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==Critics== | ==Critics== | ||
===Criticism of financial activities=== | ===Criticism of financial activities and funding=== | ||
In an August 2004 appearance on ]'s ], Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives ] (Republican), stated, "We don't know where George Soros' money comes from. We don't know where it comes from, from the left, and you don't know where it comes in the right. You know, Soros' money, some of that is coming from overseas. It could be drug money. We don't know where it comes from." Soros responded to Hastert by saying, "by smearing me with false charges and mischaracterizations, you are attempting to stifle critical debate and intimidate those who believe this administration is leading the country in a ruinous direction. Now that I have called you on your false accusation, you are using additional smear tactics."<ref>http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=19256</ref> Soros filed an official complaint with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Soros claimed that Hastert's comments "strongly suggests a deliberate effort to use smear tactics, intimidation and falsehoods to silence criticism." | In an August 2004 appearance on ]'s ], Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives ] (Republican), stated, "We don't know where George Soros' money comes from. We don't know where it comes from, from the left, and you don't know where it comes in the right. You know, Soros' money, some of that is coming from overseas. It could be drug money. We don't know where it comes from." Soros responded to Hastert by saying, "by smearing me with false charges and mischaracterizations, you are attempting to stifle critical debate and intimidate those who believe this administration is leading the country in a ruinous direction. Now that I have called you on your false accusation, you are using additional smear tactics."<ref>http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=19256</ref> Soros filed an official complaint with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Soros claimed that Hastert's comments "strongly suggests a deliberate effort to use smear tactics, intimidation and falsehoods to silence criticism." | ||
In 2006, Hastert criticized Soros again, this time in regards to the controversy over whether or not Hastert should have acted on information regarding ]: "The people who want to see this thing blow up are ] and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."<ref></ref> | In 2006, Hastert criticized Soros again, this time in regards to the controversy over whether or not Hastert should have acted on information regarding ]: "The people who want to see this thing blow up are ] and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."<ref></ref> | ||
George Soros has been accused of helping to fund 'smear sites' like ] and Media Matters, according to ], ], and other groups.<ref name="soros1">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html |title=Buying Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref name="soros2">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/dsouza200410190831.asp |title=The World According to Soros |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> Soros has financially supported ], donating over twenty millions dollars to the group since 2001 and has donated millions to ].<ref name="soros1">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html |title=Buying Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> That foundation has donated money to ], a group highly critical of O'Reilly. | |||
O'Reilly has claimed that Soros's goal "is to buy a presidential election... find and fund a candidate who will tacitly do what he or she is told to do."<ref name="soros1">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html |title=Buying Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> | |||
In late March of 2002 Soros announced he was giving three million dollars to Budapest Open Access Initiative to set up open-archiving systems. Soros was accused of "foolishly spending millions <nowiki></nowiki> undermining libraries, librarians, authors and referees".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1885931.stm |title=Critics attack net journal initiative |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> | |||
In September 2002 Soros's ] gave $20,000 to the Defense Committee of lawyer ] who defended terrorists in court and was sentenced to 28 months in prison for "providing material support for a terrorist conspiracy".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200502170843.asp |title=Soros Funded Stewarts Defense |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2006/10/16/terrorist-supporting-lawyer-lynne-stewart-gets-slap-on-the-wrist/ |title=Terrorist Supporting Lawyer, Lynne Stewart, Gets Slap On The Wrist |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_4_57/ai_n13487687 |title=A New York jury found Lynne Stewart guilty on all of the counts against her |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> | |||
===Views on anti-Semitism=== | ===Views on anti-Semitism=== | ||
George Soros is a Hungarian-born Jew who escaped the ] by going to ] as a child. Soros has blamed Europe's anti-Semitism as a result of policies created by the United States and Israel, saying "There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the ] and the ] contribute to that."<ref name="fpp">{{cite web|url=http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/03/11/JTA071103.html |title=In rare Jewish appearance, George Soros says Jews and Israel cause anti-Semitism |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref><ref name="judaism">{{cite web|url=http://judaism.about.com/library/2_americanjewry/bl_soros.htm |title=George Soros Blames Jews for Anti-Semitism |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> ], national director of the ], called Soros's comments “absolutely obscene". <ref name="judaism">{{cite web|url=http://judaism.about.com/library/2_americanjewry/bl_soros.htm |title=George Soros Blames Jews for Anti-Semitism |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> Soros has called for a "regime change" in the United States has spoken of funding projects in Palestine.<ref name="fpp">{{cite web|url=http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/03/11/JTA071103.html |title=In rare Jewish appearance, George Soros says Jews and Israel cause anti-Semitism |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> He is often criticized by the Jewish community for failing to give funding to their causes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/1245/edition_id/12/format/html/displaystory.html |title=28th richest man in America, George Soros, needs a Jewish connection |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> | |||
