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View Full Version : Fidelity Investments Chief slams Obama's 'New Deal II' After Losing $360 Billion


Regis Philbin
Feb 25th, 2009, 07:27 PM
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/2009_02_25_Edward_Johnson_Slams_FDR_‘New_Deal_II_:_Blames_fe ds_for_crisis__derides_U_S__spending/srvc=home&position=5

Edward Johnson Slams FDR,‘New Deal II’

Blames feds for crisis, derides U.S. spending

By Jay Fitzgerald
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Fidelity’s Edward “Ned” Johnson jumped into the controversial debate over President Obama’s “New Deal II” and what Johnson called government “make-work projects.”

Without naming names, Johnson praised the administration’s effort to make economic recovery its top priority, saying it was “admirable.”

But Johnson, sounding like he’s never been a big fan of the original New Dealers from the 1930s, warned of too much government involvement in the economy and indicated Fidelity is beefing up its government-affairs unit to fend off possibly burdensome new regulations.

“We can only hope that the government’s cure doesn’t further sicken the patient,” Johnson wrote in his annual update on Fidelity’s performance over the past year.

Richard Tafoya
Feb 25th, 2009, 08:33 PM
More on the company's performance. Losing 22% of investor assets to end up at $1.25 trillion means they started at $1.61 trillion. In other words, they lost $360 billion in investor cash by riding stocks downward rather than getting out when things began getting bad.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVMqNs0tJf7E&refer=home
Fidelity Investments, the world’s biggest mutual-fund company, said operating income fell 18 percent last year as a market “downdraft” triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. cut client assets.

Operating income, which excludes interest and taxes, declined to $2.36 billion as of Dec. 31 from $2.89 billion a year earlier, the Boston-based company said today in its annual report. Closely held Fidelity didn’t report net income. Assets dropped 22 percent to $1.25 trillion.

“Until the end of August, before the economic storm arrived, Fidelity’s results were on schedule,” Chairman Edward C. “Ned” Johnson III, wrote in a letter to shareholders accompanying the report. Then in September, “we entered a downdraft in stock prices which hasn’t been seen since the ‘30s,” Johnson wrote.

DoubleEdgeSword
Feb 26th, 2009, 07:28 AM
“Until the end of August, before the economic storm arrived, Fidelity’s results were on schedule,” Chairman Edward C. “Ned” Johnson III, wrote in a letter to shareholders accompanying the report. Then in September, “we entered a downdraft in stock prices which hasn’t been seen since the ‘30s,” Johnson wrote.


"Oops. Mah bad," he added.

oxymoron
Mar 2nd, 2009, 06:34 PM
So Fidelity earns $2.36 billion to lose $360 billion of their customers dollars?

No wonder he doesn't want things to change.