TAB
Posted on 11/13/2008 1:52:43 PM PST by flattorney
Abstract: Five of the world's richest hedge fund managers, including George Soros, the man who the broke the Bank of England, have been called to account by US politicians for their role in the collapse of the global financial system. The quintet – including John Paulson, who made $3.7bn (£2.49bn) last year betting against the US mortgage market – were grilled over their roles in buying unregulated derivatives products, which some politicians believe contributed to the financial markets' meltdown. The men, who each earned more than $1bn each last year, were called to account by Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman, who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform.
Mr Soros, best known for his $1bn bet against sterling in 1992 which forced Britain to leave the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, argued for measured regulation of hedge funds, predicting 50pc-75pc of the industry will disappear in the coming months in any case as a result of the financial crisis. Mr Soros stopped short of placing total blame for the crisis on hedge funds, but he admitted that the funds had been an integral part of the financial market bubble which had now burst. He added: "A deep recession is now inevitable and the possibility of a depression cannot be ruled out." However, he Mr Soros said blame for the crisis should also be borne by US financial regulators and the Federal Reserve for allowing the bubble to occur and called for regulation of financial engineering to be a high priority.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Why isn’t this all over the US papers? Why do we have to read UK papers to find this out?
I didn’t know this. Does it mean they were trying to hide it?
And the people of the democrats, nor soros, will never know the truth that they, themselves, are as much or more to blame for this mess than any Republican they are pointing their finger at.
We need the advice from a criminal like soros like fish needs a democrat to feed it.
Part of the conspiracy to get Barak elected?
bump to myself.
Ahh, Soros may yet find out that feeding the shark means he will eventually be eaten. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. That’s the kind of guy Stalinists love to have shot.
As SNL stated, George Soros is the owner of the Democrat Party.
Other than making some bucks, I wonder if there could be another motive?
Gee, what motive gould an Obama-worshipper possibly have for crashing the markets?......hmmmmmm.
Odd, he didn't tell us to thank him like he did to the Asian countries at the peak of the 1997 Asian Crisis. After all, he is bringing us unadulterated socialism. It will save us!!
Where are the prosecutors?And the investigators?
Democrats at work to tap bailout for automakers
(maybe republicans can learn from pain)
yahoo | November 13,2008
KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer
[or maybe his name’s Ken Thomas, and he writes for AP, I’m not sure]
Posted on 11/13/2008 11:03:49 AM PST by sickoflibs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131591/posts
More Sessions Needed
The American Spectator | 11.13.08 | Quin Hillyer
Posted on 11/13/2008 8:22:03 AM PST by vietvet67
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131485/posts
HRC Under Consideration for Secretary of State
NBC Nightly News | November 13, 2008 | Andrea Mitchell
Posted on 11/13/2008 3:43:18 PM PST by John W
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131688/posts
Fired Boxer aide faces child porn charges
AP via SFGate | 11/13/8
Posted on 11/13/2008 9:28:12 AM PST by SmithL
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131531/posts
GOP to file suit to undo McCain[-Feingold] rules
The Washington Times | 11/13/08 | Ralph Hallow
Posted on 11/13/2008 5:10:54 AM PST by HastertFan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131373/posts
Young retains US House seat in Alaska
AP
Posted on 11/13/2008 12:50:46 AM PST by Chet 99
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131326/posts
alan greenspan contributed to the housing balloon by low interest rates.
barney frank and chris dodd et al created the subprime housing mess. countrywide provided cheap loans to u.s. congressional members in return for favors.
now it appears, people like george soros were instrumental in the timing.
just as john mccain sustained a lead over barak obama, this happened.
“The Democrats will probably give Soros a gold medal.”
We taxpayers should all get a bail out package. Abolish the federal income tax.
News from the UK...
I had a feeling that Soros had his grimy paws in there somewhere!!!!!
He should be brought to testify to Congress...
...in manacles.
PS: His son is pushing for early voting in all states, hint, hint.
I wish they’d put this SOB in an orange suit and put him away for 50 years. I think he’s responsible for much of our crisis in America. Grrr.
Yeah; a coincidence? Hmmm, doubtful.
It was on SNL....even their u-tube....until they had to take it off due to complaints from ????
not, "the fix is in"...
It was on C-Span all day. CNBC and Fox Business News covered it in most of their nightly shows.
It was interesting - Soros was there as well as 4 or 5 other hedge fund managers. It was basically a love fest. I think the Senators were awed by the power represented by these guys....some asked penetrating questions - but I doubt if any earth-shattering legislation will come of it.
