Billionaire’s son pushes for campaign-finance overhaul (USAToday)
Jonathan Soros thinks a push by the New York Legislature to tighten the state’s campaign-finance laws could give the issue national momentum if it’s successful. And the Harvard-educated lawyer, son of billionaire hedge-fund investor George Soros, has a game plan to make it happen. The super PAC that Soros co-founded in April last year, Friends of Democracy, plans to double the number of House races — from eight in 2012 to 16 in 2014 — in which it will spend money backing candidates who support stricter campaign-finance laws. And it hopes to double the amount it raises, from $2.5 million last year to $5 million for the 2014 elections.
Why the Eurozone Recession Is Important for America (Benzinga)
George Soros knows a thing or two about making money from big bets. In 1992, Soros made a $10.00 short wager on the British pound and walked away with a billion dollars in profits. Soros is now convinced Germany needs to rethink its strategy toward the sustainability of the eurozone and, in a draconian manner, believes the country should leave the euro. Of course, should this happen, the 17-country eurozone would collapse, triggering a massive economic Armageddon and financial crisis in Europe that would ultimately generate chaos for the global economy.
Roubini: Fed Risking Sequel To 2008 Financial Crisis (HereIsTheCity)
Roubini, co-founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics famously dubbed Dr Doom for his accurate prediction of the 2008 financial crisis, wrote earlier this week that “the problem is that the Fed’s liquidity injections are not creating credit for the real economy, but rather boosting leverage and risk-taking in financial markets.” “The issuance of risky junk bonds under loose covenants and with excessively low interest rates is increasing; the stock market is reaching new highs, despite the growth slowdown; and money is flowing to high-yielding emerging markets,” he added.
Icahn’s Transocean dividend proposal draws opposition (MySanAntonio)
An independent shareholder advocacy group has come out against billionaire investor Carl Icahn‘s proposal for Swiss drilling contractor Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG) to issue a $4-a-share dividend. Glass Lewis & Co., a governance analysis and proxy voting firm, is the second group to oppose the plan. Last week, Institutional Shareholder Services said in a report that it opposes the proposal. Glass, in report it issued this week, said it does not support two of the three Icahn nominees, Jose Maria Alapont and John Lipinski, to serve on Transocean’s board. Glass Lewis did recommend that Transocean shareholders elect Icahn nominee Samuel Merksamer to the board and reject incumbent nominee Michael Talbert, who now is the board chairman.
Apple Bond Issue? Steve Jobs Would’ve Bought Tesla (Bloomberg)
When I woke up yesterday, like every day, I grabbed my iPhone from the bedside table and began looking through my e-mail and checking my stock portfolio, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter. I was interested to note that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) plans to work with several car manufacturers to integrate maps and other products into cars — the reaction, however, was scant at best. In the Steve Jobs era, this would be the type of event reserved for the Worldwide Developers Conference; now, like the last several launches of “new” products, it was thrown into the garbage heap of “So what?”
Preparing the Adult Kids for the Inheritance (WSJ)
The father and mother, both 58 years old, wanted to teach their two grown children financial responsibility before the kids inherited their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate. The father worked at a hedge fund and the mother had inherited wealth later in life. As a result, they had nearly $50 million in investable assets. But their son, an artist, and their daughter, a stay-at-home mother, had little experience with investing and managing wealth. The couple needed help preparing their children to be stewards of their large estate, so they turned to their financial adviser of six years, Dune Thorne.
Marathon Asset Management Gets Creative in Europe (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
For distressed debt hedge fund managers such as Marathon Asset Management, buying troubled assets held by Europe’s big money center banks was the Next Big Strategy that wasn’t. Hedge funds and private equity funds raised an estimated $75 billion for the European distressed strategy, only to find just a trickle of assets for sale instead of the anticipated deluge. Marathon, a New York–based credit management firm with $10.8 billion in assets, is one group that’s found creative ways to deploy the money. While Marathon did not raise a specific fund for Europe, it designated an undisclosed portion of assets for a European strategy. Despite the challenge of finding opportunities outside the balance sheets of big banks, the firm has allocated about two thirds of its European target amount.
