I am so surprised by NYT’s lack of historical knowledge. I’m not sure where it found this info:“The Nazis invaded Hungary and immediately began deporting”. Hungary was a strong ally of Germany right from the start and Horthy was very supportive of the deportations.
4
I read below so many people who didn't understand the integrity and initiative of George Soros. These people must read headlines or get their information from centrists, Republicans and mainstream media. Before I became as informed as I am now, I still knew Soros was on the side of the social good. America has become so propagandized. Will we be able to weather the hurricane of ignorance? I think that is the question.
Thank you for the good read.
7
Perhaps without his knowing it, George Soros reflects the traditions of prophetic Judaism in its weakness (appeals to fair treatment of the stranger can fall on deaf ears), its strengths (repeating those appeals is essential to reinspire moral spirituality), and the challenge of a continued sense of urgency. In this way, Soros's Open Society efforts have reflected the timeless lesson of Hillel: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?" Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14
3
People who have no understanding of how the foreign exchange markets work use Soros's successful speculations in currencies to help demonize him. It's all hype to say that Soros broke the bank of England or the Thai baht. Market forces broke the pound and the baht. Soros along with many other speculators merely recognized the inevitable adjustment that the market would make. Had George Soros not existed the pound still would have been ejected from the ERM. The rate set was not at all realistic in light of German fiscal and monetary policy and a slowing British economy. There were forces many times larger than George Soros at work.
10
Dear Mr Soros, please continue to champion education and opportunity for the underdogs around the world and maybe throw in some family planning and birth control while you are at it. Because birth control and education are the answers. Don't stop, just keep moving forward no matter what some one writes or says about you. And of course you are a target, you are doing fabulously, that is a measure of your success and power, but you know that . Absolutely fantastic.
18
sorry but i'm not impressed by this guy. so he made a boat load of money betting against the pound with other people's money. Big deal. And now he is viewed by some as someone special. come on - i prefer someone who built something - gates musk etc.
6
Soros, with his wealth, has done what he can to maintain the international liberal democracy order in counter to the far right uprising of neo-facism. For this he should be applauded. My thought on all the negative comments here is that ‘nytimes Soros article’ got on the Russian bots radar and than released on Facebook to bring out the trolls. We need to be careful of that influence on our society.
12
Unlike the often self-serving nature of right-wing 'philanthropists' like the Kochs (promoting lower taxes and less regulation for instance), it's difficult to see how Soros profits personally from promoting things like democracy, better governance and rights for Roma.
Unlike so many other billionaires, who were heirs to fortunes and privileged upbringing, Soros is not only self-made but had to survive both Nazism and Communism. Few if any plutocrats understand the nature of tyranny as he does. Thus it is a travesty not only that the Right has been so successful in vilifying Soros but that the Left - and the Center for that matter - have been so weak in defending him and articulating his significant contributions to freedom and democracy.
23
After the fall of the Berlin wall Soros supported the liberal pro-Western parties in those newly democratic countries. At the same time he did everything he could to sideline the conservative - often Christian - parties. Somehow he seems blind to the fact that the people in those countries who supported those conservative parties didn't like that. Democracy is supposed to happen on a level playing field.
It is not exactly clear from the article what Soros' position is on migration. It is well known that some Jews support mass immigration in Western countries because it will reduce the ethnic homogenic majority to a minority. Not surprisingly such a position isn't very popular.
The basis for an open society is mutual respect and trust. Unfortunately Soros' strategy of supporting "good" parties while sidelining "bad" parties has only harmed that trust. It hasn't brought much respect either as political parties are about much more than "openness". Making that the most important issue isn't very respectful for people who have other priorities.
5
A long, elegant look at a fading grandee who, as other commenters have pointed out, a truly pluralistic democracy cannot afford.
