» Posted by Martin Weil on February 13, 2009

I think it would be cathartic if all professional investors confessed to making a few mistakes.

So writes GMO's lead investor Grantham in his latest letter. He continues,

Almost none of the CEOs who brought companies to their knees - or graves - accepted blame clearly and emphatically. Honchos at Lehman and Bear Stearns were victims, it seems, rather than incompetents. Hundreds of billions of stockholders' money was obliterated without clear apologies. Government agencies that nearly ruined us all have also admitted no mistakes. Greenspan only apologized for other peoples' shortcomings - he failed to realize how bankers would be so greedy in the short term and bereft of rigor and analysis. Really!

And concludes,

This has also been the very lowest point for ethical standards within the financial industry.

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