Icon of the Left: George Soros

[California Girl]

I don't think they're smart enough to qualify as 'intellectually lazy', I think it's the borg mentality.

Riiiight.......because Modo and CG are the only ones who think.....

....are you two actually believeing that?...

Facts are just facts. Belief has little to do with that.

But hypocrites like you and every leftwinger on the board about this are amusing.

On the board? Is that not a tad harsh? Certainly those in this thread though.

 

[California Girl]

Over 200 posts, and not one addresses the facts about Soros' willful destruction of entire countries for money. Not one. Shame on the left. Shame on them!

 

[L.K.Eder]

The OP is really just bashing a person, not the condition that allowed this person to become obscenely rich. Not at call for regulating the currency futures market. Not a call for regulation at all.

Was Soros ruthless? Sure. So was just about every rich mofo out there. They exploited the fact there were no laws or regulations prohibiting the sort of behavior they engaged in.

So as such..this is nothing more then an intellectually bankrupt troll thread from an intellectually bankrupt troll.

 

[Ravi]

The OP is really just bashing a person, not the condition that allowed this person to become obscenely rich. Not at call for regulating the currency futures market. Not a call for regulation at all.

Was Soros ruthless? Sure. So was just about every rich mofo out there. They exploited the fact there were no laws or regulations prohibiting the sort of behavior they engaged in.

So as such..this is nothing more then an intellectually bankrupt troll thread from an intellectually bankrupt troll.

Yep. Including the strawman title.

This thread is almost as funny as when Queasy and CG marched around admiring that nutty nazi war reenactor.

Almost.

 

[Si modo]

Riiiight.......because Modo and CG are the only ones who think.....

....are you two actually believeing that?...

Facts are just facts. Belief has little to do with that.

But hypocrites like you and every leftwinger on the board about this are amusing.

On the board? Is that not a tad harsh? Certainly those in this thread though.

About this? I have never seen anyone on the left criticize Soros for anything.

I recently saw one reluctantly admit he was one of the 'elite'.

But, yup. On the board. Of course, that would be silly for me to assume ALL lefties are on their knees in front of Soros, but as I said earlier, I would love to be proven wrong.

One would think enough on the left hate me that they would search feverishly to find a post.

 

[Dot Com]

The OP is really just bashing a person, not the condition that allowed this person to become obscenely rich. Not at call for regulating the currency futures market. Not a call for regulation at all.

Was Soros ruthless? Sure. So was just about every rich mofo out there. They exploited the fact there were no laws or regulations prohibiting the sort of behavior they engaged in.

So as such..this is nothing more then an intellectually bankrupt troll thread from an intellectually bankrupt troll.

Fox news must've had their DAILY expose' on Soros again ZZZzzz. Whats w/ conservatives and bogeymen anyway? Why are cons like caligirl & si modo obsessed w/ him? Must be that con media drum- beat.

 

[toxicmedia]

Of course you don't. Those people whose lives were ruined... they weren't your family or your friends. Hell, they weren't even Americans.

This is why people like you make me cringe. You pay lip service to your fellow man. But you don't care... not really. No morals.

That's a little dramatic.....the reality is that I have little snippets of time to respond between phone calls here at the medical insurance company....I take calls from people who allege medicare fraud......

I may have time later to examine your righty claims, and respond appropriatlly....righty stuff like that takes some time to unwind.......but if you'd rather think I'm afraid, and hypocritical....and if that helps you justify channeling your Fox News inspired anger towards me....go ahead....I'm flexible!...and I don't rattle.

Besides....the whole turning my back on horrific atrocities in the name of liberalism or partisanship is way more exciting than the truth.

It appears that you are incapable of dealing with anyone with the capacity to study, evaluate, analyze and apply critical thinking. I don't watch fucking Fox News. I live in England - I watch real news. Moron.

So, why should I not accuse you of being a partisan moron when you insist on labeling me a 'Fox News' viewer. Fucking moron.

Wait a minute........in England....they spell analyze......"analyse".................you aren't from England are you?

 

[California Girl]

That's a little dramatic.....the reality is that I have little snippets of time to respond between phone calls here at the medical insurance company....I take calls from people who allege medicare fraud......