At a Jewish forum in ], Soros partially attributed a recent resurgence of ] to the policies of Israel and the United States, and to successful Jews such as himself:<blockquote> | |||
There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the Bush administration and the ] administration contribute to that. It's not specifically anti-Semitism, but it does manifest itself in anti-Semitism as well. I'm critical of those policies... If we change that direction, then anti-Semitism also will diminish. I can't see how one could confront it directly... I'm also very concerned about my own role because the new anti-Semitism holds that the Jews rule the world... As an unintended consequence of my actions... I also contribute to that image.<ref></ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
In a subsequent article for the '']'', Soros emphasized that<blockquote> | |||
I do not subscribe to the myths propagated by enemies of Israel and I am not blaming Jews for anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism predates the birth of Israel. Neither Israel's policies nor the critics of those policies should be held responsible for anti-Semitism. At the same time, I do believe that attitudes toward Israel are influenced by Israel's policies, and attitudes toward the Jewish community are influenced by the pro-Israel lobby's success in suppressing divergent views.<ref>Soros, George. ''New York Review of Books'', April 12, 2007.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
===Criticism of political activism=== | ===Criticism of political activism=== | ||
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IBD said that Soros' giving cannot be considered philanthropy to the extent that it is political activism. The newspaper said that "'philanthropy' may be the wrong word. Unlike, say, ], who really does put the bulk of his charity into helping the world's poor through medical services, Soros tends to fund pressure groups and foundations he misleadingly characterizes as promoting 'civil society' and 'democracy.'"<ref>, Investor's Business Daily, Sept. 20, 2007</ref> | IBD said that Soros' giving cannot be considered philanthropy to the extent that it is political activism. The newspaper said that "'philanthropy' may be the wrong word. Unlike, say, ], who really does put the bulk of his charity into helping the world's poor through medical services, Soros tends to fund pressure groups and foundations he misleadingly characterizes as promoting 'civil society' and 'democracy.'"<ref>, Investor's Business Daily, Sept. 20, 2007</ref> | ||
=== Criticism of 'tax evading' and finances === | |||
George Soros has heavily been criticized for avoiding to pay taxes in the United States.<ref name="soros1">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html |title=Buying Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> Soros moved his headquarters to the tax free Caribbean country of Curacao, which is outside of the supervision of the United States Government. The Netherlands Antilles has repeatedly been cited by the Task Force on Money Laundering of the ] (OECD) as one of the world's most important centers for laundering illegal proceeds of the Latin American cocaine and other drug traffic. It is a possession of the Netherlands. <ref name="taxes">{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomdomain.com/soros01.html |title=George Soros and the Rothschilds Connection |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref name="jewishreview">{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1203/mason_soros.php3 |title=The sorry tale of George Soros |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref name="questions">{{Cite web|url=http://www.questionsquestions.net/docs04/engdahl-soros.html |title=The Secret Financial Network Behind "Wizard" George Soros |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/6/23/35240603.pdf |title=OECD Investment Policy Reviews, Netherland Antilles |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> | |||
Former ] for the Republican Party ] stated that Soros money "could be drug money" and "we don't know where it comes from".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://slate.com/id/2106077/ |title=Dennis Hastert on Dope |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> Soros accused Hastert of trying to smear him and demanded an apology.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pekingduck.org/archives/001691.php |title=George Soros demands apology from Dennis Hastert |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> | |||
=== Support for ] === | |||
George Soros has donated millions of dollars towards organizations advocating the legalization of drugs in the United States and has been called the "Daddy Warbucks of drug legalization" by Joseph Califano Jr. of Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.russbaker.com/The%20Nation%20-%20George%20Soro's%20Long%20Strange%20Trip.htm |title=George Soros's Long Strange Trip |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> He calls the legalization a "harms reduction" and criminal activity associated with the use of drugs will supposedly be reduced if the US government takes over the ] and provides drugs and drug paraphernalia to addicts.<ref name="acc">{{cite web|url=http://www.aim.org/special_report/A2089_0_8_0_C/ |title=The Hidden Soros Agenda: Drugs, Money, the Media, and Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> Soros has contributed to the passing of thirteen drug legalization laws in nine different states,<ref name="states">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalfamilies.org/guide/gsoros.html |title=George Soros - Drug Legalization |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> including the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in California and Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |first = Judith |last= Miller |title=With Big Money and Brash Ideas, A Billionaire Redefines Charity |url=http://www.druglibrary.org/olsen/dpf/soros.html |date=1996-12-17 |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> | |||
==Books== | ==Books== | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
] | ] | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist|3}} | ||
===External links=== | ===External links=== |
Revision as of 03:27, 6 October 2007
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George Soros | |
---|---|
George Soros speaking in Malaysia | |
Born | (1930-08-12) August 12, 1930 (age 94) Budapest, Hungary |
Occupation(s) | speculator, investor, philanthropist, political activist |
Spouse(s) | Twice divorced (Annaliese Witschak and Susan Weber Soros) |
Children | Robert, Andrea, Jonathan, Alexander, Gregory |
Website | http://www.georgesoros.com |
George Soros (pronounced ) (born August 12, 1930, in Budapest, Hungary, as György Schwartz) is an American financial speculator, stock investor, philanthropist, and political activist. He has also promoted democracy in Eastern Europe.
