Hedge funds, politics and market crash
Some investors benefited handsomely from this credit crisis. Hedge fund manager John Paulson personally has made billions of dollars over the last two years from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.
Who else may have benefited? George Soros for one. Soros is a legendary hedge fund manager who has become a political powerbroker of unrivaled influence within the Democratic Party. It’s reported that Soros invited Paulson for lunch. Soros has refused to answer questions from the Wall Street Journal about his now infamous lunch with Paulson. This is somewhat surprising silence from a man well known for his loquaciousness. And his relative, Peter Soros, directly invested with Paulson.
George Soros was a very early and influential backer of Barack Obama. He is a very prescient investor. Hedge funds have been a big source of the problems besetting the market. Heavily leveraged, they have had to sell vast quantities of securities to meet margin calls as well as fund withdrawals from investors.
Democratic Senators of New York have been in the forefront of protecting hedge funds. Senator Schumer was among the Senate Democrats who recently led the fight against taxing hedge funds at a higher rate. The Democrats are far from alone, however. The effort to rein in hedge funds was led by Republican Senator Charles Grassley.
Hedge funds are a major source of donations for Democrats. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Schumer heads, received $779,100 from employees of private-equity head funds in June 2007, far exceeding the $60,000 received by the Republican Senate Committee.
Senator Chris Dodd is a "beloved advocate of many of the hedge funds housed in his state" and has benefited mightily from donations from these hedge fund managers. He is the head of the Senate's powerful Banking Committee that helps draft legislation regulating hedge funds.
It seems that Obama was just lucky that a market slide seems to have decisively swung the campaign in his favor. That Obama was again lucky that the meltdown occurred just as John McCain was overtaking him in the polls. And that Obama simply lucked out that one of his most influential supporters, one of the world's most adept fund managers (as the Bank of England learned the hard way) also benefited from the meltdown in the markets.
Who else may have benefited? George Soros for one. Soros is a legendary hedge fund manager who has become a political powerbroker of unrivaled influence within the Democratic Party. It’s reported that Soros invited Paulson for lunch. Soros has refused to answer questions from the Wall Street Journal about his now infamous lunch with Paulson. This is somewhat surprising silence from a man well known for his loquaciousness. And his relative, Peter Soros, directly invested with Paulson.
George Soros was a very early and influential backer of Barack Obama. He is a very prescient investor. Hedge funds have been a big source of the problems besetting the market. Heavily leveraged, they have had to sell vast quantities of securities to meet margin calls as well as fund withdrawals from investors.
Democratic Senators of New York have been in the forefront of protecting hedge funds. Senator Schumer was among the Senate Democrats who recently led the fight against taxing hedge funds at a higher rate. The Democrats are far from alone, however. The effort to rein in hedge funds was led by Republican Senator Charles Grassley.
Hedge funds are a major source of donations for Democrats. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Schumer heads, received $779,100 from employees of private-equity head funds in June 2007, far exceeding the $60,000 received by the Republican Senate Committee.
Senator Chris Dodd is a "beloved advocate of many of the hedge funds housed in his state" and has benefited mightily from donations from these hedge fund managers. He is the head of the Senate's powerful Banking Committee that helps draft legislation regulating hedge funds.
It seems that Obama was just lucky that a market slide seems to have decisively swung the campaign in his favor. That Obama was again lucky that the meltdown occurred just as John McCain was overtaking him in the polls. And that Obama simply lucked out that one of his most influential supporters, one of the world's most adept fund managers (as the Bank of England learned the hard way) also benefited from the meltdown in the markets.
Labels: crisis, hedge fund
posted by Jiu Zhuang at
9:10 PM
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