I may have time later to examine your righty claims, and respond appropriatlly....righty stuff like that takes some time to unwind.......but if you'd rather think I'm afraid, and hypocritical....and if that helps you justify channeling your Fox News inspired anger towards me....go ahead....I'm flexible!...and I don't rattle.

Besides....the whole turning my back on horrific atrocities in the name of liberalism or partisanship is way more exciting than the truth.

It appears that you are incapable of dealing with anyone with the capacity to study, evaluate, analyze and apply critical thinking. I don't watch fucking Fox News. I live in England - I watch real news. Moron.

So, why should I not accuse you of being a partisan moron when you insist on labeling me a 'Fox News' viewer. Fucking moron.

Wait a minute........in England....they spell analyze......"analyse".................you aren't from England are you?

No, I have one of those little booklet things they call 'passports'. These allow me to travel the world and learn things about other countries. Revolutionary, I know but I am a revolutionary girl.

I'm aware of how the Brits spell. I can do either US or UK English. US is my natural language, hence I use US spelling. This is of no relevance to you. I am an American.

 

[California Girl]

The OP is really just bashing a person, not the condition that allowed this person to become obscenely rich. Not at call for regulating the currency futures market. Not a call for regulation at all.

Was Soros ruthless? Sure. So was just about every rich mofo out there. They exploited the fact there were no laws or regulations prohibiting the sort of behavior they engaged in.

So as such..this is nothing more then an intellectually bankrupt troll thread from an intellectually bankrupt troll.

Fox news must've had their DAILY expose' on Soros again ZZZzzz. Whats w/ conservatives and bogeymen anyway? Why are cons like caligirl & si modo obsessed w/ him? Must be that con media drum- beat.

Yea, that must be it.

Fucking moron.

And yet, still the left do not address the actual topic. How fascinating.

 

[Valerie]

One of my main issues with the Democrats these days is their acceptance, or even adoration, of George Soros.


What party in their right mind would accept support from someone who said:

“The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.”—George Soros


Now, other than the above, there are a plethora of real solid reasons why I despise Soros, and that's without having to resort to his behavior as a 14 year old in Nazi Occupied Hungary.


Let's just put into the mix that Soros himself said (in an interview with Joshua Muravchik that appeared in the Wall St Journal) that he “carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me in trouble.” I don't know about you.... but I have some serious issues with someone who has admitted "messianic fantasies"!

So, how did this multi-billionaire and self proclaimed philanthropist make his money? Wall Street. ( )


Yep, he was one of those evil hedge funders, and currency speculators. As a currency speculator, back in 1992, he became known in England as the 'man who broke the Bank of England'.



So what? Big deal, right? He shorted the British pound by leveraging billions of pounds of financial bets.


But.... he didn't just 'break' the Bank of England. He broke the British economy, and with it, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of ordinary hard working Britons, who lost their homes, their jobs, their pensions and their life savings.


Why? Because he could. Because making money was more important than ordinary, hard working people - albeit they were not Americans.

In 1994, he did likewise in Russia.


In fact, in one article, Soros referred to the former Soviet Empire as the 'new Soros Empire'.


The "Russia-Gate Scandal" of 1999 was called one of the "greatest social robberies of all time" (by Rep. Jim Leach who, at the time was the head of the House Banking Committee).


But... on the bright side, it was Russia, not America.

1997.... well, that was the turn of both Thailand and Malaysia.... where, again for profit, Soros almost destroyed both nations' economies.


The then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, called Soros “a villain, and a moron.”


In Thailand, he was called "a kind of Dracula. He sucks the blood from the people." by activist Weng Tojirakarn.


In both countries, ordinary hardworking people lost their life savings, pensions and futures.... for what?


Because Soros wanted yet more money.



And, of course, no Americans got hurt.

Other countries that have paid the price of Soros' adventures are the former Yugoslavia, Georgia and Myanmar (Burma).



Again, no Americans were hurt in the making of this obscene profit.



He stands convicted (despite his best efforts to placate the situation) by the French of felony insider trading. A $2.9m fine from the French for that one. YAY France!

He also stands convicted in his nominal 'home' country of Hungary for illegal market manipulation. $2.2m fine for that one.