Currently, he is the chairman of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute and is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations. His support for the Solidarity labor movement in Poland, as well as the Czechoslovakian human rights organization Charter 77, contributed to ending Soviet Union political dominance in those countries. His funding and organization of Georgia's Rose Revolution was considered by Russian and Western observers to have been crucial to its success, although Soros said his role has been "greatly exaggerated." In the United States, he is known for having donated large sums of money in a failed effort to defeat President George W. Bush's bid for re-election in 2004.
Soros is famously known for "breaking the Bank of England" on Black Wednesday in 1992. With an estimated current net worth of around $8.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 80th-richest person in the world.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker wrote in 2003 in the foreword of Soros' book The Alchemy of Finance:
- "George Soros has made his mark as an enormously successful speculator, wise enough to largely withdraw when still way ahead of the game. The bulk of his enormous winnings is now devoted to encouraging transitional and emerging nations to become 'open societies,' open not only in the sense of freedom of commerce but - more important - tolerant of new ideas and different modes of thinking and behavior."
Biography
Family
George Soros is the son of the Esperanto writer Teodoro Schwartz. Teodoro (also known as Tivadar) was a Hungarian Jew who was a prisoner of war during and after World War I and eventually escaped from Russia to rejoin his family in Budapest.
The family changed its name in 1936 from Schwartz to Soros, in response to the Fascist threat to Jews. Tivadar liked the new name because it is a palindrome and because it has a meaning. Though the specific meaning is left unstated in Kaufmann's biography, in Hungarian "soros" means "next in line, or designated successor", and in Esperanto it means "will soar". Tivadar wrote of his ordeal to survive in Fascist Hungary, and help many people escape it, in his book Maskerado. George Soros later said that he "grew up in a Jewish, anti-semitic home," and that his parents were "uncomfortable with their religious roots."
George Soros has been married and divorced twice, to Annaliese Witschak and to Susan Weber Soros. He has five children: Robert, Andrea, Jonathan (with his first wife, Annaliese), Alexander and Gregory (with his second wife, Susan). His older brother Paul Soros is an engineer, and is also a well-known philanthropist, investor, and New York socialite.
Native Hungary, and move to England
Soros was thirteen years old when Nazi Germany took military control over its wavering ally Hungary (March 21, 1944), and started exterminating Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust. Soros worked briefly for the Jewish Council, which had been established by the Nazis, to deliver messages to Jewish lawyers being called for deportation. Soros was not aware of the consequence of the messages. To avoid his son being apprehended by the Nazis, his father had Soros spend the summer of 1944 living with a non-Jewish Ministry of Agriculture employee, posing as his godson.
In the following year, Soros survived the battle of Budapest, as Soviet and Nazi forces fought house-to-house through the city. Soros first traded currencies during the Hungarian hyperinflation of 1945-1946.
In 1946, Soros escaped the Soviet occupation by participating in an Esperanto youth congress in the West. Soros was taught to speak the language from birth and thus is one of the rare native Esperanto speakers.
Soros emigrated to England in 1947 and graduated from the London School of Economics in 1952. While a student of the philosopher Karl Popper, Soros funded himself by taking jobs as a railway porter and a waiter at Quaglino's restaurant where he was told that with hard work he might one day become head waiter. He also worked in a mannequin factory, but was fired for being too slow at putting on the heads. He eventually secured an entry-level position with London merchant bank Singer & Friedlander.
Move to the United States
In 1956 he moved to the United States, where he worked as an arbitrage trader with F. M. Mayer from 1956 to 1959 and as an analyst with Wertheim and Company from 1959 to 1963. Throughout this time, but mostly in the 1950s, Soros developed a philosophy of "reflexivity" based on the ideas of Popper. Reflexivity, as used by Soros, is the belief that self-awareness is part of the environment: actions tend to cause disruptions in economic equilibriums, which may run counter to the progression of free-market systems.
