Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiThese Democrats Do Billionaires' Bidding
One of the less appetizing sights in politics today is Democrats defending laws that tax high-finance buccaneers at lower rates than the police who guard their Aston Martins. While many Democrats are trying to close these loopholes, some are trying not to. It's about raising money, of course.
Moneybag Democrats justify their stance by arguing that private-equity and hedge-fund billionaires do the public a great service and that taxing them like everyone else would reduce their incentives to get out of bed in the morning. Many Republicans say much the same thing - but they believe it.
Let's start with Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat from Wall Street, I mean, New York. He's not enthusiastic about a bill in the Senate Finance Committee that would subject publicly traded private-equity partnerships to a corporate-income-tax rate of 35 percent - rather than the ludicrously low 15-percent deal for capital gains.
This is an awkward development for Schumer, who leads fund-raising for Senate Democrats. He collected $385,400 from private-equity managers in the 2005-2006 election cycle.
For a long time, the private-equity folk amassed their outlandish fortunes in relative obscurity. The general public didn't know what they did or how little they were being taxed. Politicians trolling for contributions, meanwhile, could do the billionaires' bidding in peace.
Then the CEO of Blackstone Group, a huge private-equity firm, dragged the racket into the spotlight by inviting the media to chronicle his mind-boggling wealth. Stephen Schwarzman's extravaganza of self-display culminated in a birthday party for himself in which Rod Stewart and Patti LaBelle sang - and President Bush offered a video greeting.
The day that Blackstone sold its stock to the public, Schwarzman's personal worth swelled to $9 billion. That propelled him past Apple founder Steve Jobs on the list of richest Americans.
One need not be a Bolshevik to ask: Why is Schwarzman paying taxes at lower rates than the people who pick up his garbage?
Nonetheless, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd has called for a bill-slowing investigation into how the Senate proposal might hurt markets. Odd, but investment bankers and corporate CEOs have long endured having their millions taxed like ordinary income. They're not going hungry, and the world still swims in capital.
Dodd has reasons for this perverse concern, one of which is his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. To fuel that quest, Dodd has collected $347,300 in contributions from hedge-fund managers, many of whom congregate in Greenwich, Conn. Hedge funds are huge, virtually unregulated pools of capital. They perform exotic investment techniques that your mutual fund isn't allowed to do.
Dodd's popularity with hedge funds has more to do with his position as Senate Banking Committee chairman than his prospects for becoming president, which are rather small. With leading House Democrats wanting to raise taxes on some hedge-fund managers as well as their private-equity brethren, these moguls are definitely in the market for friends in Washington.
In the first quarter of this year, hedge-fund executives and their spouses have given over $1 million to presidential candidates, with 75 percent of it going to Democrats. They just threw a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton, who has been mighty quiet about the proposed legislation to raise their taxes. John Edwards worked last year for Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund whose executives have given freely to his campaign.
If big-money Democrats stop others in their party (and some Republicans) from forcing the super wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, what exactly do they stand for? Never mind "soaking the rich." How about bringing their taxes up to middle-class levels? That Democrats would even debate this is bad for digestion.
Froma Harrop is a member of The Journal's editorial board and a syndicated columnist.
© 2007 The Providence Journal
19 Comments so far
Show AllThe League of Conservation Voters can also help us decide which candidate we will vote for. But we'd better get together on this.
These on the take Dems are not elected by thousands from corrupt corps...but Repubs are elected and free economics are subverted by billions from 'Big Corrupt Corporations'. Let's vote out all the greedy pols and keep the better ones to serve the people...universal health care..social security for old and disabled..food for poor people..education for everyone.
OK, so now most of us are finally aware that neither party is NOT on the payroll of the billionaire boys club. If you must vote Democrrat Kucinich and Gravel are your only real choices. Even Obama has some corporate ties in Chicago. Otherwise I would recommend voting Democrat for the Senate and Congress and for Republican candidate Ron Paul. He is the ONLY Republican not on the payroll who believes in evolution and reason.Check him out, I think he is my candidate in 2008.
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
I fear that if we get another one party government we'll have some really big problems that can no longer be overcome through grassroots change. If we have another one party government BEFORE money is once and for all removed from our current elections for sale system, only violent change will be possible and that will likely take another 50 plus years to happen.
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
Public financing of all campaigns could/would render toothless the lobbyists who now rely on money (a form of coercion) instead of intelligent reasoning and persuasion to try to influence legislation.
Members of Congress could free themselves from the grueling task of fund-raising and concentrate on honestly presenting their positions on issues without worrying which lobbying group(s) they might offend.
We know we can't vote for Democrats. But I think we'd better do the impossible and settle on a candidate. I like the Greens and would like to see Nader, Gravel, Gore or Kucinich run as one. Failing that, maybe one or two of them will run as an Independent. Many of us, myself included, will not vote for any Dem pres. candidates except for the above mentioned.
July 4 2007 in a move that shacked the world and froze financial markets everywhere the American people decided to finally and with prejudice bring an end to the greed, corruption, death, and crony ism of so many years.