At least he didn't heap praise on Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Chuck U. Schumer.
Thanks for the ping!
unless you refer to the speculators, 'cause producers were just along for the ride. The money to produce the oil had long been invested when the market went up. The crash didn't come from the oil industry, but the financial one.
Oil prices came down because demand went down (credit crunch, less usage, refineries shut down due to hurricane, and the decrease in financial speculators in the oil market (scrambling because of the housing bubble deflating), brought down the bid price for crude oil.
It is a symptom, not a cause of the problem.
It was the housing sector which brought the house of cards down, and Chuckie Schumer must have won the coin toss, 'caus he got to kick off the whole mess by announcing the meltdown.
Extraction in order. No anaethesia.
And extract all their teeth, with no dentures forthcoming.
They can gum their way to perdition.
Traducing a free market economy was the agenda.
We are now on the road to Socialism, where profit is not the main goal of financial institution.
Now social activism replaces the profit motive?
The markets will stay down with "no confidence " until the entire boondoggle is addressed, from affirmative action mortgage lending to the fraudulent use of computer models in order to evade the law of criminal intent in the sale of derivative paper mortgage portfolio insurance.
May they all rot in hell.
All my money is off shore and will stay there.
And there are millions like me.
You are exactly right. To put a face on it, it was Soros but even the Repubs won't bring it up. Sad thing is, they lost because they have no balls.
Bump Dat...
Actually, his bet against British Pound was equivalent of $10B combined with several other funds, so $1B represents only 10% return on investment, which is far less impressive than raw number of $1B usually sounds, but it did happen in a relatively short period of time.
Good recent article from Cato Institute highlights the unholy alliances of politicians, power and the wealthy:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9744
You Lose, Soros Wins
by Richard W. Rahn
(Richard W. Rahn is a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth.)
This article appeared in The Washington Times on October 24, 2008.
Have you ever wondered why billionaires like George Soros financially support politicians who say they will “increase taxes on the rich”?
The answer quite simply is that the tax increases are most often put on people trying to become rich, not those already rich. Hence, the rich, big government advocates can gain far more by “buying” the politicians. The “bought” politicians then provide them with confidential information about administrative decisions, which these donors then use to place big bets in the market, making themselves much richer. If you have deep financial pockets and inside information, you can make huge amounts of money when markets drop.
Mr. Soros, the Democrats’ financial angel, is often referred to as the “man who broke the bank of England” in the 1992 Sterling crisis. During that episode, he made $1 billion in one day at the expense of British taxpayers. The relevant question is, did Mr. Soros bet a couple of billion dollars on mere guesses of what the German, French and British officials would do, or did he have inside information?
A member of the British Parliament, who was a close adviser to the British chancellor at the time, told me he believes “Soros was acting on insider information obtained from the French central bank and the German Bundesbank.” The insider information was that they would not support the British pound, despite a pre-existing arrangement to do so. Others familiar with the situation have made similar charges.
Given that Mr. Soros is no fool, the British believe it is highly doubtful he would have made such a colossal bet without knowing with great certainty that the Germans would not reduce their interest rate.
Mr. Soros has a reputation for trading on confidential information obtained from political sources. For instance, he was convicted by a French court of having insider knowledge about a takeover attempt of a major French bank. His conviction was upheld in 2006, and he had to pay a multimillion-dollar fine.
The hypocrisy of George Soros is often noted. He is a man who voices many left-wing and even socialist ideas and has been a major critic of the United States for years. Yet, his actions in his own financial interest, using highly questionable tactics and insider information, have made him billions. His modus operandi is to do political favors for left-wing politicians and then use them for his own advantage.
For example, he gained influence with left-wing forces in the United Nations and with anti-U.S. groups by paying for a $10 million townhouse for Mark Malloch-Brown (now a lord and a U.K. Foreign Office minister) to use as the latter’s home. Baron Malloch-Brown was former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s deputy and spent much time voicing Mr. Soros’ anti-American statements. Capital Research Center has done extensive reporting on the activities of George Soros.
Mr. Soros is often referred to as the man who owns the Democratic Party because of his huge contributions to party committees and individual politicians. It is known that many of his Wall Street friends have been major donors to key Democratic committee chairmen and members in the House and Senate.
As recently as this past spring, House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat, and Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee chairman Chris Dodd, Connecticut Democrat, were claiming both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (for which they had oversight responsibility) were fiscally sound and needed no additional regulation. At the same time, many independent financial experts were sounding the alarm about these two government-sponsored behemoths.
