…to that paragon of the left George Soros. I want to quote something from Jay Nordlinger’s Davos Journal part 2:
Lunch is with George Soros. He speaks to a group of journalists in a Davos hotel. His subject is the financial crisis, and he is very good on it: sober and analytical. I must say, I like him better on economics and finance than I do on politics and foreign policy. Obviously, in this field—finance—he knows what he’s talking about. His authority is real.
He makes the observation that, last September, “the real economy fell off a cliff”—not just a paper economy (if I have interpreted him correctly). He also says that nationalization is “politically unacceptable at the moment”—words that strike me as ominous. (Soros sounds rueful.)
Something interesting, and entertaining, happens in the Q&A. A journo asks him, “Did you see this crisis coming, and have you profited from it?” Soros answers that he did not quite predict the crisis, but he came close to doing so—he predicted aspects of it. Certainly the “super-bubble,” as he termed it, had to burst. As to the second part of the journo’s question, Soros says, “I was able to protect my capital.”
I love that sentence: “I was able to protect my capital.” Wish all of us could say that!
Now it is the job of a capitalist to protest his capital and Soros shouldn’t be blamed for it, but shouldn’t it strike people on the left a bid odd that their patron took steps to protect himself while not alerting his friends on the left to help save their fortunes? Isn’t this what the left is all about? Note the outcry as the oil companies report record profits. No outcry from those guys about Soros protecting his capital.
Of course the fact that is capital is protected and others are not makes them more dependent on his funds and more receptive to his opinions. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Oh BTW Nordlinger reports from Davos every year. Part 3 of his series is here.
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