USPS service delivery truck in a residential area of San Francisco, California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Much is being made of J. P. Morgan’s two billion dollar trading loss. There has been little mention of the fact that this loss occurred inside of a profitable portfolio (or so I’m told).
Every trader takes losses sometimes. The smarter ones examine every loss and try to learn from it. Traders that survive do so by not repeating mistakes. You can bet the folks at Morgan will do so in spades.
As a trader myself, I view this story as barely interesting.
Meanwhile, the US Postal Service is on track to lose 9 billion dollars this year. Why this causes less angst than much small private losses in private markets mystifies me. Morgan may have lost money for stockholders; government support of the USPS loses money for taxpayers.
The government overall loses billions and billions on it’s “investments”. J. P. Morgan is a piker by comparison.
Maybe instead of the government investigating Morgan, we should be investigating the government.
Related articles
- JPMorgan Loses $2 Billion; Still Beats Postal Service (rubinoworld.com)
Thinking Things Through 