Soros realized, however, that he would not make any money from the concept of reflexivity until he went into investing on his own. He began to investigate how to deal in investments. From 1963 to 1973 he worked at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, where he attained the position of vice-president. Soros finally concluded that he was a better investor than he was a philosopher or an executive. In 1967 he persuaded the company to set up an offshore investment fund, First Eagle, for him to run; in 1969 the company founded a second fund for Soros, the Double Eagle hedge fund.
When investment regulations restricted his ability to run the funds as he wished, he quit his position in 1973 and established a private investment company that eventually evolved into the Quantum Fund. He has stated that his intent was to earn enough money on Wall Street to support himself as an author and philosopher - he calculated that $500,000 after five years would be possible and adequate. After all those years, his net worth reached an estimated $11 billion. He is also a former member of the Carlyle investment group.
Business
Soros is the founder of Soros Fund Management. In 1970 he co-founded the Quantum Fund with Jim Rogers. It returned 3,365% during the next ten years (42.5% per year for 10 years), and created the bulk of the Soros fortune. Rogers "retired" from the fund in 1980.
Currency speculation
On Black Wednesday (September 16, 1992), Soros became immediately famous when he sold short more than $10 billion worth of pounds, profiting from the Bank of England's reluctance to either raise its interest rates to levels comparable to those of other European Exchange Rate Mechanism countries or to float its currency.
Finally, the Bank of England was forced to withdraw the currency out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and to devalue the pound sterling, and Soros earned an estimated US$ 1.1 billion in the process. He was dubbed "the man who broke the Bank of England."
The Times October 26, 1992, Monday quoted Soros as saying: "Our total position by Black Wednesday had to be worth almost $10 billion. We planned to sell more than that. In fact, when Norman Lamont said just before the devaluation that he would borrow nearly $15 billion to defend sterling, we were amused because that was about how much we wanted to sell."
According to Steven Drobny, Stanley Druckenmiller, who traded under Soros, originally saw the weakness in the pound. "Soros' contribution was pushing him to take a gigantic position," in accord with Druckenmiller's own research and instincts.
In 1997, during the Asian financial crisis, then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused Soros of using the wealth under his control to punish ASEAN for welcoming Myanmar as a member. Later, he called Soros a moron. Thai nationals have called Soros "an economic war criminal" who "sucks the blood from the people".
Partners
George Soros's most successful partners at Quantum fund have been Jim Rogers, Victor Niederhoffer, and Stanley Druckenmiller, all of whom are famous traders in their own rights.
Insider trading charges
In 1988, he was asked to join a takeover attempt of the French bank Société Générale. He declined to participate in the bid, but did later buy a number of shares in the company. French authorities began an investigation in 1989, and in 2002 a French court ruled that it was insider trading as defined under French securities laws and fined him $2 million which was the amount that he made using the insider information.
Punitive damages were not sought because of the delay in bringing the case to trial. Soros denied any wrongdoing and said news of the takeover was public knowledge.
His insider trading conviction was upheld by the highest court in France on June 14 2006. In December, 2006 he appealled to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that the 14 year delay in bringing the case to trial precluded a fair hearing.
Philanthropy
Soros has been active as a philanthropist since the 1970s, when he began providing funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa, and began funding dissident movements behind the iron curtain.
Soros' philanthropic funding in Central and Eastern Europe mostly occurs through the Open Society Institute (OSI) and national Soros Foundations, which sometimes go under other names, e.g., the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland. As of 2003, PBS estimated that he had given away a total of $4 billion.
He has promoted non-violent efforts to increase democracy in many countries.
The OSI says it has spent about $400 million annually in recent years.
TIME Magazine in 2007 cited two specific projects - $100 million toward internet infrastructure for regional Russian universities; and $50 million for the Millennium Promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Africa - while noting that Soros has given $742 million to projects in the U.S., and given away a total of more than $6 billion.
Other notable projects have included aid to scientists and universities throughout Central and Eastern Europe, help to civilians during the siege of Sarajevo, worldwide efforts to repeal drug prohibition laws, and Transparency International. Soros also pledged an endowment of €420 million to the Central European University (CEU). The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus and his microfinance bank Grameen Bank received support from the OSI.
According to the National Review the Open Society Institute gave $20,000 in September 2002 to the Defense Committee of Lynne Stewart, the lawyer who has defended alleged terrorists in court and was sentenced to 2⅓ years in prison for "providing material support for a terrorist conspiracy" via a press conference for a client. An OSI spokeswoman said "it appeared to us at that time that there was a right-to-counsel issue worthy of our support."
In September 2006, Soros departed from his characteristic sponsorship of democracy building programs, pledging $50 million to the Jeffrey Sachs-led Millennium Promise to help eradicate extreme poverty in Africa. Noting the connection between bad governance and poverty, he remarked on the humanitarian value of the project.
