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Buffett is 'Hero', Greenspan is 'Zero': Fortune

The much-maligned 'derivative' has made legendary investor Warren Buffett a 'hero', while former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has been rendered a 'zero'.

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NEW YORK: The much-maligned 'derivative' has made legendary investor Warren Buffett a 'hero', while former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has been rendered a 'zero', by  US magazine Fortune.
    
Both Buffett and Greenspan are part of the 'Heroes and Zeros' list compiled by American publication Fortune for this year.
    
"When it comes to money matters, 2008 served up an unusually rich cast of saints and sinners. Here is our highly subjective list of who we love and who we love to hate," the magazine said.
    
The list of 11 people includes seven 'heroes' and four 'zeros'.
    
Apart from the legendary investor, other prominent names in the league of 'heroes' include Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair, Mint.com's Chief Executive Aaron Patzer and New York University Economics Professor Nouriel
Roubini.
    
On the other hand, along with Greenspan, former Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard Fuld, American Bankers Association Chief Executive Ed Yingling and former Countrywide Financial Corp Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo are described 'zeros'.
    
Fortune noted that while other investors quaked, Buffett was not afraid to step up and put new money in the stock market. He had even bought stakes in General Electric and Goldman Sachs.
    
The report said that he inspired confidence in investors and gave a nervous public clear, thoughtful reasons not to panic.
   
"Another reason to love Buffett: He has warned for years about the dangers of derivatives, excessive CEO pay and investing in anything you don't understand. In both his words and actions in 2008, this legendary investor shone," the magazine said.
    
On Greenspan, the report noted that it is hard to imagine any single person more responsible for the biggest financial crisis to hit this country since the Great Depression.
    
"Greenspan helped inflate the housing bubble by keeping short-term interest rates too low for too long... He pooh-poohed attempts to regulate complicated derivatives, those exotic financial contracts that provided cover to lenders pocketing extraordinary profits by issuing reckless home loans," Fortune said.
    
Others in the list of 'heroes' are Neighborhood Assistance Corp of America's Chief Executive Bruce Marks, founder of StudentLoanJustice.org Alan Collinge and founder of Sustainable South Bronx Majora Carter.
    
Writing on Bair, the report said she is one regulator who performed well under pressure, before adding "she has emerged as a champion for consumers".
    
According to the Fortune, even though Fuld was not the highest paid chief executive in America, he became the poster boy for "Wall Street greed" when he defended his compensation of 484 million dollars before the Congress.
    
"Fuld became the poster boy for Wall Street greed when he testified before Congress in October and defended the mammoth 484 million dollars he received in salary, bonuses and stock options since 2000," it added.
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