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CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper indicated in a 1993 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he wants to see the United States become a Muslim country.
Congress Beware: We're All Into Hedge Funds
By Arthur Bruzzone (08/08/07)
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca --- Here's the dark secret about hedge funds -- we're all
addicted to them and the returns that only hedge funds can generate.
Pension funds are at the front of the line. They're the junkies in the fund
game.
For good reason. Unfunded pension benefits are estimated to be between $600
billion and $1.3 trillion, according to JP Morgan which released the most
comprehensive preliminary estimate. No wonder those 35% average annual
returns produced by hedge funds are so addictive.
So while Congress -- mainly Democrat members - is threatening new
regulations and taxes on hedge fund managers, their constituents, especially
their union backers are quietly warning them to tread carefully.
Now when we're talking about pension funds we're talking about the
retirement benefits for millions of local, state, and private sector
workers. The City of San Francisco boasts $4.3 billion in unfunded
benefits. The State of California owes billions to its workers. Illinois has
the worst unfunded state pension liability in the nation, totaling a
projected $42.2 billion. Among corporations, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s
pension plan assets of $4.6 billion amount to less than 60% of the plan's
obligations (2005).
We've heard of the gross profits of hedge fund managers. Alpha magazine says
that one year ago Edward Lampert of ESL Investments made headlines when he
became the first manager to earn $1 billion in a year. This time there are
two who break the billion-dollar barrier: James Simons of Renaissance
Technologies Corp. and BP Capital Management's T. Boone Pickens. Rounding
out the top five managers are Soros Fund Management's George Soros, $840
million; SAC Capital Advisors' Steven Cohen, $550 million; and Tudor
Investment Corp.'s Paul Tudor Jones II, $500 million.
Their earnings are treated as capital gains, with the concurrent lower tax
rate. Many in Congress would like to push the extraordinary earnings of the
fund managers into the ordinary income tax bracket. But consider high water
marks. Where a hedge fund applies a high water mark to an investor's money,
this means that the manager will only receive performance fees when its
value is greater than its previous greatest value. Should the investment
drop in value then the manager must bring it back above the previous
greatest value before they can receive performance fees again.
In other words, hedge fund and its managers operate in the upper limits of
the risk / reward universe. The incentives to produce extraordinary profit
are overbearing. This may account for the fact that most successful
managers are between 25 and 47 years old. When committing hundreds of
millions of dollars, sometimes in a single day, even with the aid of
sophisticate computer models, the high performance fees are justified. It's
much like in professional sports. Only a few can handle the pressure. The
fewer, the more valuable their performance, the higher their compensation.
Performance is what we expect out of our professional athletes. We don't
question the $120 million dollar salaries. Here, performance is not for
entertainment. High performance by thousands of hedge funds is only way
pension funds are going to cover their pension obligations. Millions of
American workers are also counting on hedge fund managers for their
retirement future.
So Congress may bark and threaten, but in the end our elected
representatives like all of us are dependent on the skills of hedge fund
managers. We're all betting on it, like a high stakes poker game.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Arthur Bruzzone
Arthur Bruzzone is a well known San Francisco Bay Area political media
commentator, an award- winning public affairs TV producer, talk show host,
and served four years as Chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party. He
has written over 150 political articles for national and regional media, and
has appeared or commented on political issues for American, European, and
Asian television and radio networks.
Art Bruzzone has been published in local, state, and national journals
including the Wall Street Journal. He's been a regular online columnist at
AmericanDaily.com, previously featured columnist at Townhall.com and other
gateway sites. He is editor of Counterviews.com.
Media Appearances include guest or commentator on major national network
news programs, CNN, CNN Headline News, CNN-TV, BBC-TV, French TV, local
affiliated and independent TV Stations. He served as talk show host for
KSFO-AM, San Francisco. He's been a Panelist or guest covering national,
state-local, and environmental issues. Bruzzone has been quoted in the NY
Times, LA Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today and on urban policy,
international politics, and urban environmentalism
Bruzzone is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and owner an investment real
estate company, Bruzzone Strategic Investments. He holds a MBA from Golden
Gate University, and a MA in Philosophy from CUA, Washington, DC.
He has served as State Commissioner on the Bay Conservation and Development
Commission, Chair of San Francisco Republican Party, and Vice Chair of the
Count Chairs Association of the California Republican Party.
To unwind, Bruzzone, engages in long distance in-line speed skating, open
water ocean rowing, writing poetry and microstories, and viewing weekly
Nascar Nextel Cup Races, among others.. He and his program would be
impossible without a community of enlightened and patient friends, and
family.
Send Feedback To Arthur Bruzzone
Site: http://www.rightturns.com
UPSSA
United Progressive Socialist States of America
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