What did he do to be punished with that fine? As the Hungarian economy transitioned into a solid democracy, Soros deliberately destabilized their banking system, destroying their economy, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of ordinary, hard working Hungarians.



No Americans though.... Seeing a pattern here?

Why would the left wing trust someone who has done so much damage to so many people around the world? Do they think he won't do it here?


He's already on record as saying “America, as the centre of the globalised financial markets, was sucking up the savings of the world. This is now over. The game is out,” And saying that the time has come for a “a very serious adjustment” in our culture.


Oh, and here's another really interesting remark by Mr Soros.... from The Australian magazine .... according to Soros, the world financial crisis was”stimulating” and “in a way, the culmination of my life’s work.”





How the hell do the left justify their support for this man?

Wanna scream about 'sources'?

Soros: Republic Enemy #1

George Soros loses appeal over SocGen insider trading conviction - Telegraph

July 24, 1997
The Singapore dollar starts a gradual decline.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accuses "rogue speculators" for Southeast Asia's economic upheaval. He later singles out billionaire financier George Soros.

Timeline Of The Crash | The Crash | FRONTLINE | PBS

Soros: Crisis Is Culmination Of Life




This is your darling, my liberal buddies,



you think the Koch boys are bad?



Yea, they are not the most ethical people walking the planet....


but they are fucking amateurs compared to your own boy,



Soros.

Sounds more like the left has been his darling...

GEORGE SOROS has been a prominent international supporter of democratic ideals and causes for more than 30 years. His philanthropic organization, the Open Society Foundations, supports democracy and human rights in over 70 countries. Born in Budapest in 1930, George Soros is Chairman of Soros Fund Management, LLC. As one of history’s most successful financiers, his views on investing and economic issues are widely followed. This site is the official resource for information about George Soros.

George Soros

 

[Sallow]

The OP is really just bashing a person, not the condition that allowed this person to become obscenely rich. Not at call for regulating the currency futures market. Not a call for regulation at all.

Was Soros ruthless? Sure. So was just about every rich mofo out there. They exploited the fact there were no laws or regulations prohibiting the sort of behavior they engaged in.

So as such..this is nothing more then an intellectually bankrupt troll thread from an intellectually bankrupt troll.

Fox news must've had their DAILY expose' on Soros again ZZZzzz. Whats w/ conservatives and bogeymen anyway? Why are cons like caligirl & si modo obsessed w/ him? Must be that con media drum- beat.

I was just in Europe. Watched the BBC and other news agencies daily. The only one that even mentioned Soros was when I got to the Westminster Hotel in Nice..and that was a FOX channel.

 

[California Girl]

The OP is really just bashing a person, not the condition that allowed this person to become obscenely rich. Not at call for regulating the currency futures market. Not a call for regulation at all.

Was Soros ruthless? Sure. So was just about every rich mofo out there. They exploited the fact there were no laws or regulations prohibiting the sort of behavior they engaged in.

So as such..this is nothing more then an intellectually bankrupt troll thread from an intellectually bankrupt troll.

Yep. Including the strawman title.

This thread is almost as funny as when Queasy and CG marched around admiring that nutty nazi war reenactor.

Almost.

There's that old hyperbolic bullshit again. Not once did I say anything about 'admiring' him. That is a lie. Ravi, I expect better of you. Disagree with me all you want but don't lie about what I say.

It's no wonder some people struggle with facts.... y'all seem to think it's not lying to make shit up about other people. But it is.

 

[California Girl]

One of my main issues with the Democrats these days is their acceptance, or even adoration, of George Soros.


What party in their right mind would accept support from someone who said:

“The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.”—George Soros


Now, other than the above, there are a plethora of real solid reasons why I despise Soros, and that's without having to resort to his behavior as a 14 year old in Nazi Occupied Hungary.


Let's just put into the mix that Soros himself said (in an interview with Joshua Muravchik that appeared in the Wall St Journal) that he “carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me in trouble.” I don't know about you.... but I have some serious issues with someone who has admitted "messianic fantasies"!

So, how did this multi-billionaire and self proclaimed philanthropist make his money? Wall Street. ( )


Yep, he was one of those evil hedge funders, and currency speculators. As a currency speculator, back in 1992, he became known in England as the 'man who broke the Bank of England'.



