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Obama says hedge fund managers are ‘society's lottery winners'
Yahoo Finance ^ | Wed, May 13, 2015 | Angela Greiling Keane

Posted on 05/13/2015 5:02:28 AM PDT by expat_panama

The U.S. won’t put a dent into poverty and income inequity unless Democrats and Republicans can agree to raise taxes on top earners like hedge-fund and private equity managers, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

Obama, whose longstanding proposal to raise taxes on what is known as carried interest has gained little traction in Congress, said fairness demands that the nation’s wealthiest pitch in as more and more Americans are falling behind.

“If I were able to close that loophole, I’d be able to invest in early childhood education,” Obama said at a poverty summit at Georgetown University in Washington. “If we can’t ask from society’s lottery winners to make that modest investment, then really this conversation is for show.”

Obama’s off-the-cuff remarks came during a discussion in which he said the U.S. has a chance to confront poverty as politicians from both parties, including 2016 presidential candidates, are converging on issues of income inequality and opportunity. He offered no new remedies.

More from Bloomberg.com: ACLU Seeks Probe of Alleged Bias Against Women in Hollywood

The president has often said the wealthiest Americans must make sacrifices to better life for poorer people. In addition to urging higher taxes for investment managers on Tuesday, he questioned whether the pay of some corporate chief executives is justified.

Social Constraints

“A previous CEO of a company might have made 50 times the average wage of a worker,” Obama said. “They might now make 1,000 times or 2,000 times, and that’s accepted practice inside the corporate boardroom. That’s not because they’re bad people. That’s because they’ve been freed from a certain set of social constraints.”...

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; financial; stockmarket; wallstreet
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To: expat_panama

Just like your daughter Bill?


21 posted on 05/13/2015 5:26:21 AM PDT by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
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To: expat_panama

Actually it appears that if you really want to go for the big money you need to go college, work hard and study and perfect the rules for setting up and running a charitable foundation. You can become billionaire.

It takes time but along the way you might get to $100 to $200 million in 10 years or so. You can live on that while you’re building your real fortune.


22 posted on 05/13/2015 5:26:45 AM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: expat_panama

In related news, federal tax revenues are already at a record high!


23 posted on 05/13/2015 5:27:01 AM PDT by lacrew
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To: expat_panama

Class warfare.

and I actually agree with him about the carried interest tax rules, especially for hedge funds where the reasons for having them don’t exist,

but with Obama it’s always got to be about how undeserving rich people should willingly give their money to deserving poor people, and I just don’t think he understands that it’s a lot of work to make it to the top of the heap in the hedge fund world, unlike winning a lottery, which is no work at all.


24 posted on 05/13/2015 5:27:56 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: expat_panama
Interesting choice of words by Dear (teleprompter) Reader!

Lottery is defined as a process or thing whose success or outcome is governed by chance. While there are wealthy people who got that way by being born into the right family, most have accumulated their wealth by working hard & making the correct life/business decisions along the way.

Obama's comments are just another of his many Marxist examples of promoting class warfare.

25 posted on 05/13/2015 5:28:27 AM PDT by mellow velo
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To: Gaffer; MrB; Liz; JudyinCanada; 2banana
What bugs me is that while "hedge fund" has become the latest buzzword for the evil rich, it doesn't seem to matter that hardly anyone know just what a 'hedge fund' is.

hedge fund

noun
noun: hedge fund; plural noun: hedge funds
  1. a limited partnership of investors that uses high risk methods, such as investing with borrowed money, in hopes of realizing large capital gains.

That means it doesn't hedge (reduce risk) and it's not a fund (because it's closed to new investors.  imho if free people want to pour their money into 'em, they don't hurt anyone, then we've no need for leftist class hatred.   The good being done is that fund customers who insist on squandering their wealth on questionable investments will be stopped when they go broke anyway.

26 posted on 05/13/2015 5:31:01 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: expat_panama
Does that mean that "hedge fund manager" is kinda like "cattle futures trader"?

