James Chanos
James Chanos
James S. Chanosis an American investment manager and currently serves as president and founder of Kynikos Associates, a New York City registered investment advisor that is focused on short selling...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
CountryUnited States of America
doe fiduciary selling
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.
government australia tails
Our concerns about what we saw in Australia: an economy clearly tied to China has hitched its wagon to the tail of the tiger. In terms of the general complacency, what we heard over and over from investors and clients and potential clients is, 'yes, yes, there are some excesses, but the government will figure out a way.
records sovereign lending
So you know, everyone points out Greece's default record, but the history of a lot of sovereign nations is not a good one when it comes to lending them money.
thinking people chinese
The Chinese banking system is built on quicksand and that's the one thing a lot of people don't realize. Everybody seems to think it is a free and clear open checkbook. It's not. The banking system in China is extremely fragile.
children thinking play
The interesting thing about the China story, getting back to the macro and micro, and as dire as I think the macro story is - due to bad credit and credit extension that makes Greece and Spain and the U.S. look like child's play - when you get to the micro of individual companies, they look even worse.
numbers chinese growth
The Macau casinos have a wonderful business, it's taking in money from Chinese businessmen elsewhere who send it through junky companies to casinos to gamble. The growth continues and they have basically western managers and western accounting, so we trust the numbers a little bit more.
interesting long groups
The U.S. healthcare system is probably the most interesting large group of companies that are heading for major problems that we've seen in a long, long time.
cash-flow office doe
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.
three financial reason
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.
class office world
Chinais a world class if not the world class property bubble, primarily high-rise buildings, offices and condos.
zero infinity
I've seen a lot more go to zero than infinity.
organization two people
What people don't realize is that China papered over its last two credit bubbles, those in 1999 and 2004. The banks were never bailed out - they just exchanged their bad loans for questionable bonds from quasi-state organizations.
games people levels
What American people and what the markets want is a fair and level playing-field, where the rules are clearly elucidated, where the referees are competent, and where we know that the game is not rigged.
excess credit bigger
Bubbles are best identified by credit excesses, not valuation excesses. And there's no bigger credit excess than in China.