Edwards Took High Paying Job to Learn About Poverty
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Steve Verdon | Wednesday, May 9, 2007 |
No, really. I’m telling you, you can’t make this kind of stuff up. A multi-millionaire who lives in one of the largets houses in his home state takes a high paying hedge fund job to learn about the links between hedge funds, financial markets and poverty. I’m dying to find out what he learned.
Edwards, a multimillionaire after years as a trial lawyer, would not disclose how much he got paid for a year of consulting beginning in October 2005. He said the amount will be revealed when he releases his financial disclosure forms due May 15.
Asked if he had to join a hedge fund to learn about financial markets, Edwards replied, “How else would I have done it?”
He said he considered going to an investment firm such as Goldman Sachs, but Fortress was the most natural fit. Presented with the suggestion that he could have taken a university class instead, he said, “That’s true.”
“It was primarily to learn, but making money was a good thing, too,” the 2004 vice presidential nominee said in an hourlong interview with AP reporters and editors.
[...]
Fortress was the single biggest employer of Edwards donors during the first three months of the year. Donors who listed “Fortress” as their employer contributed $67,450 to Edwards’ campaign and supporters who identified their employer as “Fortress Investment Group” gave $55,200 to the campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Well, the people at Fortress Investment Group sure aren’t in poverty with donations like that. Seriously though, I’m wondering what kind of connection Edwards is going to point too between financial markets and poverty?
Edwards said it’s fair to ask questions about whether there is a contradiction between campaigning against poverty while working for a hedge fund designed to make rich people richer.
Yeah, because if the rich get richer it is axiomatic that the poor must get poorer.
About the Author: Steve has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and attended graduate school at The George Washington University, leaving school shortly before staring work on his dissertation when his first child was born. He works in the energy industry and prior to that worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Division of Price Index and Number Research.
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I'm not sure I've ever heard Edwards advocating socialism or communism. If he did, they being rich and getting richer would be hypocritical. However, all I've heard is him arguing about the need to help the poor achieve and keep wealth.
What is wrong with a rich person advocating for the poor? Do you think that for a millionare to really care about the poor, they should be givnig away their money? That's like saying loving parents never spank, and caring teachers never give failing grades.
Yeah, because if the rich get richer it is axiomatic that the poor must get poorer.
I can't tell if you're trying to mock Edwards, or if this is sarcasm that would actually defend him.
I think it is a load of Bravo Sierra that he took the job simply to learn about financial markets and poverty.
I think it is a load of Bravo Sierra that he took the job simply to learn about financial markets and poverty.
What, you think he needed the money?
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