Meet President Obama’s Newest Opponent, Clifford Asness

This is the most disgusting commentary I’ve ever read. Acting as though a person is not allowed to criticize lying, cheating and stealing simply because they are rich? Acting as though being criticized by a rich guy is good for Obama, even though the criticisms are 100% true?
How disgustingly closed-minded and prejudiced. If a rich person complains about theft and lies you laugh at him and say, essentially, “no one cares about justice in your case, ’cause you’re rich”.
It doesn’t matter WHO is saying it, it is true – Obama has outright boldfaced lied and stolen here in the most politically calculated a cruel manner. ALL politicians, from all parties, do the same. And they should ALL be scolded. Those who do the scolding should only be judged on the merits of their argument, not on their income level.

Assuming we are not going to hold the man’s personal wealth against him (more power to him…this is still Ameria right?), Mr. Asness makes it very clear our White House is now in the hands of those not afraid to lie, to play the extortionist and to brashly pickpocket the American taxpayer in order to repay campaign donors and supporters.
It is becoming increasingly apparent the only reason Obama focused his career on Constitutional Law was so he figure out ways to complete end runs around those hallowed principles.
Perhaps the next administration will introduce him to a new set of laws…RICO.

(Who came up with the title for the letter? Axelrod? Perhaps “Bold and on My Yacht” was too subtle.) You just made me laugh. Not an easy feat.

“His administration has spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion in taxpayer dollars to Wall Street and insolvent banks . . . Brand Obama has allocated nearly $1 trillion in defense-related spending and the continuation of our doomed imperial projects in Iraq, where military planners now estimate that 70,000 troops will remain for the next 15 to 20 years. . . Brand Obama has refused to ease restrictions so workers can organize and will not consider single-payer, not-for-profit health care for all Americans.”
America, we warned you. Barack Obama never was and never will be an agent of change in Washington. He is, always was, and always will be a hologram of leadership manufactured by Machiavellian Marketeers who want nothing more than to continue the de-democractization of the United States begun by Ronald Reagan. The lesson the Machiavellian Marketeers who fix elections for their corporate donors learned from the Bush era is that if the messenger eventually becomes a person reviled by the masses, as George W. Bush became, you don’t have to change the message. All you have to do is change the Messenger.

So Assness is trying to buy everyone with his donations. Thank you Mr. President for not taking the bait. One percentage point would not have hurt your assness, but actually helped a few hundred thousand.

Imagine being a child, growing up with a name like Aseness.

It is amusing that none of those taking Tapper’s side are capable of actually criticizing any of the substance of the letter’s message (which is only posted in part above). I suggest you read the definition of “ad hominem.”
Hey, I’d prefer it to if Mother Teresa’s name was on that letter. But the name of the author doesn’t change whether the content is correct. And in this case, the author’s message on fiduciary obligations and contract law are unasssailable.
There may be plenty of reasons to disapprove the behavior of many hedge funds. However, those reasons are wholly unrelated to the message found here – which would be right no matter who said. Not to mention the fact that it is intellectually lazy and a betrayal of ignorance to lump all hedge fund managers together.
Some people here need to learn how to make distinctions rather than enslave their simple minded thinking to gross generalizations.

For what it’s worth, where do you suppose Cliff’s political contributions will go in 2010? And the tech titans out in California who are being hurt by the overseas “loophole closings”? They all gave heavily to Obama and to Democrats in the last cycle. Next time, probably “not so much.”

Its now being said that the Obama administration has told Chrysler that they do not need to pay back the 7.2 billion bailout back…
Jake, you need to follow up on this rumour and see if there is any truth to it.
If there is, a lot of people are going to want to know why our tax money is being thrown around and not be expected to be paid back.

oh really- do you have some factual research about how much Mr.Asness pays in taxes that you can provide?

Using the White House Press Corps to defame private citizens?

Is George Soros different from this particular hedge fund manager? obama likes Soros but not other hedge fund owners?

“But just as we aired the president’s take on these hedge fund manager last week, we will air the opposing view.”
So you aired the President’s take with a snarky lead-in that set the tone for what came after? Before posting the letter you intentionally belittled the writer of it and made sure that the reader was first clued in to your view that their name is funny so the rest shouldn’t matter. Should I read into you “just last week” comment that you at first acted like a 10 year old and made fun of the Barack Obama name or in that instance did you decide to be a responsible member of the media?

