Gray Space in Hedge Fund Marketing

In the 1970s, economist Milton Friedman penned an opinion piece in The New York Times Magazine that discussed his view on corporation's social responsibilities.  Friedman's take on corporate social responsibility was summed up in his famous quote - "There is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud."  If the recent years have demonstrated anything, it's that without strong regulations, empowered enforcers, and lawmakers providing legitimate public service as opposed to lining their own pockets and shilling for large companies, corporations will freely and enthusiastically engage in competition utilizing deception and fraud in order to drive profits.  In a recent article in the New York Times, global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline ("GSK") demonstrated that in its quests for profits it would have no problem at all being complicit in the deaths of its customers, not exactly a surprise given that we are in an environment with loose regulations, generally written by those that will be regulated, neutered regulating agencies, and politicians whose real constituents are corporations like GSK.

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