He received honorary doctoral degrees from the New School for Social Research (New York), the University of Oxford in 1980, the Budapest University of Economics, and Yale University in 1991. Soros also received the Yale International Center for Finance Award from the Yale School of Management in 2000 as well as the Laurea Honoris Causa, the highest honor of the University of Bologna in 1995.
Philosophy
Education and beliefs
Soros has a keen interest in philosophy, and his philosophical outlook is largely influenced by Karl Popper, under whom he studied at the London School of Economics. His Open Society Institute is named after Popper's two volume work, The Open Society and Its Enemies, and Soros's ongoing philosophical commitment to the principle of 'fallibilism' (that anything he believes may in fact be wrong, and is therefore to be questioned and improved) stems from Popper's philosophy. Some critics argue that Soros' static political beliefs appear to conflict with the critical rationalism espoused by Popper, though Soros argues that these beliefs were arrived at through such rationalism.
Reflexivity, financial markets, and economic theory
Soros' writings focus heavily on the concept of reflexivity, where the biases of individuals are seen as entering into market transactions, potentially changing the fundamentals of the economy. Soros argued that such transitions in the fundamentals of the economy are typically marked by disequilibrium rather than equilibrium in the economy, and that the conventional economic theory of the market (the 'efficient market hypothesis') does not apply in these situations.
Whether Soros is theoretically right or wrong on this issue, he certainly has the market credentials and proven track record to effectively maintain that his theory of reflexivity is practically relevant in the marketplace — at least for him. Soros has popularized the concepts of dynamic disequilibrium, static disequilibrium, and near-equilibrium conditions.
Reflexivity is based in three main ideas:
(1) Reflexivity is best observed under special conditions where investor bias grows and spreads throughout the investment arena. Examples of factors that may give rise to this bias include (a) equity leveraging or (b) the trend-following habits of speculators.
(2) Reflexivity appears intermittently since it is most likely to be revealed under certain conditions; i.e., the equilibrium process's character is best considered in terms of probabilities.
(3) Investors' observation of and participation in the capital markets may at times influence valuations AND fundamental conditions or outcomes.
View of potential problems in the capitalist free market system
Despite working as an investor and currency speculator (his fortune in 2004 was estimated at US$7 billion), he argues that the current system of financial speculation undermines healthy economic development in many underdeveloped countries. Soros blames many of the world's problems on the failures inherent in what he characterizes as market fundamentalism. His opposition to many aspects of globalization has made him a controversial figure.
Victor Niederhoffer said of Soros: "Most of all, George believed even then in a mixed economy, one with a strong central international government to correct for the excesses of self-interest."
Soros draws a distinction between being a participant in the market and working to change the rules that market participants must follow.
Political activism
Opposition to the Soviet Union
According to Neil Clark (writing in the New Statesman):
(t)he conventional view, shared by many on the left, is that socialism collapsed in eastern Europe because of its systemic weaknesses and the political elite's failure to build popular support. That may be partly true, but Soros's role was crucial. From 1979, he distributed $3m a year to dissidents including Poland's Solidarity movement, Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia and Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet Union. In 1984, he founded his first Open Society Institute in Hungary and pumped millions of dollars into opposition movements and independent media
— Clark, Neil. "Soros Profile". the New Statesman. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Soros' funding has continued to play an important role in the former Soviet sphere. His funding and organization of Georgia's Rose Revolution was considered crucial to its success by Russian and Western observers, although Soros has said that his role has been "greatly exaggerated."
Criticism of Bush Administration
In an interview with The Washington Post on November 11, 2003, Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was the "central focus of my life" and "a matter of life and death." He said he would sacrifice his entire fortune to defeat President Bush, "if someone guaranteed it", and many continue to state this as Soros's position even after Soros clarified the humorous nature of the statement in a Q&A session at the end of his March 3, 2004 address to California's Commonwealth Club.
Soros gave $3 million to the Center for American Progress, committed $5 million to MoveOn, while he and his friend Peter Lewis each gave America Coming Together $10 million. (All were groups that worked to support Democrats in the 2004 election.) On September 28, 2004 he dedicated more money to the campaign and kicked off his own multi-state tour with a speech: Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush delivered at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
The online transcript to this speech received many hits after Dick Cheney accidentally referred to FactCheck.org as "factcheck.com" in the Vice Presidential debate, causing the owner of that domain to redirect all traffic to Soros's site.
Soros was not a large donor to US political causes until the U.S. presidential election, 2004, but according to the Center for Responsive Politics, during the 2003-2004 election cycle, Soros donated $23,581,000 to various 527 Groups dedicated to defeating President Bush. Despite Soros' efforts, Bush was reelected to a second term as president in U.S. presidential election, 2004.