So what? Big deal, right? He shorted the British pound by leveraging billions of pounds of financial bets.


But.... he didn't just 'break' the Bank of England. He broke the British economy, and with it, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of ordinary hard working Britons, who lost their homes, their jobs, their pensions and their life savings.


Why? Because he could. Because making money was more important than ordinary, hard working people - albeit they were not Americans.

In 1994, he did likewise in Russia.


In fact, in one article, Soros referred to the former Soviet Empire as the 'new Soros Empire'.


The "Russia-Gate Scandal" of 1999 was called one of the "greatest social robberies of all time" (by Rep. Jim Leach who, at the time was the head of the House Banking Committee).


But... on the bright side, it was Russia, not America.

1997.... well, that was the turn of both Thailand and Malaysia.... where, again for profit, Soros almost destroyed both nations' economies.


The then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, called Soros “a villain, and a moron.”


In Thailand, he was called "a kind of Dracula. He sucks the blood from the people." by activist Weng Tojirakarn.


In both countries, ordinary hardworking people lost their life savings, pensions and futures.... for what?


Because Soros wanted yet more money.



And, of course, no Americans got hurt.

Other countries that have paid the price of Soros' adventures are the former Yugoslavia, Georgia and Myanmar (Burma).



Again, no Americans were hurt in the making of this obscene profit.



He stands convicted (despite his best efforts to placate the situation) by the French of felony insider trading. A $2.9m fine from the French for that one. YAY France!

He also stands convicted in his nominal 'home' country of Hungary for illegal market manipulation. $2.2m fine for that one.


What did he do to be punished with that fine? As the Hungarian economy transitioned into a solid democracy, Soros deliberately destabilized their banking system, destroying their economy, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of ordinary, hard working Hungarians.



No Americans though.... Seeing a pattern here?

Why would the left wing trust someone who has done so much damage to so many people around the world? Do they think he won't do it here?


He's already on record as saying “America, as the centre of the globalised financial markets, was sucking up the savings of the world. This is now over. The game is out,” And saying that the time has come for a “a very serious adjustment” in our culture.


Oh, and here's another really interesting remark by Mr Soros.... from The Australian magazine .... according to Soros, the world financial crisis was”stimulating” and “in a way, the culmination of my life’s work.”





How the hell do the left justify their support for this man?

Wanna scream about 'sources'?

Soros: Republic Enemy #1

George Soros loses appeal over SocGen insider trading conviction - Telegraph

July 24, 1997
The Singapore dollar starts a gradual decline.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accuses "rogue speculators" for Southeast Asia's economic upheaval. He later singles out billionaire financier George Soros.

Timeline Of The Crash | The Crash | FRONTLINE | PBS

Soros: Crisis Is Culmination Of Life




This is your darling, my liberal buddies,



you think the Koch boys are bad?



Yea, they are not the most ethical people walking the planet....


but they are fucking amateurs compared to your own boy,



Soros.

Sounds more like the left has been his darling...

GEORGE SOROS has been a prominent international supporter of democratic ideals and causes for more than 30 years. His philanthropic organization, the Open Society Foundations, supports democracy and human rights in over 70 countries. Born in Budapest in 1930, George Soros is Chairman of Soros Fund Management, LLC. As one of history’s most successful financiers, his views on investing and economic issues are widely followed. This site is the official resource for information about George Soros.

George Soros

I am aware of that. I've already said that. I know lots and lots about Soros. I've studied him for years. In fact, I did a paper on him.

 

[L.K.Eder]

The OP is really just bashing a person, not the condition that allowed this person to become obscenely rich. Not at call for regulating the currency futures market. Not a call for regulation at all.

Was Soros ruthless? Sure. So was just about every rich mofo out there. They exploited the fact there were no laws or regulations prohibiting the sort of behavior they engaged in.

So as such..this is nothing more then an intellectually bankrupt troll thread from an intellectually bankrupt troll.

Yep. Including the strawman title.

This thread is almost as funny as when Queasy and CG marched around admiring that nutty nazi war reenactor.

Almost.

There's that old hyperbolic bullshit again. Not once did I say anything about 'admiring' him. That is a lie. Ravi, I expect better of you. Disagree with me all you want but don't lie about what I say.

