A year ago, when the then-chairman of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), Franz Müntefering, denounced hedge funds as “locusts,†one commentator noted: “Müntefering insults the locusts, Schröder is feeding them.†He was referring to the fact that Gerhard Schröder’s coalition government had created legal conditions allowing hedge funds to operate in Germany in an unrestrained manner. In the meantime, it is clear that Schröder is no longer feeding the locustsâ€â€instead they are feeding him.
Last Thursday (March 9), in Vienna, the former German chancellor gave the principal speech celebrating the 10th anniversary of Superfund, one of the hedge funds that Müntefering had in mind when he made his reference to locusts.
