In 1,200 Word Profile on Eric Cantor, WaPo Neglects to Mention His Bet against the US
So the WaPo did a 1200-word profile on Eric Cantor’s central role in debt ceiling negotiations. And somehow they never get around to mentioning that Cantor has a bet placed against US Treasuries.
Eric Cantor, the Republican Whip in the House of Representatives, bought up to $15,000 in shares of ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury ETF last December, according to his 2009 financial disclosure statement. The exchange-traded fund takes a short position in long-dated government bonds. In effect, it is a bet against U.S. government bonds—and perhaps on inflation in the future.
You’d think that’d be the sort of thing worth mentioning.
It most definitely is worth mention.
Also worth mention is the fact that the repugs have pledged their alligence to Grover Norquist, the Koch Brothers, and Dick Armey. Why nobody is talking about their drive away from their oath of office and the representation of the American people is beyond me!
One would think that having a representative in congress bet against the solvency of the country would be grounds to remove him from office! Especially when he is so involved in the debt/deficit negotiations.
I suspect that he is not the only one. There is probably an entire block of our representatives in DC betting against their own country.
Hmmm.
Then Eric Cantor is betting against America.
Against the America people, to be more precise.
Actually, such “bets” appear rather bipartisan, especially of late.
Were WaPo to even acknowledge the very existence of such a wager, then a true can of worms would be opened. Most members of Congress believe in the right of fellow members to strict privacy when it comes to member’s private money-making ventures, this is simply understood. As well, there are RULES regarding “how” members of Congress may enrich themselves, all that no hanky-panky palaver upon which the political class rightfully prides itself. Only the “up and up” is permitted, merely “astute” risk-taking of the most well-informed sort, may take place. Members of Congress have to trust each other, and themselves, and the rest of us can bank on that truth. The media cannot help the fact that they, too, are members of the expansive politcal class, any more than individual pundits can avoiding helping themselves in that particular regard. And frankly, even SCOTUS and the rest of the judicial “branch”, who are also members of this new and improved political class would choose not to notice, and, if news of Cantor’s “hedge fund” were, somehow, to reach them, they should be very surprised and likely wonder what all the fuss was about … since all we are talking about here is money, and everyone knows that money is simply free speech … as well as proof of the most divine right of all.
The right to become richer or even … the richest.
Sort of like the divine right of kings to BE kings, simply because they were kings, used to “be” understood, being the “law”, such as it, once, was.
Therefore, ALL members of the political class feel that they have the right to behave like … well, any way they want to.
What effect this behavior will have upon a number of things is anybody’s quess … unless you are a member of the political class … in whch case you’ve likely already got a certain idea?
At this point, National Security must, necessarily, preclude any further consideration of this issue.
Thank you, EW. Your voice and your insights are very much appreciated, if not by the political class which finds the word “blowjob” to be offensive beyond words while other behaviors go unconsidered, unexamined, or swiftly hidden away, then by the rest of us who value the rule of law, civil society, and actual intelligence, itself.
DW
Thank you. I was very disappointed at the WaPo article and the push to show Cantor as a “hero” of sorts when in fact, he is a traitor.
You’ve properly used the “t” word, klynn.
It deserves, truthfully, Constitutionally, and in terms of humane principle, a far broader application.
DW
In terms of “far broader application,” I was hoping this post would get front-paged at FDL.
At the very least, to poke a finger in WaPo’s eye.
I hope some of the sharks in the financial markets dine on Cantor as an hors d’oeurve.
When Wikileaks shows our representatives’s double-talk and wrong doings, the ones doing wrong or supporting the wrongs call Julian Assange a traitor, even though he is not a citizen. When one of our highly placed representatives actually does something that is, at best, immoral and probably illegal in dealing with the national debt, it gets papered over so that there can be minimal publicity to the nation. cantor probably should be prosecuted for his attempt to drive the nation to bankruptcy.
Which one is the serial killer: Bush, Obama or Bundy.
answer: they all are.