It's no wonder some people struggle with facts.... y'all seem to think it's not lying to make shit up about other people. But it is.

 

[Si modo]

The OP is really just bashing a person, not the condition that allowed this person to become obscenely rich. Not at call for regulating the currency futures market. Not a call for regulation at all.

Was Soros ruthless? Sure. So was just about every rich mofo out there. They exploited the fact there were no laws or regulations prohibiting the sort of behavior they engaged in.

So as such..this is nothing more then an intellectually bankrupt troll thread from an intellectually bankrupt troll.

Yep. Including the strawman title.

This thread is almost as funny as when Queasy and CG marched around admiring that nutty nazi war reenactor.

Almost.

There's that old hyperbolic bullshit again. Not once did I say anything about 'admiring' him. That is a lie. Ravi, I expect better of you. Disagree with me all you want but don't lie about what I say.

It's no wonder some people struggle with facts.... y'all seem to think it's not lying to make shit up about other people. But it is.

I never admired him.

This reminds me of the Great Blue Moron who said we were "defending" someone because we were rational.

Go figure. Rational analysis now is equal to admiration and defense of the analyte.

Some insane thinking, there.

But, still nothing about Soros ruining the lives of millions.

So, the next thread about those evil rich who might support a GOP candidate should be interesting.

God, I love catching hypocrites. It ruins their credibility.

And, when one has to resort to lies to create some sort of point, they never had any foundation.

 

[California Girl]

Yep. Including the strawman title.

This thread is almost as funny as when Queasy and CG marched around admiring that nutty nazi war reenactor.

Almost.

There's that old hyperbolic bullshit again. Not once did I say anything about 'admiring' him. That is a lie. Ravi, I expect better of you. Disagree with me all you want but don't lie about what I say.

It's no wonder some people struggle with facts.... y'all seem to think it's not lying to make shit up about other people. But it is.

I never admired him.

This reminds me of the Great Blue Moron who said we were "defending" someone because we were rational.

Go figure. Rational analysis now is equal to admiration and defense of the analyte.

Some insane thinking, there.

But, still nothing about Soros ruining the lives of millions.

So, the next thread about those evil rich who might support a GOP candidate should be interesting.

God, I love catching hypocrites. It ruins their credibility.

And, when one has to resort to lies to create some sort of point, they never had any foundation.

It's odd, isn't it.... how some people cannot separate rational thought from 'admiration'. It's no wonder the country is such a clusterfuck if this is the level of intellect of the average American.

 

[Toro]

So, how did this multi-billionaire and self proclaimed philanthropist make his money? Wall Street. ( ) Yep, he was one of those evil hedge funders, and currency speculators. As a currency speculator, back in 1992, he became known in England as the 'man who broke the Bank of England'. So what? Big deal, right? He shorted the British pound by leveraging billions of pounds of financial bets. But.... he didn't just 'break' the Bank of England. He broke the British economy, and with it, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of ordinary hard working Britons, who lost their homes, their jobs, their pensions and their life savings. Why? Because he could. Because making money was more important than ordinary, hard working people - albeit they were not Americans.

This is factually incorrect. He did not break the British economy. He did not cause people to lose their jobs. He did not cause pensions to be wiped out. Nobody lost their life savings because of Soros. In fact, it is quite the opposite. George Soros probably did more to create employment and economic growth in the UK during the early and mid-90s than any other single individual.

Conservatives have demonized George Soros so much and have developed such deep pathological biases against the man, they essentially argue for government intervention and that government knows better than the market. Conservatives shouldn't condemn Soros for breaking the Bank of England. Conservatives should applaud Soros. At least those conservatives who believe in free markets. Because if you believe in free markets, Soros unshackled the currency markets which allowed the pound to fall to its true market level.

A quick Google search would have shown that in fact, the British economy accelerated after Soros broke the Bank of England. You can see the graph here.

World Bank, World Development Indicators - Google Public Data Explorer

The pound was forced out of the ERM - the forerunner of the euro - by Soros in September 1992. GDP growth was as follows;

1991 -1.4%
1992 +0.1%
1993 +2.2%
1994 +4.3%

The pound was pegged within a band against the mark in what was known as the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). The peg was set through monetary policy via the Bank of England, i.e. the government's bank set the interest rate. If the government wanted a strong pound, it raised the interest rates. If it wanted a weak pound, it lowered interest rates. The pound was supposed to trade with a band of DM2.80-DM3.20. The currency market did not trade freely. In fact, it was very much the opposite. The free market was not allowed to work as the British government kept the pound artificially strong to keep it within the ERM.