The people in their multitudes brought justice to the government offices and board rooms across the country.
And for once there was actually something to celebrate.
"Moneybag Democrats justify their stance by arguing that private-equity and hedge-fund billionaires do the public a great service and that taxing them like everyone else would reduce their incentives to get out of bed in the morning. Many Republicans say much the same thing - but they believe it."
What a crock-of-shit! Hedge-fund billionaires became billionaires risking your money - not their own! If you could make $$$billions putting someone else's money at risk, wouldn't you get out of bed in the morning???? That's a no-brainer!
kathyodat,
Thank you - yes, I meant that the Democratic Party as a whole is beholden to the same corporate masters as the Reps.
I like Dennis, Brown. Of all the Dems, I like him far and above the rest. I would vote for him if he were to jettison the party and run as an independent or a Green. If he is as smart and squeaky clean as he seems, he should realize that he's clinging to a sinking (stinking) ship.
Russ: "Systems don't run too well on poison, and eventually they just become corroded and must be replaced.'
Very true. Unless of course ,the system itself is the very fountainhead of poison. Which by all accounts it is.
Brown, I'm guessing that iammyself meant that the Democratic Party as a whole is marching toward fascism and even if some individuals are swimming in the other direction, by supporting the party itself, they are contributing toward that direction. Am I being presumptuous, iammyself? My oldest son said no matter what any Democrat's personal philosophy is, he will never support any Democrat. As far as he is concerned, the party is dead meat. And it's behavior has not been exemplary toward the Nader campaign trying to get on state ballots or even progressives trying to run in the primaries. He does have a point.
iammyself---
I'm sorry you through the Kucinich name in your list! He has NOTHING to do with corporate money NOR WILL HE! Also, when he's elected Prez, he will start chopping down that problem from day one in office. Please read and learn:
http://www.kucinich.us
When THINGS become more important then people, the road to perdition is the only one we are on. The dillusion of human thinking and behavior is astonishing. For what we hoard around us in a lifetime is so temporary, so fleeting - while what we give from our hearts, in the form of kindness, charity, generosity, wisdom passed on, unconditional love, is permanent, stamped on the Akashic record for eternity.
THAT is real power, THAT is why we are born; to help and love on another.
History reveals that if fairness, and wealth disparity are not a mandate, then countries and civilizations are replaced. We are witnessing the last days of excess. With one eye on the clock and the other on the thermometer, you can easily anticipate what's next. Soon, there'll be a bounty on politicians, clergymen, and Ann Coulter (in roughly that order).
Actually the well endowed are in for some terrifying days ahead, as they have more to lose. From their bunkered positions, they'll throw worthless script at anyone who has clean water, ice, bullets and anticiptec. Hypocrits like Schoomer, Dodd and Clinton got it comin'. BTW: Good article!
$9 billion dollars is a lot of money, especially for not producing anything tangible, there is something wrong with our society where the highest paid are those that merely move money around. Imagine these people 'earn' more by doing nothing in one day than most people do over their entire lifetime, it's an appalling state of affairs we need to evolve socially, nothing has changed from the days of the tsars.
A truly capital way would be to share the wealth equitably with its producers this Capital holiday and henceforth.
Greed is poisonous. Greed now runs through all the veins and arteries in the "system" as well as in the actual veins and arteries of those whose little playground is the system.
Systems don't run too well on poison, and eventually they just become corroded and must be replaced.
Corporatism is one leg that fascism rests upon. That Democrats are equally on the take from corporate donors, and thus, control, implicates them EQUALLY with Republicans in marching this country to becoming a fascist state.
Those who pine for Gore or Clinton or Kucinich or any other Democrat are not paying attention to the greater problem - that of the absolute power of corporatism and its fascist inclination.
From Wikipedia: "Various scholars attribute different characteristics to fascism, but the following elements are usually seen as its integral parts: nationalism, authoritarianism, militarism, corporatism, collectivism, totalitarianism, anti-communism, racism and opposition to economic and political liberalism."
"Fascism is on the march today in America. Millionaires are marching to the tune. It will come in this country unless a strong defense is set up by all liberal and progressive forces... A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government, and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy. Aboard ship a prominent executive of one of America's largest financial corporations told me point blank that if the progressive trend of the Roosevelt administration continued, he would be ready to take definite action to bring fascism to America."
former U.S. ambassador to Germany William Dodd in 1938
Shummer, Dodd, Edwards, and Clinton deserve to be hounded about their support from and advocacy for the billionaire club members. Let's see if it happens.
David Sirota says it all: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/03/942/ and http://www.alternet.org/story/45066/
There are two real political parties, the People Party and the Money Party. Nearly all Republicans are with the Money Party and while all Democrats claim to be of the People Party, way too many are closet Money Party members. What we really need is a way to out them.
I love the idea to require our elected officials to wear their contributors logos the way NASCAR drivers do. This is the next best thing: http://www.opensecrets.org/