ScreamingEagle
Gold Member
- Jul 5, 2004
- 13,399
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Can our country afford to have investments in America disappear due to Obama's policies?
Daniel S. Loeb, the hedge fund manager, was one of Barack Obamas biggest backers in the 2008 presidential campaign.
A registered Democrat, Mr. Loeb has given and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democrats. Less than a year ago, he was considered to be among the Wall Street elite still close enough to the White House to be invited to a speech in Lower Manhattan, where President Obama outlined the need for a financial regulatory overhaul.
So it came as quite a surprise on Friday, when Mr. Loeb sent a letter to his investors that sounded as if he were preparing to join Glenn Beck in Washington over the weekend.
As every student of American history knows, this countrys core founding principles included nonpunitive taxation, constitutionally guaranteed protections against persecution of the minority and an inexorable right of self-determination, he wrote. Washington has taken actions over the past months, like the Goldman suit that seem designed to fracture the populace by pulling capital and power from the hands of some and putting it in the hands of others.
...
Now Mr. Loeb, who manages about $3.4 billion at his firm, Third Point Partners, has articulated in a more thoughtful way what a lot of others in finance and business are saying.
We have given a great deal of thought about the impact that public policy has on individual companies, industries and the economy generally, he said. Third Point has sold its investments in big banks as a result of regulatory headwinds; got rid of its stake in Wellpoint, which Mr. Loeb described as a statistically cheap stock owned by several hedge funds, but which we saw as being overly exposed to unpredictable government regulation; and taken a short position against for-profit education companies as a result of the governments increased willingness to use its regulatory muscle.
Mr. Loebs views, irrespective of their validity, point to a bigger problem for the economy: If business leaders have a such a distrust of government, they wont invest in the country. And perception is becoming reality.
Just last week, Paul S. Otellini, chief executive of Intel, said at a dinner at the Aspen Forum of the Technology Policy Institute that the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here.
Sorkin: Why Wall St. Is Deserting Obama - NYTimes.com