You can dislike how wealthy Mr. A is, may-bee-but remember with 95% of the country getting tax cuts, we need *someone* to pay to buy the automakers. I bet Mr. A pays a lot o’taxes.
oh really- do you have some factual research about how much Mr.Asness pays in taxes that you can provide?
show me yours & i’ll show u mine

Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez must be so proud of their young protégé:
Obama forcibly nationalized Chrysler and handed it over to his union supporters on the proverbial silver platter, dictating the terms of bankruptcy to the investment banking firm to whom Chrysler owes $6.8 billion.
And most chilling of all, when the lawyers for the firm objected to being paid a measly 29 cents on the dollar, (they proposed getting 66 cents, or two-thirds), the Obama Administration threatened them with personal harm if they didn’t accept the dictated terms immediately. To quote chief counsel Tom Lauria, describing the extortion and intimidation:
“I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday. One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House, and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under threat that the FULL FORCE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS WOULD DESTROY ITS REPUTATION if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.”
The Obama Administration is outright seizing business after business. From the auto industry to health care to the inherent totalitarianism of cap-and-trade and carbon emissions, there is simply nothing they don’t want to control. They seek to be the dictators of all that is within their field of vision.
To hell with the Constitution, the rule of law, the integrity of contracts and any other written limitation on their power – they will do anything they can get away with. Which means that we are all at risk, and the only reason some of us haven’t been targeted is that Obama simply hasn’t turned his attention to that particular sector yet.
The moment anybody gets in the way of their grandiose communist plans, the Obama Administration’s first instinctive reaction is to threaten people with personal destruction. This suggests both a childishness – throwing a temper tantrum the moment it seems their object of desire might be put beyond their reach – and an evil large in scope.

I also think it would be interesting, if we are going to see what the hedgefund guys donated, to see what the unions on the other end of Obama’s favor donated every time this issue is raised.

Consiscation can take many guises. It is now patriotic to pay taxes and have your pocket picked by BO.
Eventually people will figure out that the money his is taking from hedge funds and others to come and giving to his tribes (UAW, teachers, civil servants, poor, clueless etc.) actually belongs to regular citizens who have invested in something. The lefties try to paint a picture that there are 50-60 really big fat cats who own the money. Not the case folks. He’s not taking from the rich, he’s taking from all of us–some of us are just stupid enough to not realize what is going on.
We’re all just kulaks now. (if you don’t know what that means, read a history book.)

“But just as we aired the president’s take on these hedge fund manager last week, we will air the opposing view.”
So you aired the President’s take with a snarky lead-in that set the tone for what came after? Before posting the letter you intentionally belittled the writer of it and made sure that the reader was first clued in to your view that their name is funny so the rest shouldn’t matter. Should I read into you “just last week” comment that you at first acted like a 10 year old and made fun of the Barack Obama name or in that instance did you decide to be a responsible member of the media?
Posted by: Ryan Alexander
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No Jake Tapper came under attack recently for doing his job and investigating a story. The media has become very one sided and it was sad to see the unfair attacks on Jake due to reporting a controversial story.
I’ve been critical of Tapper in the past but I squarely admit that I think he is a good reporter and presents issues on both sides of the aisle. The fact he makes both sides angry from time to time is in my opinion the sign of a good reporter. Keep it up!!

Tyranny always selects a charismatic doofus as their front face.
I wonder if they want their vote back?

..wonder how is polling is for those with household incomes over $250K…

Good Grief!! This is what passes for “journalism” these days? Senior White House Correspondent? Are you sure you’re not Obama’s press secretary? Geez Jake, you’re not even subtle about your bias. hey, Rosie O’Donnell, Sean Penn and Hilary Clinton have a few bucks, does that mean what they say doesn’t count either?? thank the Gods for the internet. Someday you’ll be irrelevant.

Filthy, low down dirty, rich ….I would only need 125,000 of my tax payer’s money back that you get as a “bonus”, you socialist. You are not worth that kind of salary, no one is.

People seem to suggest that obamma is seizing businesses, the next I hear is socialism! Do we ask how these businesses came to this beggerly state in the first place? Need I remind everyone that there are businesses out there that are still self funded.

Don’t know who he is but I like what he says and how he says it.

I am disappointed in you. I thought you had a smidge of journalistic integrity after challenging Gibbs on his response over Biden and the swine flu. Instead I guess you’re just one of those press corp minions just waiting to be loosed by the Thug in the Oval Office

Cliff Asness, a hedge fund manager who is upset with President Barack Obama’s plan for the Chrysler reorganization. Asness is upset because he says that senior creditors (including many hedge funds, although not his own) are being screwed in the deal. Cliff Asness has decided to break rank despite of people in the financial industry have been keeping mum lately. Cliff Asness, from AQR Capital, let President Obama have it, after the chief executive announced his discontentment of how hedge funds were held back from investing in Chryller LLC and with their restructing deal, while their bankruptcy negotiations were ongoing. According to Asness, the hedge funds manager has the responsibility to their clients, and granting debt relief to a company in bankruptcy isn’t among them. Which means, that he doesn’t have to invest nor participate in any deal he doesn’t think will make his clients money, and keep clients out of wanting short term loans is what Cliff Asness does for a living.