“Chinais a world class if not the world class property bubble, primarily high-rise buildings, offices and condos.” IfsWorldClassBuildingOfficePropertyBubblesWorld Class Author:James Chanos
“I call it the Rule of Three. If you read a company's financial statements three times, and you still can't figure out how they make their money, that's usually for a reason.” IfsStillsReasonThreeCompanyFiguresFinancialStatementsThree TimesFinancial Statements Author:James Chanos
“And so it can be very much in the interest of bank A to sell-short bank B shares, or buy CDSes on bank B, because they have exposure to bank B. It's the responsible thing to do as a fiduciary, and yet if everyone does it at the same time, it's destabilizing because everyone is selling.” IfsDoeInterestShareResponsibleSellsSellingThings To DoExposureFiduciary Author:James Chanos
“Derivatives in and of themselves are not evil. There's nothing evil about how they're traded, how they're accounted for, and how they're financed, like any other financial instrument, if done properly.” IfsDoneEvilInstrumentsFinancialDerivatives Author:James Chanos
“If you're a short-seller, that's a cacophony of negative reinforcement. You're basically told that you're wrong in every way imaginable every day. It takes a certain type of individual to drown that noise and negative reinforcement out and to remind oneself that their work is accurate and what they're hearing is not.” IfsWayCertainIndividualTypeNegativeOneselfHearingNoiseAccurateSellersReinforcementCacophony Author:James Chanos
“What we define as a bubble is any kind of debt-fueled asset inflation where the cash flow generated by the asset itself - a rental property, office building, condo - does not cover the debt incurred to buy the asset. So you depend on a greater fool, if you will, to come in and buy at a higher price.” IfsKindDoeGreaterBuildingFoolDependsHigherOfficeFlowPropertyDebtAssetsCashBubblesInflationCash FlowOffice Buildings Author:James Chanos
