Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Farewell Greg Newton

I learned today via Felix Salmon, and FT Alphaville's Paul Murphy of the sudden and very sad passing of Greg Newton, the former Metal Bulletin and MAR-guru, and prescient satirist of Naked Shorts. As Felix highlighted, Greg was not only one of the earliest must-read on-line commentators but he was probably the originator of the genre of on-line Financial Satire, a platform he employed to great effect in the lampooning of contrapreneurs, scamsters, hubris and simple outright financial stupidity - more often than not BEFORE its discovery by authorities, investors and mainstream financial journalists .

Greg was very supportive of Cassandra Does Tokyo from the outset as we shared a joy of satire, irony, expatriation from the lands of our birth, and a similarly skeptical view of markets and human nature. More impressive however, was that he courageously tackled important contentious issues and people head-on, despite threats of libel and legal action, without the bashful anonymous guerrilla sniping I've shamefully adopted. His bullshit detection skills were of the highest order, coupled with an unparalleled no-nonsense wit and punchy literary-style that always brought a smile to my face, typically accompanied by audible laughter, as I am certain it did to all readers, except perhaps those that he skewered.

But most important from where I sit, Greg Newton was a warm, kind, and thoughtful man, evidenced by the time and attention that he devoted to our correspondence and the issues he championed in Naked Shorts without recompense. I know I, too, will sorely miss him, and the world will be worse-off without his critical eyes.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

So sad! Didn't know him in person, but absolutely loved his blog. You are right, he will certainly be missed and the world is poorer in insight and wisdom without him. May his soul rest in peace.

Anonymous said...

One of my favourite posts was a recent one, entitled "Regulators - an apology", from February. Anyone who wants to get a measure of the man should go here - http://nakedshorts.typepad.com/nakedshorts/2009/02/regulators-an-apology.html
...and this is the sentence that cracked me up:
"Any implication that the loyal, hard working and intellectually gifted staff of both FINRA and the SEC could not pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel is unreservedly withdrawn with our deepest apologies for any distress that may have been caused."
Thanks Cassandra for the tribute - I'll miss him too, RIP Greg

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
"Cassandra" said...

Dear Spineless Anonymous 6:28am

If you wish to air grievances, I would suggest you reveal yourself, your firm and the gripes you have with Mr Newton's accusations. Until such time, Mr Newton's stature is only enhanced in my eyes to have caused the ire of someone who must employ abusive language yet is too chicken-shit to provide the meagerest indication or substantiation of his/her slight. Please do not return here.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
"Cassandra" said...

Dear Spineless Anonymous whose second assinine comment at 1:37 I deleted.

With regards to your laughable [now deleted out of respect] threats, all I have to say is "Be Brave, and Bring them on" you worm! If you were worthy of Greg's disdain, I'm certain you're worthy of mine.

michael webster said...

Greg was a great source, and I wish I knew him much earlier.

His Naked Shorts was a terrific blog and he will be missed.

As to the idiot who claims to have a libel suit in Great Britain, uh, dude you might want to check out the enforceability of a libel award from GM in the US.

Miguel_Swanstien said...

Sigh. Since Greg delighted in exposing the seedier aspects of the "alternative investment" landscape and the creeps who inhabit it, attacks like that were a given.

Too late, though. Greg did his part in breaking the mythologies around these operators with courage and humor and that can't be unwound with a few morally repugnant comments. I'm just left with melancholy, suspecting he hadn't shared all he wanted to share.

Thanks again for your efforts, Cassandra. Time to draw on your stoicism, again.

(BTW: the correct spelling is "asinine", even if your version seems the intuitive one)

Anonymous said...

Not to put on my aluminum foil hat...

But why are more bloggers (critical of the banksters etal...)

Bloggers critical of wallstreet, Dying off (for various 'reasons') is my foil hat on straight?

Quite a few in the past year or so...coincidence? ほんとに???

Ina bizarro universe it'd be the other way....

PS can we start a fund to contribute to the earlier than expected long dirt nap of j. Cassano (Aig) He's on my list...

Proceeds can go toward some McCallan Elegancia and we can toast justice served,

"Cassandra" said...

yes...and the embers are still burning in Gaza, and still no one cares.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Someone supportive of 'Cassandra Tokyo' has to be an asshole.

"Cassandra" said...

Now you've raised the bar...what are you...twelve?!?!

arnoldsimage said...

Free Martin Armstrong. you are one dumb bitch.

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TokyoTom said...

"bashful anonymous guerrilla sniping"

I recognize the feeling, but don`t flagellate yourself too much. You are still serving as a beacon of sorts and there is a venerable history of nom d`plums. Given the gap between livelihood and thinking, caution is understandable.