The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Monday, January 17, 2011

Surprising: PayPal and Facebook backer/founder Peter Thiel backs New Zealand

This is certainly a contrarian play. Thiel's hedge fund, Clarium, has had very big problems during and post-GFC with FUM declining from a peak of more than $7bn to around 10% of that level. However, one thing Thiel clearly has a knack for is technology. Read about his fascinating investments in our poorer NZ cousin here. My guess is that the noted Libertarian's actions have a lot to do with the new conservative prime minister, John Key, who previously ran FX for Merrill Lynch. (HT: Stephen Kirchner)
at 8:27 AM