Free Republic

Wal-Mart Chairman Gives $1M To Obama Super PAC; Bundlers Moonlight As Super PAC Donors By Luke Rosiak October 20, 2012 The super PAC backing President Obama raised $15 million last month, including $1 million from Sam Walton, the chairman of Wal-Mart, a traditional Republican-leaning organization. Also contributing $1 million to Priorities USA was filmmaker Steven Spielberg, whose colleague Jeffrey Katzenberg is an Obama bundler and gave $1 million himself. Fred Eychaner, who has raised at least half a million dollars from acquaintances for the Obama campaign, gave $2 million personally to the super PAC.

Mexican telecom mogul who holds the title of world's richest man, and one of President Obama's top donors are both getting even richer from the U.S. government program that supplies so-called "Obamaphones" to the poor. Carlos Slim, who has an estimated net worth of $70 billion, owns a controlling stake in TracFone, which makes $10 per phone for each device it provides to poor Americans. The company, whose president and CEO is Frederick "F.J." Pollak, also makes money from extra minutes and data plans it sells to subscribers who get phones and service through the government's Lifeline program. The program,...

Like Father, like Son; Jonathan Soros, Son of Billionaire George Soros, Jonathan Soros is the money-bags behind “The Friends of Democracy super PAC.” Soros, Jr. is spending $2 million to $3 million to oust eight House Republicans...

If pirating didn't work out, Capt. Jack Sparrow would perhaps have made a savvy hedge fund manager. A New York hedge fund boss is being dubbed a real pirate of the Caribbean after seizing the flagship of the Argentinian navy in an attempt to settle some of the country's huge debt. Billionaire Paul Singer took control of the tall ship the A.R.A. Libertad with a court order in Ghana this week. The triple-mast frigate, which stopped in the African country as it trained naval cadets, is valued at $10 million and is the ceremonial flagship of the Argentine fleet. The...

Who is the most famous hunter in America? If you’re over 30, the first names that come to mind are probably Sarah Palin, Ted Nugent or Dick Cheney. If you’re under 30, the answer is easier. The most famous hunter in America is Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire founder of Facebook. In May 2011 Mr. Zuckerberg made a pledge to consume, for one year, only meat he had hunted or slaughtered himself. He got a hunting license and shot a bison. “My personal challenge,” he explained, is “being thankful for the food I have to eat.” If four new books are...

CNBC is reporting that Steve Wozniak, who founded Apple with Steve Jobs in 1976, is seeking to become an Australian citizen. Wozniak, who is currently in Australia promoting the launch of the new iPhone 5, spoke with Australian media and expressed his love for the country, and for the Australian government’s plans to launch its National Broadband Network (NBN). This lead many news outlets to incorrectly report that Wozniak’s motivations for emigrating were purely because of the NBN. Wozniak mentioned that he would keep his U.S. citizenship, but said, “I intend to call myself an Australian and feel Australian.” Unfortunately,...

George Soros Totally Bailed On Democrats This Election Walter HickeySeptember 25, 2012World Economic Forum, Flickr George Soros has been the primary political bogeyman for more extreme wings of the Republican party for some time now. The fascination first began in 2004 when Soros pledged $25.5 million to groups dedicated to removing then-President George W. Bush from office, including MoveOn.org, America Coming Together, and the Center for American Progress. Those efforts obviously failed, but they also cemented the billionaire hedge fund manager in the conservative psyche as the man bankrolling liberal causes. Rumors abound about his true motivations, and have spawned...

In late March 2008, on a local New York City show called “Inside City Hall,” the venerable African-American entrepreneur and politico, Percy Sutton, told host Dominic Carter how he was asked to help smooth Barack Obama’s admission into Harvard Law School 20 years earlier. The octogenarian Sutton calmly and lucidly explained that he had been “introduced to [Obama] by a friend.” The friend’s name was Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, and the introduction had taken place about 20 years prior. Sutton described al-Mansour as “the principal adviser to one of the world’s richest men.” The billionaire in question was Saudi prince Al-Waleed...

Billionaire industrialist David Koch, who is helping steer millions of dollars to elect Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans, on Thursday told Politico he disagrees with the GOP’s stance on gay marriage and believes the U.S. needs to consider raising taxes to balance the budget. Koch, who is serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from New York, spoke to Politico after delivering brief remarks at a reception held in his honor him by Americans for Prosperity, the political advocacy group he chairs and has helped fund. The 1980 vice presidential nominee for the socially liberal—but fiscally conservative—Libertarian Party,...

