Obama the Investor

The Rabbi

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Sep 16, 2009
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Obama's favorite meme is we need to "invest" in America. By "invest" he means pouring tax payer funds into favoted boondoggles, preferably those run by his cronies. Here's an article summarizing how well he's done as an investor. It is hysterical. The author takes obama at his word that these are investments, and evaluates his performance like any investment advisor. He reveals they aren't investments in anything except re-election.
Noam Neusner: If Ben Bernanke Sought Advice - WSJ.com

Thank you for the opportunity to provide our counsel with regard to your counterparty, B. Obama & Associates. To summarize, you have requested an objective assessment of him and his record as an investor, including an evaluation of whether you should continue putting significant sums of capital—backed by your institution—at risk with him and his team. The sum for his latest fund, HopeChange Fund II, is roughly $80 billion a month.

It is clear that Mr. Obama is a very impressive man, commanding significant personal and leadership gifts. In our meetings with him, we have been charmed by his wit and impressed by his zeal. It doesn't surprise us that he has a significant record of raising capital from a variety of sources. Nor does it surprise us that he keeps company with some of the world's best-known investors and capitalists, including Warren Buffett.

It isn't immediately clear, however, that he understands what it takes to be an investor. While he uses the word "invest" quite liberally, he doesn't seem to focus at all on the returns from his prior investments.

His current portfolio of investments includes:

• A major stake in an auto company, where he carries a value of roughly $12 billion on an original investment of $26 billion—pretty shocking considering overall market gains;

• A $7 trillion portfolio of mortgage-backed debt, much of which is plagued by late payments and an asset base still well below the price of the original debt;

• A modest portfolio of low-interest or no-interest unsecuritized loans to speculative solar-energy plants, wind farms and biofuel plants. For unclear reasons, he and his team have subordinated their own credit priority on some of these loans, thereby imperiling recovery of now-compromised assets;

• A loan portfolio of $1 trillion to post-adolescent adults so they can attend colleges that train them to take jobs that will leave them unable to pay back the loans. Perhaps in anticipation of the problems this will cause, he has cut the interest rate charged on those loans in half, to 3.4%. Meanwhile, the default rate on these loans has gone up to an alarming 13%. Mr. Obama calls this portfolio a good investment, though it appears his return on the investment is somewhere less than zero.

B. Obama & Associates has also made significant long-term commitments of funds—"investments"—in pre-kindergarten programs, high-speed rail and free cellphones for low-income families. We haven't been able to assess how these investments will return any capital to the client in the future. We are therefore inclined to believe that these funds aren't so much invested as given away.
more at the source.
 
We also found out recently that Obama has "investments" in the Cayman Islands just like Romney does! How bout that! :lol:
 

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