Soros has amassed his wealth by contributing greatly to international financial instability. His Quantum Fund is the largest hedge fund - which specializes in highly leveraged,* high-risk, short-term speculation - making money based on nothing productive at all, but by gambling on whether prices will rise or fall.. When an investor bets that a price will rise, and it falls, he must protect himself by selling, thus accelerating the price drop and market volatility. If everyone rushes to sell at the same time, there can be catastrophic losses. For the speculator, volatility is a source of profit. For the average person, it means money is being used unproductively instead of for things people need - housing, business loans, etc.
In 1992, Soros sold $10 billion worth of British pounds in a bet against PM Major's efforts to maintain the pound's value, forcing the devaluation of the pound and contributing to preventing the EU from establishing fixed exchange rates, which eliminate the volatility on which investors such as Soros depend. He gained about $1 billion on the deal.
Historically, the 'robber barons' are remembered for their philanthropy and good works, like Andrew Carnegie, who made his fortune on the backs of labor, breaking unions, fights in which some worker were killed, but he is remembered for his generous contributions to libraries. It's good these men finally make some repayments, but what would the world be like if they hadn't used the means they did to amass their fortunes???
During the Clinton administration Soros investment firms contributed significantly to the rape of currencies arount the world, resulting the a wildly strengthened US Dollar and also resulting in untold misery around the world.
* leveraging - use of a small investment, credit, or borrowed funds to gain a very high return in relation to the investment, or to control a much larger investment, or to reduce one's liability for loss. |