SYDNEY — The world's richest woman, Australian mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, urged those "jealous" of the wealthy to "spend less time drinking" in a piece the government described as "insulting" on Thursday. Rinehart, whose family iron ore prospecting fortune of Aus$29.2 billion (US$30.1 billion) also makes her Australia's wealthiest person, hit out at those who she said were envious of the rich. "There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she wrote in an industry magazine column. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself -- spend...

A Source Tells The New Yorker That George Soros 'Feels Hurt' By Obama Julia La Roche Aug. 20, 2012, 3:16 PM Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros, who is known for speaking publicly about the economy and making big donations to liberal causes, has been disappointed by Obama "both politically and personally", an unnamed Soros confidant told The New Yorker's Jane Mayer. Here's why... From the New Yorker: (emphasis ours) ...When Soros wanted to meet with Obama in Washington to discuss global economic problems, Obama’s staff failed to respond. Eventually, they arranged not a White House interview but, rather, a...

Hedge fund Soros Funds has filed his quarter 13-F report with the SEC. According to the report, Soros completely dumped his stakes in Citigroup (420,000 shares), JP Morgan (701,400 shares) and Goldman Sachs (120,000 shares), leaving him with no position in any major financials at all. He also got rid of minor stakes in Dell (3,100) and Intel (10,600). As for going long, Soros revealed a a position in Facebook, having bought 341,000 shares.

Billionaire George Soros is to marry again at age 82 after getting engaged to girlfriend Tamiko Bolton, Page Six can exclusively reveal. The legendary investor — the seventh-richest person in America, worth $22 billion according to Forbes — announced to close friends and family last night that he’s engaged to the 40-year-old businesswoman as he celebrated his 82nd birthday at his Hamptons home. A source told Page Six, “George planned a surprise announcement to his assembled friends and family at his birthday party last night. He told them he and Tamiko are engaged and plan to marry next summer in...

Billionaire Jeff Greene is a different kind of rich Democrat. The man who made his fortune hedging against the real estate market -- and since 2009 accumulating mortgage-backed securities -- still wants to represent the poor, improve their lot, convince his rich friends they should pay more taxes. But is his political ideology built on compassion? On a sense of social justice and social order? Not exactly, says Joel Endelman, "Jeff is definitely not about compassion."

It's unlikely that President Barack Obama will be naming any tax proposals after George B. Kaiser. An investment by the Tulsa billionaire's family foundation in Solyndra, whose bankruptcy may leave taxpayers on the hook for $535 million in federal loans, has raised speculation that the administration acted in part to aid a financial supporter. But the impact on taxpayers of Kaiser's career goes far beyond the $535 million loss. Kaiser has built his fortune in part through shrewdly playing the Internal Revenue Code. In one six year period, during which he increased his net worth enough to land him on...

If you’ve ever seen Jurassic Park, you probably remember the major take-away point: Don’t build a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs. But perhaps Clive Palmer didn’t quite get the memo. The billionaire is reportedly trying to clone a dinosaur so that he can set it free in his new Palmer Resort in Coolum, Australia.

Its biggest donation - $2 million - came from telecom billionaire Irwin Jacobs, who had not previously given to the Obama super PAC. And Priorities received $1 million each from Chicago media mogul Fred Eychaner, an Obama campaign bundler and prominent gay rights supporter who had previously donated $500,000, and star actor Morgan Freeman, a newcomer to big-political-check writing. It also received $750,000 from billionaire heir Jon Stryker, a big donor to gay rights causes, and $333,333 from billionaire media entrepreneur Haim Saban, who was among a handful of major Democratic donors who had been intensely courted for months to...

Brought out of the dark depths of the United Nations Millenium Development Goal (UNMDG), the call is out for a billionaire's tax. It's been on paper for years now, but few believe it. The United Nations on Thursday called for a tax on billionaires to help raise more than $400 billion a year for poor countries. An annual lump sum payment by the super-rich is one of a host of measures including a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, currency exchanges or financial transactions proposed in a UN report that accuses wealthy nations of breaking promises to step up aid for...

The United Nations on Thursday called for a tax on billionaires to help raise more than $400 billion a year for poor countries. An annual lump sum payment by the super-rich is one of a host of measures including a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, currency exchanges or financial transactions proposed in a UN report that accuses wealthy nations of breaking promises to step up aid for the less fortunate. The annual World Economic and Social Survey says it is critical to find new ways to help the world's poor as pledged cash fails to flow. The report estimates that...