Rich Man Middle Man

The dailies are starting to cover the crazy incomes of hedge fund chiefs. Here's a sample from the Los Angeles Times. At the bottom is this list:

1. James Simons, Renaissance Technologies, $1.7 billion

2. Ken Griffin, Citadel Investment, $1.4 billion

3. Edward Lampert, ESL Investments, $1.3 billion

4. George Soros, Soros Fund Management, $950 million

5. Steven Cohen, SAC Capital, $900 million

6. Bruce Kovner, Caxton Associates, $715 million

7. Paul Tudor Jones, Tudor Investment, $690 million

8. Tim Barakett, Atticus Capital, $675 million

9. David Tepper, Appaloosa Management, $670 million

10. Carl Icahn, Icahn Partners, $600 million.

The assets of the rest of us are starting to flounder. Housing sales were down over eight percent last month compared to the month before. This will soon mean the end of the price inflation that owners used to boost their often-stagnant incomes and that kept many renters locked out of the market. It will be interesting if folks finally start to ask why the new wealth isn't shared like the old used to be.