Are you invested in a hedge fund like one of these that drives up your cost of living? Great story, Yahoo!?

Question

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080531/all_business.html

Answer 1

True. Many banks and even corporations hedge their currency positions...sovereign wealth funds and individuals with E-Trade accounts can now hedge as well.  Hedging alone hasn't made a hedge fund a hedge fund since the 1960s...and even then banks were already hedging...

- Richard

http://hedgefundgroup.org

Answer 2

Sorry.  Pension funds have a lot of restrictions on them.  One is they can't sell short.  How can you hedge without selling short?  Hedge funds are often in outright positions.

As far as blaming funds: for every complex problem, there is an answer that is simple to understand, easy to implement, and wrong.

Answer 3

The fact they hedge some doesn't make them hedge funds.

For example;  A number of foreign funds will hedge a little against currency risk. This adds stability and security, not the opposite.

The real problem that you seem to be concerned about is the result of the falling dollar from all the deficit spending in the last 7 years and failing to pay for this expensive war.

Answer 4

Remember that the rules are different for investing with hedge funds.  You have to have a high net worth (i.e. lots of money) to be eligible.  Hedge funds use leverage and involve higher risk than traditional investments.  Recent hedge fund losses have prompted people to redeem their shares and move on to other investments.  So there are fewer people invested with hedge funds.

The players you should be looking at are the large pension funds like CalPERS.

Define a hedge fund anyway you like, but that doesn't change the facts.  Pension funds have an obligation to meet their obligations (i.e. current and retired employees).  They are motivated by self interest just like any other investor.  If they can boost returns by investing in commodities, then that's what they will do.

Look at all the posts on Yahoo Answers by people who want to invest in oil and agriculture.  Do you think this is a coincidence?