THE CAPITALIST THREAT - by George Soros (1997)

Atlantic Monthly ^ | February 1997 | George Soros

[Dan from Michigan]

Know our enemy.

[finnman69]

Soros forgets Nazism and Socialism are and were just as anti-capitalist as Communism.

[Pikamax]

good fit for the Demos

[nuffsenuff]

Exactly what I was thinking...

I'm waiting for the perfect time to spring this one on a lib... Whenever they say "I'm not a socialist, I like capitalism", I'll ask them if they didn't have a problem taking Soros' money.

[Taliesan]

An open society is not merely the absence of government intervention and oppression.

His key and unexamined assumption.

[nuffsenuff]

The guy makes money from anarchy... It's no wonder he would makes these kinds of statements.

Anyone who thinks this guy acts on "morals" is completely insane.

[HarleyD]

"I contend that an open society may also be threatened from the opposite direction -- from excessive individualism.

This from a billionaire who's throwing millions to the RATS to further his goals. Does anyone else sense some hypocrisy?

[GOP_1900AD]

He claims to have helped collapsed Communism in the East Bloc. Without going into a whole lot of detail there is a model which asserts that the collapse was faked, in order to put the West to sleep. Now, here we've got Soros, associated with said fake collapse. And now he's railing against Capitalism and working actively to get rid of Bush, if not via coup, then via electoral manipulation. What is going on here?

[tkathy]

Sounds like more bass-ackwards blame the victim liberal screwed up thinking.

[swarthyguy]

What is going on here?

My 2 cents. Soros and the Dem party are now gunning to make the US a wholly dependent subsidiary of the UN. They want to ensure that the US's hands are so tied in the future that it will be incapacitated. Remember Gulliver tied down by a million threads by the little people.

The Democrat Party, utterly bankrupt in the field of foreign policy and realistic thinking has given up the ghost and wants to make US dance to the UN ONLY.

Watch for subterranean warfare carried out by the financial forces of Soros to weaken the US and Bush in preparation for the election next year.

The bright spot on the horizon? A civil war in Saudi which forces Bush to grasp the nettle and do what's necessary, rallying the American people to his cause and re-election at the same time.

[monkeywrench]

Matt 12:29 "Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house."

[Paul Ross]

The bright spot on the horizon? A civil war in Saudi which forces Bush to grasp the nettle and do what's necessary, rallying the American people to his cause and re-election at the same time.

Perhaps. But even as we speak, South America is going Communist...and GWB is failing to 'grasp the nettle and do what's necessary' there. Too many components of his own inner circle are compromised...James Baker III, Jack Kemp, and of course, Colin Powell. Even Dick Cheney for Pete's sake.

What a predicament.

[Poohbah]

Soros makes his money by engaging in speculative currency trades. His "dog in the fight" is less about the UN and more about preserving international banking secrecy, which is being threatened by the war on terrorism.

In short, he wants to be able to trash other country's economies at his own whim, even if it means allowing al-Qaeda to kill a few thousand or more people at one time. After all, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Currency speculators are, by their nature, shady characters without especially firm codes of ethics. They frequently have to procure information not generally available to the public; said information is often found in the hands of goobermint employees or elected officials. (Can you say "bribery," boys and girls?" I knew you could!) They frequently come across other shady persons engaged in nefarious actions. They usually do not report this stuff to the authorities, because it will engender all manner of awkward questioning re: how they happened to learn about the nefarious actions.

[swarthyguy]

>>>>he wants to be able to trash other country's economies at his own whim, even if it means allowing al-Qaeda to kill a few thousand or more people at one time.

Interesting in light of the following piece from FT.

A new UN report, obtained by the Financial Times, reveals that despite "considerable progress" in combating terrorist financing, al-Qaeda related businesses and charities continue to operate across the globe.

It highlights the activities of Youssef Nada and Idris Nasreddin, directors of al-Taqwa, a financial group the US believes was the most important fund-raising operation for al-Qaeda.

The report says the two men continue to maintain commercial interests and property in Italy and Switzerland, despite their designation as terrorist financiers. It says Mr Nada travelled to Liechtenstein in January and tried to re-register two al-Taqwa related companies under new names. By doing so he violated a UN-sanctioned travel ban.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1066565876294&p=1012571727088

[.cnI redruM]

THis guy makes his money first. Then he turns around and b------ about business.

[hchutch]

I'd use variations of manipulation, myself to describe what Soros is up to... speculation is, IMO, legitimate to a degree. It implies that one SPECULATES on what might happen.

Soros is more interested in a "sure thing" on that front - ergo, I consider him to be into currency MANIPULATION.

[Poohbah]

Excellent clarification.

However, "speculation" is a necessary term of art--actively admitting that you're trying to manipulate national currencies is a great way to, for example, be declared an "Enemy of the Realm" by Her Majesty's Government (which he richly earned after crashing the pound in 1991).

[TexasRepublic]

...laissez-faire ideology has effectively banished income or wealth redistribution. I can agree that all attempts at redistribution interfere with the efficiency of the market, but it does not follow that no attempt should be made.

Then the hypocrit ought to redistribute HIS wealth. I volunteer to relieve Soros of his filty lucre.

[hchutch]

The clarification is essential, IMHO.

If I buy stock, I am betting the company is going to perform well, and thus increase the stock price. The only active involvement a speculator has is to buy the stock.

If I were to do with stocks what Soros does to currency, I'd sell short, and then I'd have a bunch of my buddies talk down the company just before it's time for me to buy back the stock I sold short.

The latter would get me some VERY long discussions with people from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and it could mean time in substandard federally subsidized housing facility.

[Poohbah]

Exactly.

How Soros has lived as long as he has--74 years--is a mystery to me. If I'd been John Major in 1991, I would've invited M to lunch at my club and made a discreet inquiry about whether or not Commander Bond, RNVR, was available for assignment.