13 Comments

When I was young and ill-informed, I was sent to the other side of the world to fight a war profiteers war. Now I'm a radical ultra leftwing liberal. I was taught by my society that maximizing wealth was the message of God, of country, and it's leadership. That people didn't matter and were on their own. This is not a good country and it must change.

Expand full comment

we need a tipping point

and "Republicans"'re

just Itchin' to give

us One

.

or better said

another 50.

Expand full comment

If you examined all the corporate and "private equity" smash and grab operations with the government often on the hook for the costs you'd be shocked. The pandemic was a very ripe time for the predatory capitalists to rape, pillage and plunder the US economy, and Trump set the parameters for that while he was in office and Biden unwittingly continued the rapacious destruction with hospitals following the most profitable government protocols often leading to untimely deaths and poor treatment. Administrators got their marching orders from business managers who told them to follow very strict and torturous treatments in the interest of naked greed.

Here in suburban CT, I've seen many of the hedge fund people buy up properties, destroy perfectly good houses, cut down trees wantonly that were there before any of us were born, and build disgusting tacky houses, McMansions that would even make the tackiest artist Thomas Kinkade blush. Lower Fairfield County has been ruined by these people, nothing is good enough for them, they have pressured schools to build more artificial turf fields in spite of many environmental concerns about microplastics and pfas contamination recently set by the EPA at 4 parts per trillion.

There are no good hedge funds, they all engage in the criminal practice of insider trading, that Steven A. Cohen was known for and should have gone to jail for. They are morally reprobate people, the Founders would see them as Public Enemy #1. But they rely on lower level crime to act as a smoke screen for their rapacity. And when they are under scrutiny, rely on them to try to buy cover and influence by making "charitable" contributions. That was what Cohen did, while he was awaiting his fate, he spread his wealth in ways to buy mercy. He mapped out all the people who could convict them and donated heavily to their causes and found jobs for their family members. These people are the lowest dogs around, and utterly ruthless and contemptible. Jail is too good for them.

Expand full comment

“There are no good hedge funds...They are morally reprobate people”

I do not fully agree with this sentiment. Warren Mosler, originally from Manchester, CT, is a hedge fund manager, and he has been tremendously helpful in developing an economic model which can be used to support progressive goals such as full employment, single-provider healthcare, demilitarization, and a move away from fossil fuels. He developed his economic ideas independently while running his hedge fund, but then later he started working with economists such as Stephanie Kelton, who advised Bernie Sanders in his 2016 campaign, James Galbraith, Bill Mitchell, and Randy Wray. All of these economists are true progressives.

Mosler ran for a US Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 as an independent. I don’t agree with many of Mosler’s ideas which he campaigned on in 2010, but nonetheless, he is an economic pioneer and his research continues to help develop the economic model being used by progressives to push for the initiatives I listed earlier while also maintaining solid, full employment which, at the very least, is necessary to gain public support for progressive causes.

Sure, there are a number of odious hedge fund managers out there. I don’t need to name examples of them because they are numerous, but I can name at least one, Mosler, who has at least applied his knowledge in a way which is helpful to progressives.

Mosler’s book ‘Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy’ is a worthy and fairly easy read. It is also free on Mosler’s website: https://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf

Expand full comment

I'm sure there are ethical investment companies.

I was thinking of major ones. Even Ray Dalio and Bridgewater is suspect in spite of his positive PR.

Expand full comment

"Predatory capitalist" is redundant. That is like saying, "illegal criminal acts." The purpose of capitalism is to select, in advance, who will survive the critical scarcity events. This is a form of predation linked to survival of the species. The reason this fact is not generally recognized is that economists of all ilks fail to analyze the consequences of their economics during critical scarcity events, when resources become so scarce that survival of everyone becomes impossible. Capitalism is one way to determine the survivors, but, of course, there are many others, socialism, fascism, etc. But it should be noted that democracy is the weakest possible solution, due to the fact that, by definition, during such events equity across the society becomes impossible to achieve, leaving chaos the only mechanism to sort out the survivors. Capitalism is predatory, in order to enhance survival of the species at the worst possible times. And we are rapidly approaching one of those times. Love your work, Ralph. I voted for you every time.

Expand full comment

You have to love the phrase "fiduciary duty" that corporations are supposedly bound by as if they were assassins for hire who had no other concern except to get their contract finished. Nothing about morals, ethics, responsibility to the society, the respect of other professionals, and right and wrong. If corporations' primary responsibility is to profit, then the rest of society should have imperatives and determination to snuff out their corporate licenses and send the CEOs and other executives to jail after suing them into poverty!

Expand full comment

“the land of the thief and the home of the Slave” —Dubois, 1906

Expand full comment

Very informative. Thank you.

Expand full comment

I feel more enlightened about cooperate takeovers.

Expand full comment

Private Equity Pirates, Hedge Fund Whores, and 'Negative Externality Cost' LOOTERS

Expand full comment

I have a friend who works for a company in NYC that sells software to private equity firms, I sent him a link to this program, he works at "Cyndx".

A recent Linked in post by the company:

We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Cyndx, an AI-driven deal sourcing platform revolutionizing the deal-making landscape!

Cyndx’s flagship products are:

🌐 Finder: Cyndx Finder is an AI-powered deal search and discovery engine with over 25 million global companies and investors from 195 countries that provides a precise, actionable list of opportunities aligned with your investment strategy or banking mandate search.

🌐 Raiser: Cyndx Raiser is an AI-powered investor identification platform which creates a curated list of prospective investors from millions of transactions and investment relationships to identify potential investors or acquirers for your specific transaction.

🌐 Valer: Cyndx Valer is a company valuation tool that helps businesses understand the potential value of their company, faster and more accurately.

🌐 Owner: Cyndx Owner is an easy-to-use cap table management software that helps businesses better understand and manage their capital structure.

This collaboration ensures ongoing support for our dealmakers, providing the resources and guidance essential for success.

Contact our team to dive into this exciting development!

Expand full comment

Let's face it. Our govt is for sale and everybody knows it. There's only one issue really matters: 100% CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM. Without that nothing is going to change. We need publicly funded elections to get our govt back. Then people will want to do public service instead of becoming a power drunk millionaire.

I would like hear a podcast on that. I read that it would cost the tax payers about 4-6 billion a year to publicly fund elections.. That's a small price to get our govt back.

And another podcast on the flat tax to level the table once and for all.

Expand full comment