[or "cankles futures trader", as the case may be]

27 posted on 05/13/2015 5:34:07 AM PDT by C210N (When people fear government there is tyranny; when government fears people there is liberty)
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To: expat_panama

Kill the economy, AND pick its pockets! Good plan.:)


28 posted on 05/13/2015 5:34:37 AM PDT by SMARTY ("When you blame others, you give up your power to change." Robert Anthony)
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To: expat_panama

Welcome to Socialism 101, students. Your first assignment is to use the following in one sentence:

1. loophole
2. invest
3. childhood
4. education
5. society’s lottery winners


29 posted on 05/13/2015 5:36:16 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: expat_panama

This Marxists shows once again he knows nothing about economics and everything about hate. Hedge funds are the insurance policies of the marketplace.

Pray America is waking


30 posted on 05/13/2015 5:40:03 AM PDT by bray (Cruz to the WH)
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To: lacrew

...yeah, but Evil Republican budget cuts have destroyed education, the military, the climate, the middle class, law enforcement, kiddies lunches, blah, blah, blah...


31 posted on 05/13/2015 5:44:47 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: expat_panama
10% usage tax on the race card, we'd be running a budget surplus in no time.
32 posted on 05/13/2015 5:46:44 AM PDT by fungoking (Tis a pleasure to live in the Ozarks)
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To: expat_panama; All

Thanks for the ping. The latest indicators…

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-13/us-retail-sales-miss-again-weakest-nov-2009-autos-food-gas-electronics-all-decline


33 posted on 05/13/2015 5:56:37 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: expat_panama

They are not “winners” they are “earners”.

No one is handing out millions of dollars to earners ...unless those earners are providing someone else with millions or billions of value.

It is that simple. Obama only understands the dependent class who are given money with nothing expected in return (except a vote).

He doesn’t understand that those who earn (especially if they earn big) have to deliver. They have to have a special knowledge, negotiating ability, ambition, smarts or all of the above for someone else to allow them to earn millions.

Unlike the government, corporate America isn’t handing out shareholder money on the street corner for nothing. It has to be earned.

Class envy is destroying this country. People used to want to be rich; now they just want the rich people’s money. Thanks to Obama and Democrats.

Fundamentally, the liberals understand that as long as they can keep 47% of Americans from paying federal taxes and give them cash on top of that (Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, etc.), and they can get those folks to the polls, it is very hard to lose and election. Mitt wasn’t wrong.


34 posted on 05/13/2015 5:58:41 AM PDT by dan on the right
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To: expat_panama

It is none of his business how much they make. NOT THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT.

Obama thinks one of the Ten Commandments is THOU SHALT STEAL FROM ONE AND GIVE TO ANOTHER.

Income is called EARNINGS for a reason.


35 posted on 05/13/2015 6:03:24 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: C210N
Does that mean that "hedge fund manager" is kinda like "cattle futures trader"?

A cattle futures trader who has never been to Texas, never seen a cow, wouldn't recognize a Herford, and thinks Jersey is a state.... :)

36 posted on 05/13/2015 6:11:17 AM PDT by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: expat_panama

I don’t recognize your right to define fairness, dear leader.


37 posted on 05/13/2015 7:12:35 AM PDT by RWB Patriot ("My ability is a value that must be earned and I don't recognize anyone's need as a claim on me.")
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To: expat_panama
Interesting commentary, nothing we don't know, but it crystallizes an important fact:

http://www.businessinsider.com/hsbcs-stephen-king-on-the-world-economy-2015-5

38 posted on 05/13/2015 7:37:21 AM PDT by Chgogal (Obama "hung the SEALs out to dry, basically exposed them like a set of dog balls..." CMH)
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To: Chgogal
tx!!  One quote raised my eyebrow: "Wage growth will hurt corporate earnings and reduce the share of corporate profit".  My thinking being market forces allow wage to grow only if labor is in short supply.  Considering we've still got about 17 million not employed or not in the labor force, that's a huge amount of room to grow.
39 posted on 05/13/2015 7:59:16 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: expat_panama

As I understand it, these are incredibly stressful positions, to the point where it consumes their lives. There are few people who are made to handle that type of stress and excel. The rewards seem appropriate for the risk.


40 posted on 05/13/2015 8:45:33 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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