No. The title is misleading. It´s not what you are thinking. I am not saying that Paulson should bail out hedge funds. I understand that that would offend you. I am actually saying the opposite. I am recommending that Secretary Paulson invite large hedge funds to coinvest with him in the $700bn package that is the largest bailout in history. Why? First because if he does get some hedge funds to coinvest with him when he buys bad loans the American taxpayer will realize that at least there are some other investors out there who are willing to buy those loans as well. That those $700bn are an investment and not an expenditure per se. That it may actually not be such a bad business for the American taxpayer to buy mortgages at a discount and so much so that hedge funds are willing to go along. That there is value to what the US government is buying. Secondly because hedge funds are already buying up these loans, crowding them out does not make much sense. And thirdly because working with hedge funds may actually reduce the size of the government intervention overall. In a sense Warren Buffet has already started operating in this direction as I am sure Paulson was very happy to see him choose to invest $5bn in Goldman Sachs. What Paulson needs now is cooperation with all financial players. Even hedge funds.

In some way, Curriki is very similar to Educ.ar, the foundation I started in Argentina (to which I donated 11.2 million dollars) to help improve education in my country of origin. Curriki is a community of educators, learners and committed education experts who are working together to create quality materials that will benefit teachers and students around the world. It is an online environment created to support the development and free distribution of world-class educational materials to anyone who needs them.

Curriki, as FON, is based on an open source platform.

IRC has been working on the field for 75 years bringing sustained support to regions torn apart by violence and deprivation. Basically, they provide a fresh start for refugees.

I just heard Secretary Henry Paulson saying that it the US taxpayer could even make money on the $700 million bailout of financial institutions. I already wrote about this possibility in the Huffington Post. Ben Bernanke spoke right after Paulson and reiterated the same theory. The problem that the Chairman and Secretary face is that a collapsing financial system does not add to their credibility. But this time I think they are right. It is very confusing to talk about $700bn as it is was $700 about to be spent say in the same way funds are spent when US spends money in the war in Iraq. When US spends money in Iraq the money is lost, gone, and it does not even have a significant multiplier effect in the US economy. But in this case the opposite is true. The money is not spent, it is transformed from one type of asset, cash into another type of asset, mortgages bought at depressed prices. Paulson and Bernanke must find a way to say that they will use that money to buy mortgages at a very low price most of which, provided that the economy does not collapse, will be repaid. And indeed it is likely that the taxpayer could even make money on this. Or not lose anywhere near $700 billion. So far, the deals that Bernanke and Paulson have made vis a vis AIG for example, have been great for the US taxpayer. These guys are smart. We have to give them credit. The way this should be portrayed to the American people is that here´s a new fund manager, named Paulson, who used to run the most successful investment bank in America, Goldman Sachs, who is now raising money on behalf of the American people, so they can finally earned some money off their taxes. If Paulson or his successors get it right, US overall debt will actually be reduced.

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I just left the Clinton Global Initiative. It was an inspiring session, Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, talking about how they have helped Africans over the years exchanging notes on AIDS, Malaria, economic development, clean water, poverty alleviation. Explaining how all the billions that US private organizations are sending to the continent are helping Africans. But as I was walking out of the conference I see the following scene. A presidential motorcade, escorted by NYCPD cars stops at a Jewelry shop on 57th Street between Park and Madison. An African President who I could not identified walks in surrounded by bodyguards. I was curious and I wanted to enter as well but they closed the shop for him.

Now of course everyone is entitled to go and buy diamonds. Anyone with money at least. And maybe I am wrong and this African President is buying a diamond out of his lifetime savings from his reasonable presidential salary. But most likely, this president who is paradoxically being provided a police escort in NYC is another one of those corrupt politicians who steal from his people. So while he buys diamonds Western donors are supposed to fix the problems that he is creating.

In this video I share my views on the current financial crisis.