Why all the disgust with ZeroHedge & Tyler Durden?

Never knew it had such a bad rep, but that might be cuz im in the UK

Zero hedge is top notch.

I don't have anything to say about the site's actual content, but I always found the idea of a Wall Street analyst going by a pseudonym from Fight Club hilariously juvenile.

Because the truth hurts.

It's funny but a LOT of professionals read it. I frequently get links/posts, etc. Most of the SPY volume ramp-up posts are shitty but there's some good stuff in there.

I like some of the articles a lot, but the website overall is always whining about how the sky is falling, how things are worse now then ever before, etc. Just gives me a strong sense of false prophets of doom.

Let me see, from the top of my head here is what ZH has gotten wrong:

The bull equity market after the Mar 08 bottom.

Released a fake bank stress test created by a guy who runs a race baiting radio station.

Saying GE was the next CIT.

Dollar hyperinflation.

Talking the dangers of HFT to banks when it is a miniscule part of their business.

All the conspiracy theories around SPY volume manipulation.

In fact I can not name one thing that site was right on. Greece was closest ZH came to being right but yet again ZH called something way too early. Greece might default in the future, but ZH was dead wrong about it being this month. Could take years, if ever.

In fact I challenge anyone to show me one thing ZH has verifiably gotten right.

I didn't read their "GE is the next CIT" post, but just figured I'd point out that at the peak of the crisis, GE was one of the next in line to fail if the banks were not bailed out. However no one seems to talk about that.

'GE is the next CIT' came after CIT filed for bankruptcy which was well after the hight of the crisis and the bailouts. GE was not next in line for anything at that point.

So I have gathered that some love, and some cannot stand Tyler and Marla. It would be interesting to see how people feel, IB vs. S&T vs. HF but that's too much work.

I check out the site daily but I personally don't care much for Tyler Durden. He is way too alarmist for me, while subverting one of my all-time favorite movie characters.

This was a good one: http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/07/rating-agencies-finally-get-nruc-…

@ ideating

Nope. CDS spread for NRCU at the time of the orginal post was about 300. By the second post it went to about 230. Today it is at 146.7. If you bought CDS on NRCU you would be in a world of pain. Not only that, there was no opportunity at all in the data that shows you could have exited a position with a profit had you bought the CDS in April.

I will say ZH analysis in this case was better than usual but still failed to predict the future.

A silver banana for anyone who can show me a ZH prediction that came true.

i want a silver banana so bad!

The point is not that the predictions are true, but rather that the system is so twisted that despite the obvious need for corrections (e.g., current equity markets) there will be none

For the record, I don't agree with a lot of what TD says, but I find it pretty good to hear from the other side of the coin...especially when it comes to parsing through government produced economic data

Probably the biggest issue with the site is that some of the folks that write the posts seem kind of amateur-hour

@Cmoss

Troll fail

@ Felix Rohatyn

You make a fair point, I do have to admit he provides important information promptly which is the only reason I even look at the site.

Lots of professionals read it, not sure where this never mention it comes from.

I mean you can't take anything at face value they say but it's still entertaining.

ZH is incredibly biased. Not seeing that fact is as blind as thinking Fox, CBS, et al are objective in their reporting. As a matter of fact, I equate ZH as the opposite of Quartz; whereas ZH swears we'll all be dead in 6 hours due to some kind of capital market-induced armageddon, QZ acts as if we'll all be drinking Sunny Delight and have friends as diverse as the Power Rangers in 30 years thanks all the great advances in technology and social paradigms.

Notice how both ZH and QZ always have 2 convenient charts on every one of their posts that at first glance completely confirm their view. Think about said charts for 17 seconds afterward, however, and you quickly realize that their stupid 2-axis charts actually don't say much of anything.

As with anything, absorb facts and come to your own conclusions. Every news source is biased.

They're useful for the exact same purpose that InfoWars is:

The reporting is shit, but the headlines tend to a do a good job of highlighting events that you wouldn't know existed otherwise.

bump

also interested

they got everything on oil right tho'. i'd like to read more about this subject

Because there's too many Tylers