Experts around the world are freaking out after the disastrous collapse of the hedge fund Spruce Alpha. They went kaput over the weekend, and the fund manager called all investors and broke the news. I’ve got to say, that takes some guts. If a hedge fund going down is anything like breaking up with a girl, I assumed the hedge fund managers would be the type to pull the fade. Just slowly stop texting, be more and more vague about making plans, and hope no one keys your car for being a non-confrontational wussy. Kudos to Spruce Alpha for manning up. That act of good guy-ness must have left a nice taste in my mouth, because I’m going to come to the defense of hedge funds. This latest demsie is causing people to question the industry as a whole. Hedge funds are being painted as riskier than a 20 year old ferris wheel after it was half heartedly maintenanced by a drunk carnie. And I don’t think that’s fair. You see, the last month was a rough one for hedge funds, but it was even worse for the stock market as a whole. Stocks like eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) have been dropping like stones. Yet, no one is calling for the end of equities, or worried that the capitalism as a whole is flawed. It seems to me that people like picking on hedge funds because they make easy targets. Sure some of them are evil and unstable, but that’s the case with every investing firm. I wouldn’t count them all out just because a few go bust. The market is always volatile, and at least hedge funds have smart people behind them. I mean, Carly Fiorina ran HP (NYSE: HPQ) and she’s only slightly smarter than my electric toothbrush. I’ll take a hedge fund manager over her, and many other CEOs, any day.