots for following the idiots. Plus, Hes not greedy hes getting out in his prime while he still has time to enjoy life.
=D thats what you got to do sometimes is just enjoy life.
Whoops, you’re right there, Luby! Guess Lahde didn’t think that reference through completely. (A better theory might be that DuPont in 1937 might have felt threatened by hemp’s impact on its fiber market.)
Still, I think the pro-hemp sentiment still makes sense.