After the election, hedge fund manager (and founder of Democrats for Education Reform) Whitney Tilson expressed surprise and relief that Trump was choosing Wall Street insiders for his economic team. Now, please, bear in mind that while I have not met Whitney, we have exchanged public letters and are new best friends (see here and here and here), although we disagree on very big issues.
Business Insider wrote:
The president-elect’s transition team announced this week that Wall Street banker Steve Mnuchin would be nominated as Treasury secretary. Mnuchin is a Goldman Sachs alum and would be the third such person to run the US Treasury Department since the 1990s. Trump also picked billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to serve as secretary of commerce.
In the last weeks of the election, Trump adopted the catchphrase “drain the swamp” as a declaration to rid Washington of insiders who are out of touch with ordinary Americans.
Tilson said he was relieved Trump appeared to be surrounding himself with bankers and businessmen, recalling that he was worried Trump “was going to do crazy things that would blow the system up.”
“The fact that he’s appointing people from within the system is a good thing,” he said.
Senator Elizabeth Warren was not at all pleased by Trump’s choice of Wall Street insiders, and she criticized Tilson on her Facebook page.
She wrote:
Hedge fund managers like Whitney Tilson are thrilled by Donald Trump’s economic team of Wall Street insiders: “I think Donald Trump conned [voters]. I was worried that he was going to do crazy things that would blow the system up. So the fact that he’s appointing people from within the system is a good thing.”
Tilson knows that, despite all the stunts and rhetoric, Donald Trump isn’t going to change the economic system – he’s going to tilt the playing field even further for those as the very top. Trump’s Treasury pick, Steve Mnuchin, helped peddle the products that led to the 2008 crisis, and then made another fortune aggressively foreclosing on families who were still reeling from the crisis. Mnuchin has already promised to push massive tax cuts for giant corporations and more lenient rules for his old buddies on Wall Street.
If Trump gets his way, the next four years are going to be a bonanza for the Whitney Tilsons of the world – at the expense and pain of everyone else. It’s up to Democrats to stand up for working families – and they can start by standing up against Steve Mnuchin.
Whitney Tilson was very upset about Warren’s critique, and he brought the matter to the attention of a New York Times business writer, who sprang to his defense, pointing out that Tilson had supported Clinton. Tilson was very upset that Warren called him a “billionaire,” as he says he is not. She removed that word from her Facebook post but has refused to delete it.
I am not sure why she should delete it. Whitney Tilson did praise Trump for picking executives from Goldman Sachs after bashing Clinton for taking speaking fees from the same firm, as Warren said. The hedge fund managers who have been engaged in promoting privatization will do very well during the Trump administration, as Warren said.
Betsy DeVos, unmentioned in this exchange, contributed to Democrats for Education Reform, to help them in their campaign for charter schools, which is the first step in her goal of privatizing America’s schools.
Tilson believes that schools won’t get better with more funding or smaller classes. What is needed is school choice. That is what DeVos believes, too. And yet people who are wealthy prefer schools with more funding and smaller classes. No conundrum there.
Whitney Tilson, and his kind, are America’s worst plague yet. Trump is adding more slop to the swamp. At the expense of kids, taxpayers and communities, charter school debt continues to return 10-18% to Wall Street.
“Wilson believes that schools won’t get better with more funding or smaller classes. What is needed is school choice.”
That’s because they don’t read real research. They make up their own.
And that explains why all the billionaires that Whitney Tilson toadies to spend upwards of $40,000/year for a private education for their kids.
Because they all like to throw away wasteful money. And surely Tilson tellshis billionaire friends how stupid they are are for wasting so much money when their kids would learn better if they were in large class sizes with no extras.
More likely Tilson tells those billionaires they are the smartest people to walk the planet and it’s it a joke that he’s telling middle class and poor families that they don’t need money, just a choice of a crappy charter that will show your kid the door if he has needs that the charter doesn’t want to meet, or a choice of an underfunded public school. Where none of his billionaire friends would be caught dead sending their kids. Because those $40,000/year schools are calling them.
According to Investopidia, “Tilson’s exact net worth is unknown. Still, it is clear from the millions of assets under management (AUM) in his various funds and the sheer profit these funds have generated that Tilson is among the wealthiest of the younger generation of hedge fund managers. Though there are no specific figures outlined publicly, across the board people describe Tilson as a certified billionaire.”
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/030616/whitney-tilsons-success-story-net-worth-education-top-quotes.asp
I’m waiting for the explanation about why the financial sector drags down GDP by an estimated 2%. The statistic reflects manipulative greed, an attack on America and, the inability of Wall Street to be productive. During Trump’s abuse of the nation, maybe people will rise up and demand what they are entitled to.
So Bill Gates just left Trump Tower all smiles and glowing .
Did anyone have any doubts where the Plutocracy stood . This has always been about economic power. By what metric were they ever Democrats.
I have been screaming….Obama allowing Bill Gates to guide the nation toward privatization will be the worst part of Obama’s legacy. It is a tremendous minus. Trump should like his sanctimonious “I am rich so I know more than you do style”. He certainly fits in….except for being richer than Trump, which could cause some friction. Gates already thinks he is smarter than Trump. I am not sure he really is.
Obama’s legacy- loss of the Senate, loss of the House, only 34% of governors who are Democratic and, a Republican president to follow him.
Linda
I agree and I wish I could laugh but I want to vomit.
“No conundrum there.”
Conundrums are for the pee-ons.
or another thought-if you want to call it that:
Co-nun-drums
Take it whatever way you want.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, a loyal scribe for the interests of Finance, had a column today criticizing Warren for going after Tilson, and he proved his cluelessness beyond a reasonable doubt by positing Tilson’s connection to TFA as indicative of his progressive bona fides.
Do readers of this blog need anything else in order to perceive both of them as opponents, if not enemies?
Michael Fiorillo
Yes we do have to discuss fake News. Because when reporters and commentators knowing shape stories to shift public opinion that is not real news.
The revolting Andrew Ross Sorkin.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/andrew-ross-sorkin-gives-goldman-a-rubdown-20110607
Read the last paragraph of the posting.
As the heavyweights of corporate education reform (ignore political colorations) might say in the jargon of the incoming administration: ‘Lakeside School and its like for me and mine, education crumbs for thee and thine.’
They won’t miss a beat in their pursuit of $tudent $ucce$$.
😎
It’s amazing how tender the feelings and egos of Whitney Tilson and his ilk are. Such hothouse flowers. How ever did they amass their fortunes?
“Such hothouse flowers.”
Haven’t heard that one. Like it, although it may be a little too “nice” for my tastes-ha ha!
Tilson risked his business and friends to be an ardent critic of Trump, calling him “con man Don”. He has also spoken out against the carried interest loophole (which he no doubt benefits from). He supports Dodd-Frank, Warren and the CFPB.
His comment about Trump’s pick was that he was glad Trump didn’t pick a complete whacko or totally incompetent person for the job, as it appears he has with Energy, HHS, etc.
Warren got this one wrong. Tilson is the type of finance person that she should be working with.
See https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/14/from-senator-warren-apology/VyK2UF8ytm9aVMj1PAV8iJ/story.html for a follow up on this. Senator Warren apologized and took down the post.
I know most people here disagree with Whitney’s ed reform positions, but my guess is that most of you would agree with him on a lot of other topics.
As the article points out, it was gracious of Senator Warren to recognize the mistake and apologize.