Politics

Why Slinging Bull AKA Elizabeth Warren Won’t Run for President

chief-slinging-bull-76584343338The darling of the Democratic Party would quickly clear the field if she would agree to run.  Obama has personally tried to pressure her to run several times and even had Valerie Jarrett try to convince Warren (She of the high cheekbones) that she should be the next president.  The simple fact is that presidential candidates undergo much more scrutiny than Senators do.  If that should happen, at least some journalists would question her ties to a think tank named Better Markets.

Warren was the keynote speaker for Better Markets back in 2013 and she wrote a glowing testimonial on their website.  Better Markets has a history of pressing Congress for costly regulation of banks and financial institutions.  Normally, it would be natural for a populist such as Warren to team up with a think tank that pushes for more regulations on financial institutions.  But take a closer look at Better Markets and you will pick up the scent of corruption and manipulation.

Warren recently got Robert Litan, a Brookings scholar and former Clinton-administration economist fired when she accused him of being a shill for Capital Group, a mutual fund company.  He had failed to disclose his ties to Capital Group.  A close look at Warren’s ties to Better Markets would be much more damning than anything Litan could ever imagine.

Better Markets was founded by a man named Michael Masters, a multi millionaire hedge fund manager.  Masters regularly provides Better markets with their entire budget of three million dollars every year since it’s inception except 2012.  The funding for 2012 is unknown and could possibly also be money from Masters.  It is not coincidental as far as I’m concerned that the work Better markets does directly benefits Masters’ hedge fund.  Better markets has testified before the Senate Banking Committee, of which Warren is a member and neither Better Markets or Warren have disclosed their ties to Masters.

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The fact is that as Better markets tirelessly work for regulations, the companies they fight against are companies Masters is in position to make a ton of money, should their stock drop sharply.  Invariably, Masters would hold call options on the companies targeted by Better Markets.   Masters could then short the stock and if the proposed regulations went into effect, he could buy the shorted stock at a discounted price.  Should they fail in getting the regulations, the company’s stock would rise, but masters could buy using his call options and sell at the higher price.  Call options allows but does not require the holder to buy stock at a previously agreed to price.

Jill Sommers, a former commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Who was appointed to a second term by Barack Obama calls this a clear and direct conflict of interest and the relationship between Masters and Better Markets:

“It’s a huge conflict of interest.  I can just generally say it is unprecedented.”

Of course opponents could revive the story about Warren representing 22 clients at $675 an hour despite the fact she had no law license in Massachusetts.  Warren argued she didn’t have to be licensed in Ma. to represent a client in federal court, which is true, but only if you share responsibilities with a lawyer who is licensed by the state, which she wasn’t.

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