Wednesday, July 27, 2011

George Soros on Closing Hedge Fund: Do As I Say, Not What I Do

Sad to say that billionaire philanthropist George Soros does not practice what he preaches when it comes to ideology

He recently wrote,

“I have made it a principle to pursue my self-interest in my business, subject to legal and ethical limitations, and to be guided by the public interest as a public intellectual and philanthropist,” he wrote. “If the two are in conflict, the public interest ought to prevail,” he said.

Mr. Soros has been an strong advocate of government regulation/intervention which he blames on (market fundamentalism) or capitalism. Of course today’s world has not been operating on a laissez fair capitalism but rather a crony-state-corporatist-patron-client capitalism.

From Conservapedia

In a Der Spiegel interview in 2008, Soros advocates European-style socialism for America, "is exactly what we need now. I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful -- but also very harmful to our society."

Soros's answer to America's problems involve more regulation and more government intervention in the marketplace. Soros pours billions of dollars into the following anti-USA causes

Well, ironically he recently announced the closure of his 4 decade long of hedge fund in protest of Dodd Frank bill, a regulation which he sees as not be beneficial for him.

From Bloomberg

Soros’s sons said they took the decision because new financial regulations would have made it necessary for the firm to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission by March 2012 if it continued to manage money for outsiders. Because the firm has overseen mostly family assets since 2000, when outside money accounted for about $4 billion, they decided it made more sense to run it as a family office, according to the letter.

The rule calls for hedge funds with more than $150 million in assets to report information about their investors and employees, the assets they manage, potential conflicts of interest and their activities outside of fund advising. Registered funds will also be subject to periodic inspections by the SEC.

“We have relied until now on other exemptions from registration which allowed outside shareholders whose interests aligned with those of the family investors to remain invested in Quantum,” the executives said in the letter, referring to its flagship Quantum Endowment Fund. “As those other exemptions are no longer available under the new regulations, Soros Fund Management will now complete the transition to a family office that it began eleven years ago.”

Mr. Soros’ stern reaction signifies a dose of his own medicine. So what happened to your so-called cardinal priority in the name of public interest, Mr. Soros?

As most socialists are, claims of upholding the interests of the collective are exposed as demagoguery, hypocrisy and a matter of convenience when actual cases are applied on them--yes only regulate those that do not apply to me!

After all, motherhood statements are almost always about projecting “feel good” or generating applause or ‘likes’ or portraying heroic self importance for social acceptability rather than reality.

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