After Bush's reelection in 2004, Soros and other wealthy liberal political donors backed a new political fundraising group called Democracy Alliance which aims to support the goals of the U.S. Democratic Party.
Soros has been criticized for his large donations, as he also pushed for the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 which was intended to ban "soft money" contributions to federal election campaigns. Soros has responded that his donations to unaffiliated organizations do not raise the same corruption issues as donations directly to the candidates or political parties.
A Republican National Committee spokeswoman said,
"It's incredibly ironic that George Soros is trying to create a more open society by using an unregulated, under-the-radar-screen, shadowy, soft-money group to do it. George Soros has purchased the Democratic Party."
Harken Energy, a firm partly owned by Soros, did business with George W. Bush in 1986 by buying his oil company, Spectrum 7.
His most recent book, The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of The War on Terror, was published in June 2006.
Gun control
Directly and through his organization Open Society Institute (OSI), he has funded various gun control organizations, such as the Tides Foundation, the HELP Network and SAFE Colorado. He and seven friends founded their own political committee — Campaign for a Progressive Future — and spent $2 million on political activities in 2000, including providing the prime financial backing for the Million Mom March. OSI has supported UN efforts to create international gun control regulations and has singled out the United States for failing to go along with the international consensus on protective gun control measures.
Critics
Criticism of financial activities and funding
In an August 2004 appearance on Chris Wallace's FOX News Sunday, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Dennis Hastert (Republican), stated, "We don't know where George Soros' money comes from. We don't know where it comes from, from the left, and you don't know where it comes in the right. You know, Soros' money, some of that is coming from overseas. It could be drug money. We don't know where it comes from." Soros responded to Hastert by saying, "by smearing me with false charges and mischaracterizations, you are attempting to stifle critical debate and intimidate those who believe this administration is leading the country in a ruinous direction. Now that I have called you on your false accusation, you are using additional smear tactics." Soros filed an official complaint with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Soros claimed that Hastert's comments "strongly suggests a deliberate effort to use smear tactics, intimidation and falsehoods to silence criticism."
In 2006, Hastert criticized Soros again, this time in regards to the controversy over whether or not Hastert should have acted on information regarding Rep. Mark Foley: "The people who want to see this thing blow up are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."
George Soros has been accused of helping to fund 'smear sites' like Moveon.org and Media Matters, according to Bill O'Reilly, National Review, and other groups. Soros has financially supported Tides Foundation, donating over twenty millions dollars to the group since 2001 and has donated millions to Moveon.org. That foundation has donated money to Media Matters for America, a group highly critical of O'Reilly.
O'Reilly has claimed that Soros's goal "is to buy a presidential election... find and fund a candidate who will tacitly do what he or she is told to do."
In late March of 2002 Soros announced he was giving three million dollars to Budapest Open Access Initiative to set up open-archiving systems. Soros was accused of "foolishly spending millions undermining libraries, librarians, authors and referees".
In September 2002 Soros's Open Society Institute gave $20,000 to the Defense Committee of lawyer Lynne Stewart who defended terrorists in court and was sentenced to 28 months in prison for "providing material support for a terrorist conspiracy".
Views on anti-Semitism
George Soros is a Hungarian-born Jew who escaped the Holocaust by going to London as a child. Soros has blamed Europe's anti-Semitism as a result of policies created by the United States and Israel, saying "There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the Bush administration and the Sharon administration contribute to that." Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called Soros's comments “absolutely obscene". Soros has called for a "regime change" in the United States has spoken of funding projects in Palestine. He is often criticized by the Jewish community for failing to give funding to their causes.
Criticism of political activism
In an editorial in September 2007, Investor's Business Daily criticized Soros for funding organizations such as MoveOn.org and has claimed that Soros is not transparent in the way he gives away his money. The newspaper said: "The irony here is that Soros claims to be an advocate of an 'open society.' His OSI does just the legal minimum to disclose its activities. The public shouldn't have to wait until an annual report is out before the light is flipped on about the Open Society's political action."
IBD said that Soros' giving cannot be considered philanthropy to the extent that it is political activism. The newspaper said that "'philanthropy' may be the wrong word. Unlike, say, Bill Gates, who really does put the bulk of his charity into helping the world's poor through medical services, Soros tends to fund pressure groups and foundations he misleadingly characterizes as promoting 'civil society' and 'democracy.'"
Criticism of 'tax evading' and finances
George Soros has heavily been criticized for avoiding to pay taxes in the United States. Soros moved his headquarters to the tax free Caribbean country of Curacao, which is outside of the supervision of the United States Government. The Netherlands Antilles has repeatedly been cited by the Task Force on Money Laundering of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as one of the world's most important centers for laundering illegal proceeds of the Latin American cocaine and other drug traffic. It is a possession of the Netherlands.
