Help needed on 2 topics: 1.What is a hedge-fund? 2. Who is Ron Paul?

1.Recently I saw a short documentary on how children are economically illiterate.
This was First World countries!
They all know religious and advertising terms already - but they know nothing on the economy.
Then is struck me - I've been through university/college, and I don't know what a hedge-fund is!
What I read on Wikipedia didn't help. It just confused me more.
And then it seemed like they have a lot of laws and conspiracy attached to them too.
Can anybody describe it practically, and why some of these funds are controversial?
If I wanted to be in a hedge-fund, what would I have to do?

2.Then I wanted to know, who is Ron Paul?
The wiki says he's a doctor and conservative, but a liberal kinda conservative.
Huh?
Why is he always on ATS?

reply to post by halfoldman


Dude, Google it. You're on the Internet already. Ron Paul is a Texas Republican (libertarian) Congressman. He ran in the republican primaries last election and lost to John McCain. He also recently won the CPAC straw poll and was a victim of FOXNews as they misrepresented the crowds emotions when announcing his win. A hedge fund is something that needs a lot more explanation mostly due to the fact that you need to understand the economics involved with them. But like as I said, Google.
Peace!

A hedge fund is a conglomeration of stocks designed to move in value in a generally opposite manner to the primary investments. These are created in order to level out gains and losses due to market movement.

While that is the technical definition of the subject, hedge funds in a less technical sense are sometimes improperly referred to when talking about investments that will see gains if particular negative events happen. But, that is not really what a hedge fund is - just an improper usage of terminology.

reply to post by TheFuzzMonster

Thanks - did Google both, with lengthy explanations, and still no idea why they are relevant both on ATS and in American politics.
I was hoping that with short practical explanations I would get a better idea.

reply to post by pirhanna

But, that is not really what a hedge fund is - just an improper usage of terminology.

Oh, I see, well almost ...

A hedge fund is a gambling syndicate. When you hedge your bets, you are spreading your investment on many different horses instead of putting all your money on one horse. Hedge funds spread their investment across many markets, stocks, dividends and other trading tools. The stock market is a risky place and really complex these days.

Ron Paul is the only chance you have if you value honesty and integrity.

reply to post by kwakakev

Wow, thank you.
So it is like gambling?
Still not sure, but it sounds like gambling.
Is it Abrahamic and Islamic?

reply to post by halfoldman

So it is like gambling?

Yes. Over time shares have returned a better than average return on investment as it contributed to company resources and growth, however if the company loses so do you. This has lead to companies making decisions based more on financial responsibilities and neglecting the social and environmental responsibilities, some more than others. The derivatives is where things get real messy with lots of looting, scamming, profiteering, market manipulation and other risky behaviour going on. Some people describe it as a pyramid scheme, other like a casino, some say there is more money tied up in derivatives than in the rest of the world combined. It is all about the money here and I recommend you approach with caution. It is complex and technical with lots of interactions and dependencies going on.

Is it Abrahamic and Islamic?

It started off with good intentions, but getting pretty corrupt in the mess and greed. So no, not in its current state. Like some aspects of the banking sector some of it maybe. It is going to take a lot of research and study to take out the good while leaving the bad.

A hedgefund, is a fund that will speculate in an asset moving up in the future, while at the same time speculating that similar assets are going down in the future.

It's a very involved topic, except to say that the idea is to make money on rising prices as well as on falling prices. A hedgefund generally trades less, but when it trades the monetary value of the trade is generally very high. This is the reason hedge funds are considered controversial, because their trades can make a small turn in the market into a big turn.