Hedge Fund Managers Invest in Congress
by PubliusFrom Politico:
John Paulson, one of the world’s richest hedge fund managers, has not been shy about spreading his wealth to Senate campaign coffers — or to the chairman of the committee that could directly affect his bottom line.
Paulson held a ritzy $1,000-per-head fundraiser for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd last year — and then maxed out his donation with $4,800 more for the Connecticut Democrat’s now-aborted reelection run.
Paulson is hardly alone.
According to a review of Federal Election Commission records, the nation’s 10 richest hedge fund managers have dumped nearly $1 million into campaign accounts over the past several years — with much of it going to senators who’ve given them a friendly reception on Capitol Hill.
And despite all the tough talk about a crackdown on Wall Street, consumer advocates and critics from other financial sectors say hedge funds would get off pretty easily under the regulatory reform bill Dodd’s committee approved last month — a charge Dodd’s aides reject.
Many hedge funds enjoyed an enormously profitable year in 2009, in part because of good bets that federal dollars would be used to rescue “too-big-to-fail” financial institutions. And the Top 25 earners made more than $25 billion last year, according to a recently released survey by Absolute Return + Alpha magazine.
Those Top 25 feature some familiar names in Capitol Hill’s fundraising quarters, including liberal investor George Soros, who earned $3.3 billion last year and has dropped $42,000 of his cash into Democratic campaigns in the past few years.
Read the whole thing here. As we reported, John Paulson invested $15 million in the Center for Responsible Lending, its largest single “gift” ever. An executive of that organization is now at the Treasury Department, helping to design the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. My, that’s handy for Paulson.
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28 Comments
Wait, I thought the Republican party was the party of rich white dudes…at least, that's what hard-core Dems want you to believe…
Decades of immorality and moral relativism is manifesting itself in government, as well as Wall Street, actually in every pore of American life.
Here is a great resource for down sizing the Federal Government.
http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/
God Bless America
The Dems are totally clueless about who is getting what.
And you people keep calling the Democrats "socialists" as if saying it ad nauseum makes it true. They are CORPORATISTS and they are no different than their Republican establishment counterparts. Every bill of consequence that comes out of Congress, Democrat or Republican, is written by and for corporate campaign contributors–including the health care "reform." Our government is bought and paid for.
But partisan hacks that infest mainstream media (including Fox News) and sites like this shout the loudest, so superficial partisan rhetoric drowns out voices of reason that point to both parties that make up the Corporatist Establishment. Get off the partisan bandwagon, stop buying into the circus sideshow, stop swallowing the mind-numbing spin that is purposely fed to the masses. Between every election cycle we are manipulated to despise the party in power and to believe that putting the other party back in power will fix things. As long as this continues we will never break from the grip of the establishment.
John's with the most money always attract the biggest whores. Everyone goes away happy.
how much does a senator go for these days?
Couldn't agree more.
No they're not. They know exactly who is getting what.
They just publicly blast whoever they choose to be the current scapegoat for the issue and then line their pockets with the bills they write. They won't bitch if they know they're going to win in the end.
An example would be the Insurance and Pharma companies who donate heavily to dems. Dems called them the devil and then wrote a bill that would benefit them greatly. The companies already knew that, so they were fine with playing the scapegoat.
The Dems aren't dumb, they just have a very compliant media on their side who never calls them on any of this.
You're repeating of Ron Paul's tag line not only sounds ridiculously stupid, it is stupid, and simply not true.
God, you Ron Paul people hear him say one thing and I've seen it in every thread over and over since he said it. Of course Obama is a Corporatist (Yes, Paul is right). It is the easiest route to where he wants to go and keeps the money in his and the dems pockets. There are also plenty of Corporatist republicans. It doesn't change the fact that he is also a Marxist. You can be both.
You just can't be a free market capitalist and a marxist. Corporatism is fine with that, at least in the short term.
Your closed mindedness makes you just as bad as the blind bandwagoners you rail against.
Unfortunately we will have to "pick a side" soon. Get the actual socialists out of power first and then worry about your third party. Better yet, get involved in local politics and see if your small group of conservatives that are also anti-military and anti-republican can gain some momentum, rather than tell every conservative that doesn't agree with you that they're idiots.
Catherine Austin Fitts, formerly of Dillon Read (an early co-conspirator to this criminal enterprise), is an ultimate insider.
Is she for real? One would only hope so. Elizabeth Warren seems to be for real. Jim Rickards seems to be for real. At some point we have to rely on people. We must have credible people to fill the void if we are lucky enough to shake out enough of the criminals in Congress.
Fitts, Warren and Rickards are voices to be heard. And get Don Smaltz back on the job.
If John Paulson wants to continue to rape and torture the middle class and the fabric of a nation then go to India or wherever. Or did Lynn Forester beat him to it? Probably they are in bed together.
Here's the deal…
The left manipulats Media, corporations, Unions, Wall Street, Minorities and unemployed in ways to promote more money into the Dems coffer and in ways to gain power over us. Dems use all the dirty tricks in the book, but protest and blame others if they are so much as threatened. Dems think EVERYONE should think as they do. Obey the left, but don't do what they do, is their motto.
The right believes people have the right to believe whatever they want so long as it doesn't have a neg impact on them. The right believes in doing the right thing so it doesn't lower itself to such trickery as the left. Because the right is less aggressive, the left gains the upper hand at times, but in the long run the right will prevail. You are free to do what you want is the right's motto.
