Hedge Funders Back to Hating Democrats as Usual
Remember the hope-filled days of 2008, when the titans of Wall Street came together to pour money into Barack Obama's presidential campaign, because they knew he was going to win? It was truly an inspirational example of the rich setting aside their historic partisan affiliations in order to further their own self-interest.
Well. We are absolutely shocked, shocked, that this marriage of convenience between plutocratic financiers and the Democratic Party did not last. The Wall Street Journal reports that hedge fund managers, offended by the way they've been treated around here, are taking their checkbooks and going home. (To the Republican Party.)
Why the hurt feelings? Mostly because of a Democratic proposal to tax hedge fund money like regular human income, rather than at an artificially low capital gains rate. Fuck the wars, fuck marriage equality, fuck the environment, fuck everything. America's hedge fund titans are writing massive checks in order to empower the Republican Party do whatever it wants, as long as they agree to protect the already sickeningly disproportionate share of wealth controlled by the very richest members of our society.
"I am sure, if we are really nice and stay quiet, everything will be alright and the president will become more centrist and that all his tough talk is just words," [financier and former Obama fundraiser Daniel] Loeb wrote in an email about four months ago expressing frustration with the president's posture toward Wall Street. "I mean, he really loves us and when he beats us, he doesn't mean it." The email, sent to eight friends, was widely circulated on Wall Street.
We can all go back to loathing those guys, as usual.