To combat inflation in the late 1980s and early 1990s - which got as high as 11% - the Bank of England jacked up interest rates to nearly 15%. This caused the British economy to grind to a halt as economic growth turned negative in 1991. The monetary policy worked as inflation fell to 3.5% by the summer of 1992. Here are the data sets for interest rates and inflation.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/cpi/c...011/cpi-and-rpi-detailed-reference-tables.xls
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNEROveCPdE410lbKccZSrg9pioyKA&cad=rja

However, interest rates were nearly 10% in the summer of 1992, meaning real rates of interest were 6.5%, which is extraordinarily tight. (In a normal environment, real interest rates are 2%-3%.) This was strangling the British economy. Interest rates should have been much lower. Soros knew it. If the Bank of England had lowered the Bank Rate - as it should have, given the economic fundamentals - then the pound would have declined below its lower band in the ERM. But the British government wanted to stay within the ERM. They wanted to save face. The pound was artificially high and kept high because the UK was in the ERM.

If you believe in the efficacy of markets, you knew this was simply untenable, no different than Greece's predicament in the eurozone today. So Soros - as he should have - bet heavily against the pound.

And the markets believed him. If you believe in markets, and if Soros had been wrong, the pound would have quickly risen after it fell out of the ERM. But that's not what happened, as you can see here.

Also, if Soros had been wrong, the British government could have maintained their high interest rates. But they did not. Instead, they slashed interest rates, knowing that the battle to keep the pound in the ERM was lost. No longer needing to keep interest rates high to defend the value of the pound, the Bank Rate was slashed from 9.875% in the summer of 1992 to 6.875% in November and eventually to 5.125% in 1994.

And what happened? Well, as conventional monetary theory would expect, the economy recovered. Monetary policy works with a lag of 12-24 months. Unemployment, which was 9.9% in September 1992, after having risen from 6.9% two years earlier, peaked a year later and was below 10% at the start of 1994, beginning a long, downward trek in unemployment for years thereafter.

You can see employment by downloading this table, which is table A02

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/october-2011/table-a02.xls
Release Edition Reference Tables

The same came be said of the Asian Contagion in 1997. Politicians love to demonize outsiders for their woes, and the leaders of various SE Asian countries did just that as their economies collapsed in 1997 and 1998. Soros, who was very public in his attack on the British pound, denied any involvement in shorting the Asian currencies. In fact, at the time, he said he was slightly long Asian currencies. I don't know if that's true or not, but the simple fact is that like Britain five years earlier, the Asian economies had pegged their currencies, only this time to the dollar, which created enormous imbalances in the economies. It was only a matter of time - if you believe in free markets - before the system collapsed. And it did.

 

[California Girl]

Talk about 'speak of the devil and he shall arrive'. I am just watching BBC News and there's a panel discussion about the global financial crisis.... and they're interviewing George Soros! Spooky.

 

[L.K.Eder]

So, how did this multi-billionaire and self proclaimed philanthropist make his money? Wall Street. ( ) Yep, he was one of those evil hedge funders, and currency speculators. As a currency speculator, back in 1992, he became known in England as the 'man who broke the Bank of England'. So what? Big deal, right? He shorted the British pound by leveraging billions of pounds of financial bets. But.... he didn't just 'break' the Bank of England. He broke the British economy, and with it, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of ordinary hard working Britons, who lost their homes, their jobs, their pensions and their life savings. Why? Because he could. Because making money was more important than ordinary, hard working people - albeit they were not Americans.

This is factually incorrect. He did not break the British economy. He did not cause people to lose their jobs. He did not cause pensions to be wiped out. Nobody lost their life savings because of Soros. In fact, it is quite the opposite. George Soros probably did more to create employment and economic growth in the UK during the early and mid-90s than any other single individual.

