Thoroughbred horses are unique creatures.  They are born and bred to run.  Animals usually compete for food, territory or sex.  But a thoroughbred horse is one of the few creatures that ache to competitively race.

 

Boaz Weinstein is such a horse.

 

Weinstein was a top Wall Street trader for Deutsche Bank AG.  I say was, because his operations at Deutsche ground to a halt and he has left the building.  He is off to start his own hedge fund.

 

Too bad for Deutsche.

 

These days, it's too easy to brand everyone on Wall Street a Gordon Gekko.

 

That is dangerous thinking.

 

Sure, those of us outside the financial world reel with the billions lost in our 401K's and the billions of our taxpayer dollars spent to prop up failing banks, et al.  We get angry at the expensive resorts visited by those now on the dole.  We wonder why we are expected to prop up banks when they attempt to buy new corporate jets.

 

All of that anger is righteous.

 

But be careful of that righteous anger, before your emotions take over and you do something you'll regret.

 

Our capitalist system is under threat by the government.  Since the government has decided to be a major player on Wall Street with big wads of sweaty taxpayer money, they have positioned themselves to be the jockeys riding the thoroughbreds.

 

Thoroughbreds like Weinstein.

 

Weinstein was a chess master at the age of 16.  He once was challenged by a fellow employee at Deutsche to play a game "blindfolded."  100 employees watched as Weinstein sat with his back to the board and beat his Russian colleague in roughly two hours.

 

Weinstein also likes to play poker and blackjack.  After Friday closing, he and his colleagues could be found in one of the boardrooms at Deutsche playing high-stakes poker into the night.  He would occassionally travel to Las Vegas with some MIT grads and work the blackjack tables. 

 

He knew how to keep count.  Blindfolded.

 

This is a man, by all accounts, who loves taking high-stake financial risks.  He is good at it.  He made billions doing what he loves to do.  And when things came crashing down, he put on his best poker face and tried to figure it all out.

 

Of course, that wasn't easy when .gov decided to step in and save the day.  Well, save some days, but not others.  Rescue Bear Stearns, but let Lehman Brothers fail.  And so it goes with .gov.

 

Boaz Weinstein was a top-notch trader, but he just couldn't figure out the rules anymore.  And Deutsche Bank AG didn't feel like waiting.

 

Our capitalist society needs people like Boaz Weinstein fiercely running towards the finish line, without .gov as his jockey.

 

We all know .gov doesn't know anything about thoroughbred horse racing.

 

And when thoroughbreds like Boaz Weinstein win, we all win.  People like him put the money in our 401K's.

 

Don't forget that.