Former Speaker of the House for the Republican Party Dennis Hastert stated that Soros money "could be drug money" and "we don't know where it comes from". Soros accused Hastert of trying to smear him and demanded an apology.
Support for drug legalization
George Soros has donated millions of dollars towards organizations advocating the legalization of drugs in the United States and has been called the "Daddy Warbucks of drug legalization" by Joseph Califano Jr. of Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. He calls the legalization a "harms reduction" and criminal activity associated with the use of drugs will supposedly be reduced if the US government takes over the trading of drugs and provides drugs and drug paraphernalia to addicts. Soros has contributed to the passing of thirteen drug legalization laws in nine different states, including the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in California and Arizona.
Books
Authored or co-authored
- The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror (PublicAffairs, 2006) ISBN 1-58648-359-1
- With MoveOn.org, MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country: How to Find Your Political Voice and Become a Catalyst for Change Inner Ocean Publishing, 2004 ISBN 1-930722-29-X
- The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power (PublicAffairs, 2003) ISBN 1-58643-217-3 (paperback; PublicAffairs, 2004; ISBN 1-58648-292-0)
- George Soros on Globalization (PublicAffairs, 2002) ISBN 1-58648-125-8 (paperback; PublicAffairs, 2005; ISBN 1-52648-278-5)
- Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism (PublicAffairs, 2001) ISBN 1-58648-039-7
- With Mark Amadeus Notturno, Science and the Open Society: The Future of Karl Popper's Philosophy (Central European University Press, 2000) ISBN 963-9116-69-6 (paperback: Central European University Press, 2000; ISBN 943-9116-70-X)
- The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered (PublicAffairs, 1998) ISBN 1-891220-27-4
- Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve (John Wiley, 1995) ISBN 0-471-12014-6 (paperback; Wiley, 1995; ISBN 0-371-11977-6)
- Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterprise and Democratic Reform Among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe (Free Press, 1991) ISBN 0-02-930285-4 (paperback; PublicAffairs, 2004; ISBN 1-58948-227-0)
- Opening the Soviet System (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1990) ISBN 0-297-82155-9 (paperback: Perseus Books, 1996; ISBN 0-8133-1205-1)
- The Alchemy of Finance (Simon & Schuster, 1988) ISBN 0-671-66338-4 (paperback: Wiley, 2003; ISBN 0-471-44549-5)
Biographies
- Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Michael T. Kaufman (Alfred A. Knopf, 2002) ISBN 0-375-40585-2
- Soros: The Unauthorized Biography, the Life, Times and Trading Secrets of the World's Greatest Investor by Robert Slater (McGraw-Hill, 1997) ISBN 0-7863-1247-5
Journalism
Authored
- George Soros, On Israel, America and AIPAC, New York Review of Books, April 12, 2007.
- George Soros, The Bubble of American Supremacy, The Korea Herald, March 12, 2003.
- George Soros, The Bubble of American Supremacy, Atlantic Monthly, December 2003.
- George Soros, The Bubble of American Supremacy, audio recording of the Atlantic Monthly article via Assistive Media, read by Grover Gardner, 18 minutes.
- George Soros Soros on Brazil, Financial Times, Aug 13, 2002.
- George Soros, Bitter Thoughts with Faith in Russia, Moskovsky Novosti (Moscow News), translated from the Russian by Olga Kryazheva, February 27, 2000.
- George Soros, The Capitalist Threat, Atlantic Monthly, February 1997
About
- James Dellinger and Matthew Vadum, "George Soros's Democracy Alliance: In Search Of A Permanent Democratic Majority," Foundation Watch, December 2006
- Stephen Adams "Furious George" on Citizen - Family Issues in Policy and Culture
- Laura Blumenfeld, Billionaire Soros Takes On Bush, MSNBC, November 11, 2003
- Neil Clark Analysis of Soros' role in Eastern Europe from "New Statesman"
- Malcolm Gladwell, "Blowing Up," New Yorker Magazine, April 22 & 29, 2002, at gladwell.com.
- John Horvath The Soros Effect on Central and Eastern Europe
- Matt Welch, Open Season on 'Open Society': Why an anti-communist Holocaust survivor is being demonized as a Socialist, Self-hating Jew Reason magazine, December 8, 2003
- Martin Peretz, "Tyran-a-Soros: The Madness of King George," The New Republic, February 12, 2007.
- TIME's 25 Most Influential Americans, TIME Magazine April 21, 1997. Accessed May 21, 2007.
- The TIME 100, The Power Givers, George Soros, TIME Magazine May 14, 2007 accessed May 21, 2007.
