Bipolar Nation: Cutting Room Floor

The September issue of Portfolio is making its way to newsstands. Inside -- and on Portfolio.com -- you'll find my essay about the tech crowd vs. the hedge fund crowd.

Of course, with any such piece, much of the research ends up on the cutting room floor. For instance, there was this brief e-mail exchange with Sun Chairman Scott McNealy:

A couple questions might help: Do you deal much with the hedge fund guys? Not at all.

What are those interactions like?
I have golfed with some of them. They play too much golf.

It seems like they're from a different planet than the VCs and entrepreneurs out there. Any other grand thoughts?
I spend my time with customers. Much more fruitful for all.

And a couple of leftover comments from Tom Peters, famed business author and consultant:

I figure, in U.S. and Europe, the hedgies are mostly buying yesterday's economy. Of course the share prices-multiples are by and large lower. Helping yesterday have it's last gasp, if you will. Last gasps always -- by definition -- are about wringing the last pennies from said lords of the past. As to hedgies in general, the returns have attracted mediocrities, just as in the VC world a few years ago. I like the good ones, am no fan of the so-called asset strippers -- but c'est la vie.

As a raging, blathering enemy of big mergers, I also applaud that the hedgies are mostly cleaning up unwieldy company asset portfolios.

(Photographer; Robert Caplin/Bloomberg News/Landov)