I Thought He Was Smarter Than This

I'm sure he knows what he's doing and make a fortune from this.

clipped from blogs.dallasobserver.com Andy Beal is Donald Trump's Benefactor Andy Beal's the Dallas banker most (in)famous for having single-handedly taken on the bestest of poker's best -- a so-called syndicate that included the likes of Chip Reese, Howard Lederer, Doyle Brunson and Jennifer Harmon -- back in 2001 in the Bellagio's high-stakes poker room. The subtitle of Michael Craig's riveting 2005 account of that kajillion-dollar showdown described it thusly: The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time. But in 2006, Beal's love for the game got a kick in the pants courtesy one Phil Ivey, who, after a mere three days, wound up lifting from Beal's wallet, oh, $16 million, give or take.

Dang, I Wish I Worked for this Guy

clipped from www.forbes.com The Banker Who Said No While the nation's lenders ran amok during the boom, Andy Beal hoarded his money. Now he's cleaning up--with scant help from Uncle Sam. "Banks are on a prayer mission that somehow prices will come back and they won't have to face reality," Beal says. And that reality, according to Beal, is going to get a lot worse. "Unemployment is going over 10%, commercial real estate hasn't even begun collapsing and corporate credit defaults are just getting started," he says. His prediction: depression, without bread lines this time, thanks to the government safety net, but with equal cost to society. As for the cause of this mess, Beal points a finger at the government for giving its imprimatur to just a handful of credit rating agencies, then insisting that money market and pension funds buy only paper with top grades. He also blames government for luring people into debt by backing everything from bank deposits to Fannie and Freddie to student loans.

I highly recommend reading the whole article.