Conservatives have demonized George Soros so much and have developed such deep pathological biases against the man, they essentially argue for government intervention and that government knows better than the market. Conservatives shouldn't condemn Soros for breaking the Bank of England. Conservatives should applaud Soros. At least those conservatives who believe in free markets. Because if you believe in free markets, Soros unshackled the currency markets which allowed the pound to fall to its true market level.

A quick Google search would have shown that in fact, the British economy accelerated after Soros broke the Bank of England. You can see the graph here.

World Bank, World Development Indicators - Google Public Data Explorer

The pound was forced out of the ERM - the forerunner of the euro - by Soros in September 1992. GDP growth was as follows;

1991 -1.4%
1992 +0.1%
1993 +2.2%
1994 +4.3%

The pound was pegged within a band against the mark in what was known as the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). The peg was set through monetary policy via the Bank of England, i.e. the government's bank set the interest rate. The currency market did not trade freely. In fact, it was very much the opposite. The free market was not allowed to work as the British government kept the pound artificially strong.

To combat inflation in the late 1980s and early 1990s - which got as high as 11% - the Bank of England jacked up interest rates to nearly 15%. This caused the British economy to grind to a halt as economic growth turned negative in 1991. The monetary policy worked as inflation fell to 3.5% by the summer of 1992. Here are the data sets for interest rates and inflation.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/cpi/c...011/cpi-and-rpi-detailed-reference-tables.xls
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNEROveCPdE410lbKccZSrg9pioyKA&cad=rja

However, interest rates were nearly 10% in the summer of 1992, meaning real rates of interest were 6.5%, which is extraordinarily tight. (In a normal environment, real interest rates are 2%-3%.) This was strangling the British economy. Interest rates should have been much lower. Soros knew it. If the Bank of England had lowered the Bank Rate - as it should have, given the economic fundamentals - then the pound would have declined below its lower band in the ERM. But the British government wanted to stay within the ERM. They wanted to save face. The pound was artificially high and kept high because the UK was in the ERM.

If you believe in the efficacy of markets, you knew this was simply untenable, no different than Greece's predicament in the eurozone today. So Soros - as he should have - bet heavily against the pound.

And the markets believed him. If you believe in markets, and if Soros had been wrong, the pound would have quickly risen after it fell out of the ERM. But that's not what happened, as you can see here.

Also, if Soros had been wrong, the British government could have maintained their high interest rates. But they did not. Instead, they slashed interest rates, knowing that the battle to keep the pound in the ERM was lost. No longer needing to keep interest rates high to defend the value of the pound, the Bank Rate was slashed from 9.875% in the summer of 1992 to 6.875% in November and eventually to 5.125% in 1994.

And what happened? Well, as conventional monetary theory would expect, the economy recovered. Monetary policy works with a lag of 12-24 months. Unemployment, which was 9.9% in September 1992, after having risen from 6.9% two years earlier, peaked a year later and was below 10% at the start of 1994, beginning a long, downward trek in unemployment for years thereafter.

You can see employment by downloading this table, which is table A02

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/october-2011/table-a02.xls
Release Edition Reference Tables

The same came be said of the Asian Contagion in 1997. Politicians love to demonize outsiders for their woes, and the leaders of various SE Asian countries did just that as their economies collapsed in 1997 and 1998. Soros, who was very public in his attack on the British pound, denied any involvement in shorting the Asian currencies. In fact, at the time, he said he was slightly long Asian currencies. I don't know if that's true or not, but the simple fact is that like Britain five years earlier, the Asian economies had pegged their currencies, only this time to the dollar, which created enormous imbalances in the economies. It was only a matter of time - if you believe in free markets - before the system collapsed. And it did.

yeah, soros should be a hero of capitalism.

but what do you know,

california brat "did a paper" on george soros.

 

[California Girl]

So, how did this multi-billionaire and self proclaimed philanthropist make his money? Wall Street. ( ) Yep, he was one of those evil hedge funders, and currency speculators. As a currency speculator, back in 1992, he became known in England as the 'man who broke the Bank of England'. So what? Big deal, right? He shorted the British pound by leveraging billions of pounds of financial bets. But.... he didn't just 'break' the Bank of England. He broke the British economy, and with it, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of ordinary hard working Britons, who lost their homes, their jobs, their pensions and their life savings. Why? Because he could. Because making money was more important than ordinary, hard working people - albeit they were not Americans.

