At the end of the month, Meriwether put a call in to Vinny Mattone, an old friend from Bear Stearns. “Where are you?” Mattone asked brusquely. “We’re down by half,” Meriwether replied. “You’re finished,” Mattone said matter-of-factly. “What are you talking about?” Meriwether protested. “We still have two billion. We have half—we have Soros.” “When you’re down by half, people figure you can go down all the way,” Mattone said. “They’re going to push the market against you.”40