Scholarly perspectives
- Bryant, C. G. A. (2002). 'George Soros's theory of reflexivity: a comparison with the theories of Giddens and Beck and a consideration of its practical value', Economy and Society, 31 (1), pp. 112-131.
- Cross, R. and D. Strachan (1997). 'On George Soros and economic analysis', Kyklos, 50, pp. 561-74.
- Pettis, Michael (2001). The Volatility Machine: Emerging Economies and the Threat of Financial Collapse, Oxford University Press.
Speeches
- Testimony of George Soros to a congressional sub-committee, Sept. 15, 1998
- The Theory of Reflexivity Delivered April 26, 1994 to the MIT Department of Economics World Economy
Interviews
- The Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC) - Audio Archive: "George Soros on Freedom"
- frontline: the crash: interviews: george soros
- Wall $treet Week with FORTUNE . TV Program | PBS
- Challenge: The international financial crisis - International ...
- NOW with Bill Moyers. Transcript. David Brancaccio interviews ...
- Booknotes with Brian Lamb. Transcript and streaming video.
- Rocketboom: The Age of Fallibility (Video, 2006)
- Google Video: Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google interviews George Soros (Video, 2006)
- Fox News Interview with Neil Cavuto, October 11, 2006 Video and text, accessed May 25, 2007.
References
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_George-Soros_L9II.html
- William Shawcross, "Turning Dollars into Change," Time Magazine, September 1, 1997
- George Soros, A Biographical Note, dated May 2006, at www.georgesoros.com
- Kaufman, Michael T., Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire, Alfred A. Knopf: 2002
- Kaufman, Michael T., p. 24
- Slater, R.: "Soros: The Unauthorized Biography", page 30
- Holocaust Encyclopedia
- Kaufman, Michael T., Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire, Alfred A. Knopf: 2002, p. 32-33
- Steven Drobny, Inside the House of Money, John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, 2006.
- A question of opennes (asiaweek.com)
- Opportunity Lost (asiaweek.com)
- David Brancaccio interviews George Soros, Now, PBS, September 12, 2003, accessed Feb. 8, 2007.
- Insider trading conviction of Soros is upheld (International Herald Tribune)
- Soros appeals conviction for insider trading, Billionaire takes French conviction to European court (International Herald Tribune)December 14, 2006
- David Brancaccio interviews George Soros, Now, PBS, September 12, 2003, accessed Feb. 8, 2007.
- TIME 100, The Power Givers, George Soros, TIME Magazine, May 14, 2007 accessed May 21, 2007
- York, Byron, Soros Funded Stewart Defense, National Review Online, accessed February 7, 2007
- Philanthropist Gives $50 Million to Help Aid the Poor in Africa
- Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush
- Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush
- Cheney Drops the Ball
- http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pdf/FW1206.pdf
- "New Alliance Of Democrats Spreads Funding". Retrieved 2006-07-17.
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24179-2003Nov10?language=printer
- Book review at Forbes.com
- http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=19256
- Hastert defiant in page scandal
- ^ "Buying Political Power". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "The World According to Soros". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "Critics attack net journal initiative". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "Soros Funded Stewarts Defense". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "Terrorist Supporting Lawyer, Lynne Stewart, Gets Slap On The Wrist". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "A New York jury found Lynne Stewart guilty on all of the counts against her". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- ^ "In rare Jewish appearance, George Soros says Jews and Israel cause anti-Semitism". Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- ^ "George Soros Blames Jews for Anti-Semitism". Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- "28th richest man in America, George Soros, needs a Jewish connection". Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- The Soros Threat to Democracy, Investor's Business Daily, Sept. 24, 2007
- George Soros: The Man, The Mind And The Money Behind MoveOn, Investor's Business Daily, Sept. 20, 2007
- "George Soros and the Rothschilds Connection". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "The sorry tale of George Soros". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "The Secret Financial Network Behind "Wizard" George Soros". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "OECD Investment Policy Reviews, Netherland Antilles" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "Dennis Hastert on Dope". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "George Soros demands apology from Dennis Hastert". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "George Soros's Long Strange Trip". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "The Hidden Soros Agenda: Drugs, Money, the Media, and Political Power". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- "George Soros - Drug Legalization". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- Miller, Judith (1996-12-17). "With Big Money and Brash Ideas, A Billionaire Redefines Charity". Retrieved 2007-10-05.
External links
- George Soros official site and blog
- Open Society Institute and Soros Foundations Network
- George Soros' Project Syndicate op/eds
- Fortune City List of articles and speeches by and about George Soros
- George Soros' Political Campaign Contributions
- Forbes.com: Forbes 400 Richest in America
- George Soros's current stock holdings