Greenwich, Connecticut: HEDGE-FUND HEAVEN

[Joanne98]

Expert View: The gilded cages of the hedge-fund Vanderbilts

The only serious threats to the super-rich are personal ones
By Chris Walker

Published: 09 July 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article1168145.ece

Greenwich, Connecticut - Driving past a church, I notice people flocking to that morning's event: a "patriotic singalong with ice cream". I turn into the village high street, where old-fashioned, pith-helmeted traffic cops stand at every intersection, in lieu of vulgar traffic lights.

No wonder, when we park, my host feels safe enough to leave all the windows open in his brand-new Lexus. After the usual Perrier and salad business lunch we pause at the windows of the latest village shop, Tiffany's. Welcome to Greenwich, Connecticut - hedge fund wonderland.

In the past 20 years, the hedge fund high rollers - with their various complex strategies, their leverage and their short selling of stocks - have become the dominant force in nearly every market. Greenwich is their capital.

It is estimated that over 10 per cent of the global industry is now controlled from this once-sleepy commuter town. New York trains reverse the traditional traffic, with young city slickers who choose to live in Manhattan crowding the outbound trains each morning. Nearly 70 per cent of Greenwich office space is now occupied by hedge fund managers, with rents rising way beyond midtown Manhattan prices.

This gives us a little insight into Holy Joe's problem.

[nosillies]

1. Related article in last month's Vanity Fair

http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/060626roco02

[Joanne98]

3. Thanks. I hadn't read it.

[kskiska]

2. I read it in Vanity Fair. The pictures are awesome.

I spent most of my life in Connecticut, three towns away from Greenwich. Greenwich has always been an enclave for the fabulously rich, but this is so over the top. One house has a skating rink the size of the one at Rockefeller Center. There's an interesting story in the article of a couple who are planning their dream house. They claim they don't want a "mega-mansion," but as their plans progress they keep adding more and more to their "want" list - indoor squash courts, etc., and an article appears in the paper about their planned mega-mansion. They scrap their plans and opt for a more normal size house.

[Joanne98]

4. Greed has no limit.

[Joanne98]

5. kick

[Joanne98]

6. a "patriotic singalong with ice cream". sickening