It would be in the public interest to know which members of the Democratic leadership, members of Congress, and their financial contributors were selling shares of (or shorting) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year, and of other financial institutions overseen by the congressional Democrats. (Note: In the private sector, if someone with insider knowledge - as Mr. Frank and Mr. Dodd had access to - makes misrepresentations about the health of a company, that person is subject to criminal penalties.) The press should demand full disclosure before Election Day, given the hundreds of billions of dollars the misrepresentations by Messrs. Frank, Dodd, etc. are costing taxpayers.
Note that the Bush administration’s ill-thought-out “bailout” scheme was both greatly altered and then endorsed by the congressional Democrats, in part, it appears, because it will give even more opportunities for profit-making by Democratic financial supporters. The forced, partial (and probably unconstitutional) nationalization of the big banks by the seemingly unprincipled Bush Treasury will provide many opportunities for self-dealing politicians and their financial supporters when it comes time to sell the government stakes.
Those who bet against the foolish policies and actions of governments provide a public service by exposing the stupidity, provided they are not using inside information given them from politicians and other government officials. But when people like George Soros and other big financial backers of politicians use confidential inside information or their ability to manipulate the political class for their own ends, it hurts everyone else. The larger the government and the more discretion government officials have regarding issues that can damage or benefit private parties, the more opportunities there will be for abuse and corruption.
If Barack Obama wins with big Democrat majorities in the House and Senate, you know from their statements that they will increase capital gains and business taxes. But they have already said, there “will be exceptions,” - which will be worth billions of dollars to those with prior knowledge of what the exceptions will be. Who do you think will have that prior knowledge?
I’d rather he face a firing squad
Our presstitutes here are worse than Pravda!
Oooo, a Democrat Congress grills the largest source of Democrat funding on Earth in the wake of a Democrat win manufactured by manipulation of the banking system by Democrats. This is gonna be brutal... /s
Even though I’m a financial director, taking many companies through bankruptcy, and beyond, I think I this post has found a critical reason that this current investment market has tanked.
Soros’ and the others in front of Henry ‘Pigface’ Waxman talk fancy about hedges, derivatives, swaps, and all the other BS (BTW, none of the House panel A-Holes have any idea what these billionaires are talking about),
But it also seems to me that the US tax code is a big contributor to the recent market meltdown.
The Market is very weak, and a normal investor is allowed to only take $3,000 in capital losses annually against income!
What better way than to cash in your past market gains
than to sell your current losses to try to get an income
wash in the first 12 months of 2008. Market peaked in Oct 2007, sell now and get a tax wash for 2008. None of this $3,000 per year deferred loss BS. Take the hit now, and get a full short term loss, save taxes bigtime! No loss carryovers, take the tube, and fluff it off the the government! 35% tax Bracket?, dump now, not when your losses are limited.
Big tax strategy, and as that puts big pressure on the sell side, the sellers outnumber the buyers, and remaining market value tanks.
Add:
The Zerobama factors of unknown future income; dividends;gains taxes/poor economy/carbon credit taxes/international wars/union vote representation/ alternative energy/supreme court appointments/radical cabinet membership/packing district court vacancies/questionability to deal with the fully in-effective UN mandates/ North Korea/ Iran / Cuba / Columbia/ Palistine/ Syriah /Venesuela/ and all the death and destruction in Africa:
And you arrive at the malestrom of where we are today.
Eventually it will sort itself out, once ineligible families rent rather than own, and can produce the 4 inches of paper documentation that we all did to get a loan; once the union car builders look at themselves in the mirror; once the fiancial community realizes that it can’t package a cow flop of mortgage instruments into a fancy package and sell it around the world;
and, most importantly, once we get these liberal A-Holes out of the government, at all levels!
Rant Completed!
aShepard!
The shorting activity - very similar to that of style which made George Soros and his Quantum Fund famous - along with market rumors of lack of liquidity and sufficient funds, have started earlier this year with an attack on Bear Stearns, and then proceeded to spread in similar fashion to other more leveraged financial institutions (Lehman et al).
Until the end of summer Fed and Treasury were putting out fires one by one (backed BoA’s buyout of Countrywide, JPM’s takeover of Bear, later BOA’s buyout of Merrill Lynch, tried to sell Lehman etc.)
Chuck Schumer in June poured the gasoline on the fire by creating market and consumer panic by “failing” IndyMac, which could have been quietly sold out with help of Fed or even facilitated sale by FDIC, like many smaller banks since.