Yeah, I know you have a different take on it, but this is how it comes across to me.
Well said Lolo.
You have pinpointed the root cause of the cancer infesting our current government.
I don't agree with everything Ron Paul espouses, such as the idea that private property can solve environmental pollution. So don't try to construct a straw man here. Just because Ron Paul points out the obvious (Obama the corporatist) and the not so obvious (the detrimental effects of our militaristic behaviors), and I agree with those points, does not make my perspective less valid.
You call Obama a Marxist but you have not provided any reasoning for that. I looked up various definitions of Marxism and really don't see how it applies to Obama. Just saying it doesn't make it true, and I certainly don't accept the shallow ravings of authors on this site. You are correct that corporatism is OK with whatever form of government is present, regardless of what party runs it. But it seems to me that the very existence of corporatism and its deep entrenchment here makes a Marxist system out of the question.
I suggest you dispense with accusations such as "close mindedness" or that I am "anti-military." Ad homs and straw men don't win debates.
In your posts you have lumped people here into certain groups just as I did without full understanding of their beliefs, so don't get too defensive. I apologize for the generalizations.
Sorry if I lumped you in with the other 18 people posting how Obama is officially just a Corporatist and not a Socialist because Paul says so and it's so obvious. Unless Obama is lying to his far left base to appease them, he simply hasn't been able to pass the portions of his agenda yet that are farthest to the left. I don't believe that he's lying to them.
The day after health care passed he went to Iowa and at a town hall stated that he was sorry that the bill was not what they wanted but it was the first step towards universal health care and they will eventually get there (after spending months saying that was not what he was after to the media).
He would have the entire country unionized and have card check in place.
He would have as many people on the welfare rosters as possible and though he has obviously not said that, his actions back it up.
He stated last week regarding businesses and their decisions regarding health care and hiring, "now is not the time for worrying about profits. Profits can come later" or something very close.
As far as the govt. owning industry it works out great for both corporatism and socialism for the short term at least. Not only can he regulate everything and redistribute wealth, he can pick who wins as far as businesses.
The argument is not that he's trying to turn the U.S. into a socialist state overnight, because he knows he can't do that. He's just making the largest leaps possible while he can, even if the leaps aren't so large (yet).
I do think that someone who simply states Obama is not a socialist, just a corporatist is closed minded, sorry.
"…including liberal investor George Soros, who earned $3.3 billion last year and has dropped $42,000 of his cash into Democratic campaigns in the past few years."
Soros, the Marxist Hedge Fund Owner, earned over $1 BILLION off this country's economic troubles this past year – many of which I believe he created. Did you or your family suffer any from his greed?
He crashed the Bank of England some years ago and profited greatly from doing it. He financially backs the "greenie" movement, while being a major shareholder in a South American Oil Company.
Now, just ask yourself, why would old Georgie Soros want to keep the US from drilling the oil on our own property? Could it be that if the "greenies" succeed, and we are forced to import more oil, Georgie Soros will make out like the evil bandit he is?
This man needs to be wearing a striped suit in a penitentiary.
We shouldn't fault the hedge funds too much. They haven't stolen our money like the Big Banks. Besides, even though hedge funds did not do anything wrong, they were set to be severely regulated. Connecticut, by the way is the Wall Street for hedge funds. So they saw the writing on the wall, and decided to pamper the corrupt Democrats to catch themselves a break. You guys think they could easily donate to the GOP and not face repercussions?
MSMediacritic,
Not as expensive as they should be. (they should be priceless).
Ron Paul is right. Congress feels like money grows on trees and is ready to spend. Wimpy managers (and those who have to compete against them) try to get subsidies, regulations that harm competitors or add customers, and tax breaks.
We would be best off with Paul as President. Is that likely to happen? Probably not. But, it is still true.
All the more reason to vote them ALL out.
Maybe I can ask JPA-name me whos the republican version of Soros, Bing, Geffen or Ellison? I fail to see one. All the billionaires contribute to leftist candidates.
MS-lets see-Barf Stuypid went for 750K. Ben Nelson and Mary Landrown went for more. Chris the Dodderer needed only Countrywide mortgage "favorable terms". Aunt Esther Watters needs banks or oil company takeovers.
Charlie the RangHo needs only favorable media coverage, he generates his own corruption. Dianne Findslime needs Pentagon contracts for hubby. Lots of different ways to be a crook, especially if a commie demorat.
[...] to the person who sent it to me. From Big Government two days ago: John Paulson, one of the world’s richest hedge fund managers, has not been shy about [...]
Great information,I have Digged this site to my list for future and will keep a eye on your other posts.
[...] $105,000 to the DSCC, $20,700 to Baucus and $19,400 to Durbin. More recently, Paulson is reported to have held a $1000-per-head fundraiser for Democratic Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris [...]
[...] $105,000 to the DSCC, $20,700 to Baucus and $19,400 to Durbin. More recently, Paulson is reported to have held a $1000-per-head fundraiser for Democratic Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris [...]
[...] $105,000 to the DSCC, $20,700 to Baucus and $19,400 to Durbin. More recently, Paulson is reported to have held a $1000-per-head fundraiser for Democratic Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris [...]
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