What Our Michael Burry Obsession Says About Us

Imagine I get extremely rich like Michael Burry on a contrarian short position. I’d immediately cash in my chips (but I wouldn’t tell anyone I was “semi-retiring” from the game). Then, after extracting some funds for fun and my kids’ education, I’d put 95% of my remaining winnings into a passive portfolio of stocks and bonds and marvel at the compounding.

But the real stroke of genius is what I’d do with the 5% left over: I’d use it to make bold (but relatively small) calls on the next big collapse to tempt the media into writing about me for the rest of time, thus burnishing my personal brand and giving me a free option to sell books, speeches, screenplays and whatever else.