Oil price was kept artificially very high throughout the same period due to refusal of Democratic Congress to even consider reasonable energy policy, and instead the insistence on “carbon reducing” inefficient and expensive alternative “solutions” and punitive industry taxes etc. etc. These actions could not help but weaken the economy already strained with real estate deflation, and snowball banking losses on mortgage-related securities and derivatives.
In a war of attrition Democrats in Congress didn’t care about their approval rating as long as they (with full-on media assault) could blame George Bush and, consequently, Republicans for the economy and financial / real-estate mess, for which they themselves have been responsible.
While MBS / CDOs and other toxic papers were the primary and natural reasons for banking failures, somehow the timeline and acceleration of dominoes falling, culminating with virtual financial shutdown and credit crunch spreading fast into business and consumer areas in September, with Lehman bankruptcy and AIG’s final CDS blowup, seems eerily orchestrated.
/OK, supply of tinfoil is on order.
The timing of the panic was no accident. DUH1 had been annointed by the DBM, and all the pieces were in place. With no reasonable chance for the real story about who deserved the blame getting past the choirbox or various Conservative sites, which unfortunately became echo chambers unable to get the message out to anyone who was not willing to listen, marginalized by the orgy of Obamaworship around the dial on the MSM, cell phones, and the dark side of the internet (darkness referring to evil, not the color of the candidate).
That McCain had co-sponsored a bill which might have provided enough oversight to slow or head off the meltdown and that that bill had been killed by some of the selfsame Democrats in committee who got loans at sweetheart rates from Countrywide all went unreported, though the Countrywide scandal (if you can call it that) was reported with the intensity of officially changing the color of the toilet paper in the Rayburn Building.The primary problem, even worse than the fact that pre-Palin the Conservative message was homeopathic in its dilution, was the lack of ability to reach mom-and-pop America watching the DBM for the snooze, weather, and spurts every night between the commercials and human interest stories that pass for relevant news.
Unless and until the ability to spread the word to the unbelievers out there improves significantly, the Conservative agendae, Conservatives, and increasingly, the Republican Pary (which has been morphing away from the aforementioned as hard as the voters will accept--or not) will all be doomed to be minority positions in all but retrospect.
Little consolation for the awakened voter who will rue with "I could have had a tax cut!", today, and in incredibly amnesiac fashion vote for the same pack of idiots running the show in 4 years.
At the bottom of the financisl markets, ultimately, is faith. Faith in a bull market creates a bull market, faith in a crash, and the market does. Schumer intentionally rocked that faith, with predictable results, which had a predictable influence on the election. Shorting only bolstered that impression. After all McCain had been repeatedly equated an the third coming of 'W', and it was all "Bush's Fault".
Just a side show.
I have to wonder if the $700 + billion was not a calculated part of the hedge?
It made no sense on the face of it, and I figured it had to be a setup. Then when Obama curiously and suddenly took a low profile I knew it was a setup. It was the Democrats' "October surprise", launched a little early and no doubt set up by George Soros. I have yet to hear anybody call it what it was.
Of course, McCain played right into the scheme by "suspending" his campaign and racing back to Washington on his white horse to take charge and fix everything and.... Well, who knows what he thought he could do. It doesn't matter, because he ultimately contributed nothing to the process and only made himself look impotent.
All the while, Obama kept his distance as he quietly sat and watched and chuckled. McCain ended up accomplishing nothing and getting almost no TV face time and after a day or two he bailed out (no pun) of Washington and made his way back to the debate he wasn't supposed to make... You know - - the debate Obama wouldn't agree to postpone? And Congress did what it did without any help from McCain.
Ball game.
Mr Soros, best known for his $1bn bet against sterling in 1992 which forced Britain to leave the European Exchange Rate Mechanism . . . .
"He brought it all down, man!"
George Soros: the Rat Party's (formerly the traditional, patriotic Democratic Party) hero!
The Rat Party's leaders and stalwarts are 1960s New Left and anarchist street rabble and their ideological issue.
moron.org, mediasmatters, dailycuss -- they are all dependent upon Soros.
Among "they" are Red China and Muslim (Islamist?) countries.
Wasn't the original purpose of the $700+++ billion to start giving their money back? And now that's changed, I believe. The $700+++ billion is now diverted to heavy contributors to political parties.
Gee, I'd hate to be the ones who sold the "toxic" paper to maniacal Muslims and Communists.
“Regulation of financial engineering....” Yes, George, you know something about that - along with engineering in a subversive mode to bring defeat to America in its fight against Islamic terrorism.
There needs be an examination of how HIS finances/investments fared during the melt-down.
Thank you FARS.
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