revelarts
03-18-2014, 09:51 AM
Big Biz and Big Gov't working together for big money
a case study
the articles says this is "novel".
well it's Unusual that it's this obvious this early in the game.
the story is about W. Ackman who's made a Billion of dollar stock market bet that the herbalife's company stock would collapse. AND sooo he began to work to make sure that it happened by:
Contacting one of his people in Washington -(d) Sanchez- who (for unknown compensation) wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission to INVESTIGATE herbalife.
Which he then read to some Hedge fund managers BEFORE it was was even received by the FTC.
He also began pressuring other State and Fed regulators to investigate herbalife.
And Ackman has organized protest, news conferences, letter writing campaigns (where many of the letter writers don't remember sending any such mail) in over 5 states.
What the heck? When Big Biz can gain billions on a company's demise and afford millions to make it happen, what's the incentive not to?
My Prediction is that NOTHING will happen to Ackerman here and he'll be allowed to do the same, but be more careful next time. Which will give all the rest of the major players more incentive to target businesses and use the Gov't to destroy them for their own profits as well.
Should there be some kind of Separation of Business and state?
This is not the type of "capitalism" that builds a country, creates jobs and products and innovation. Corporations must be held accountable the people for criminally predator activity like this. to bad our "representatives" and federal Regulators are too often in the pockets of the corporations. And often former and future employees of the same corporations or industry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/business/staking-1-billion-that-herbalife-will-fail-then-ackman-lobbying-to-bring-it-down.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON — At a Midtown Manhattan steakhouse last June, William A. Ackman, the activist hedge fund manager who had bet a billion dollars on the collapse of the nutritional supplement company Herbalife, offered his latest evidence to a handful of other hedge fund managers about why the company’s stock could soon plummet.
Mr. Ackman told his dinner companions that Representative Linda T. Sánchez, Democrat of California, had sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission the previous day calling for an investigation of the company.
The commission had not yet stamped the letter as received, nor had it been made public. But Mr. Ackman, who had personally lobbied Ms. Sánchez and stood to profit if the company’s stock dropped as a result of the call for an inquiry, already knew what it said, and read from a copy of it that he had on his cellphone.
When Ms. Sánchez’s office ultimately issued a news release (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/10/business/10ackman-herbalife-documents.html#document/p88/a148090) a month later, it was backdated as though it had been made public the day before Mr. Ackman’s dinner talk.....
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a case study
the articles says this is "novel".
well it's Unusual that it's this obvious this early in the game.
the story is about W. Ackman who's made a Billion of dollar stock market bet that the herbalife's company stock would collapse. AND sooo he began to work to make sure that it happened by:
Contacting one of his people in Washington -(d) Sanchez- who (for unknown compensation) wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission to INVESTIGATE herbalife.
Which he then read to some Hedge fund managers BEFORE it was was even received by the FTC.
He also began pressuring other State and Fed regulators to investigate herbalife.
And Ackman has organized protest, news conferences, letter writing campaigns (where many of the letter writers don't remember sending any such mail) in over 5 states.
What the heck? When Big Biz can gain billions on a company's demise and afford millions to make it happen, what's the incentive not to?
My Prediction is that NOTHING will happen to Ackerman here and he'll be allowed to do the same, but be more careful next time. Which will give all the rest of the major players more incentive to target businesses and use the Gov't to destroy them for their own profits as well.
Should there be some kind of Separation of Business and state?
This is not the type of "capitalism" that builds a country, creates jobs and products and innovation. Corporations must be held accountable the people for criminally predator activity like this. to bad our "representatives" and federal Regulators are too often in the pockets of the corporations. And often former and future employees of the same corporations or industry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/business/staking-1-billion-that-herbalife-will-fail-then-ackman-lobbying-to-bring-it-down.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON — At a Midtown Manhattan steakhouse last June, William A. Ackman, the activist hedge fund manager who had bet a billion dollars on the collapse of the nutritional supplement company Herbalife, offered his latest evidence to a handful of other hedge fund managers about why the company’s stock could soon plummet.
Mr. Ackman told his dinner companions that Representative Linda T. Sánchez, Democrat of California, had sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission the previous day calling for an investigation of the company.
The commission had not yet stamped the letter as received, nor had it been made public. But Mr. Ackman, who had personally lobbied Ms. Sánchez and stood to profit if the company’s stock dropped as a result of the call for an inquiry, already knew what it said, and read from a copy of it that he had on his cellphone.
When Ms. Sánchez’s office ultimately issued a news release (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/10/business/10ackman-herbalife-documents.html#document/p88/a148090) a month later, it was backdated as though it had been made public the day before Mr. Ackman’s dinner talk.....
more...