This is factually incorrect. He did not break the British economy. He did not cause people to lose their jobs. He did not cause pensions to be wiped out. Nobody lost their life savings because of Soros. In fact, it is quite the opposite. George Soros probably did more to create employment and economic growth in the UK during the early and mid-90s than any other single individual.

Conservatives have demonized George Soros so much and have developed such deep pathological biases against the man, they essentially argue for government intervention and that government knows better than the market. Conservatives shouldn't condemn Soros for breaking the Bank of England. Conservatives should applaud Soros. At least those conservatives who believe in free markets. Because if you believe in free markets, Soros unshackled the currency markets which allowed the pound to fall to its true market level.

A quick Google search would have shown that in fact, the British economy accelerated after Soros broke the Bank of England. You can see the graph here.

World Bank, World Development Indicators - Google Public Data Explorer

The pound was forced out of the ERM - the forerunner of the euro - by Soros in September 1992. GDP growth was as follows;

1991 -1.4%
1992 +0.1%
1993 +2.2%
1994 +4.3%

The pound was pegged within a band against the mark in what was known as the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). The peg was set through monetary policy via the Bank of England, i.e. the government's bank set the interest rate. The currency market did not trade freely. In fact, it was very much the opposite. The free market was not allowed to work as the British government kept the pound artificially strong.

To combat inflation in the late 1980s and early 1990s - which got as high as 11% - the Bank of England jacked up interest rates to nearly 15%. This caused the British economy to grind to a halt as economic growth turned negative in 1991. The monetary policy worked as inflation fell to 3.5% by the summer of 1992. Here are the data sets for interest rates and inflation.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/cpi/c...011/cpi-and-rpi-detailed-reference-tables.xls
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNEROveCPdE410lbKccZSrg9pioyKA&cad=rja

However, interest rates were nearly 10% in the summer of 1992, meaning real rates of interest were 6.5%, which is extraordinarily tight. (In a normal environment, real interest rates are 2%-3%.) This was strangling the British economy. Interest rates should have been much lower. Soros knew it. If the Bank of England had lowered the Bank Rate - as it should have, given the economic fundamentals - then the pound would have declined below its lower band in the ERM. But the British government wanted to stay within the ERM. They wanted to save face. The pound was artificially high and kept high because the UK was in the ERM.

If you believe in the efficacy of markets, you knew this was simply untenable, no different than Greece's predicament in the eurozone today. So Soros - as he should have - bet heavily against the pound.

And the markets believed him. If you believe in markets, and if Soros had been wrong, the pound would have quickly risen after it fell out of the ERM. But that's not what happened, as you can see here.

Also, if Soros had been wrong, the British government could have maintained their high interest rates. But they did not. Instead, they slashed interest rates, knowing that the battle to keep the pound in the ERM was lost. No longer needing to keep interest rates high to defend the value of the pound, the Bank Rate was slashed from 9.875% in the summer of 1992 to 6.875% in November and eventually to 5.125% in 1994.

And what happened? Well, as conventional monetary theory would expect, the economy recovered. Monetary policy works with a lag of 12-24 months. Unemployment, which was 9.9% in September 1992, after having risen from 6.9% two years earlier, peaked a year later and was below 10% at the start of 1994, beginning a long, downward trek in unemployment for years thereafter.

You can see employment by downloading this table, which is table A02

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/october-2011/table-a02.xls
Release Edition Reference Tables

The same came be said of the Asian Contagion in 1997. Politicians love to demonize outsiders for their woes, and the leaders of various SE Asian countries did just that as their economies collapsed in 1997 and 1998. Soros, who was very public in his attack on the British pound, denied any involvement in shorting the Asian currencies. In fact, at the time, he said he was slightly long Asian currencies. I don't know if that's true or not, but the simple fact is that like Britain five years earlier, the Asian economies had pegged their currencies, only this time to the dollar, which created enormous imbalances in the economies. It was only a matter of time - if you believe in free markets - before the system collapsed. And it did.

He is known as the man who 'broke the bank of England'. He made $1b profit by manipulating the British economy.

So, yea, he is responsible for everything that happened to ordinary people in Britain. And a whole bunch of other countries too.

He's a liar, a thief, a con man, and scum.