I happen to personally share many of the values Soros sought to bring to the client states of the FSU, but my objection to Soros (manifest without comment in this article) were shared by voters across blue Oregon and California who sharply reject Soros-funded candidates for prosecutor over the last 60 days,a story that went unreported in these pages.
They used to say “Think Globally, Act Locally.”
Soros has the money to do both.
But is tellingly miffed when President Obama didn’t put him in a high place.
The OSF grants awards for journalists who will promise to reveal the evil that lurks in the hearts of prosecutors. He’s been fairly successful at buying a narrative about the U.S. justice system that bears little relationship to reality, but is lapped up by the TIMES and others,
There are millions of Americans who reject Trump AND Soros.
It’s not one or the other.
5
please excuse my ignorance. who is the "most-vilified new york billionaire" referred to in the opening sentance?
One may or may not like Soros but accusing him of being a Nazi or a Nazi collaborator is bizarre.
6
Gratitude to The Times for this article. I'm an admirer of George Soros and the humane work that his Open Society has done. (One small example: Laura Silber's book, Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation.) It was a pleasure, then, to see the photograph of Soros with another hero, Karl Popper. Together they light the way toward a more fair way of life.
7
This was an enlightening piece.
Despite Soros' aid to newly freed Eastern European countries, they are still stuck in the time warp of cursing the, "rich Jew". These countries, famously Christian and white, are still in a post-Communist thrall of being able to celebrate their tradiitional religion. They cannot see that their culture, or lack thereof, will still be majority white and Christian, even if they took in immigrants.
No country in Europe has lost its cultural identity because it helped immigrants. The countries that rigidly refuse, like Hungary, should be voted out of the EU. They signed a pact of which they're in violation. They ask for money from the EU easily enough, and never pay it back. Hungary does not represent the EU, fortunately.
Nor does the small Populist part of Poland, or the smaller part of Germany, or Austria or Italy represent the EU. I know the US news hypes ridiculous notions of populism taking over, the EU fracturing, but, living here, I can tell you it's not like that. The majority of people are solidly in support of the EU.
As to the US, I think Soros should support the Democratic Socialists and other progressives in the Democratic party. They are fighting a vicious Right, that promotes making money over the value of humans, or the environment. It's not the time to be a plodding Centrist (old school) when the wolves are at the door.
5
@Lilou. There is no small Populist Party in Poland. There is a governing Christian Democratic Party which swept the presidency, and holds majorities in the Senate and Sejm (House).
You are correct that the EU commissars fight against the will of these and other voters. therein lies the problem
4
Open borders - No, says the majority of Americans and Europeans. The Left has lost this one.
22
Olivia,
I think your comment is excellent and agree with you 100 percent. Thank you.
6
Soros' demonstrated his greed when he speculated on the Thai baht, a move that ultimately brought the country to its knees. Being in Thailand at the time it was evident that Soros was considered a public enemy of the highest order.
Yes, he is congenial and lovable in person, but his funding of left wing radical organizations in the US and elsewhere continues to be suspect. Perhaps he is trying to expiate his Thailand misdeeds.
16
Well done Mr Soros! Your enthusiasm for open societies has had great influence; the world would be worse off today without it! And you have sown many seeds for the future.
7
Anyone who cares about the American republic HAS must read Jane Mayer's Dark Money. It is a harrowing account of how the Koch brothers and their ultra rich cohorts have riddled American society with undue influence basically infiltrating not simply the political system through so-called "charitable" foundations but also the educational and judicial systems. That Soros could be excoriated by Hastert-or anyone on the right- who was later found guilty of -among other things- molesting boys under his supervision as a teacher would be a travesty if it weren't for the fact that FOX and the ultra right will do anything to discredit the left, even as they pollute, deny science, deny the poor of access to medicine, and make billions off the government while advocating its demise all under the guise of freedom. Why more people-journalists in particular-don't cite the Koch brothers and their ilk for buying influence and holding the Republican Party hostage, I don't understand. The Republicans deserve to go down and go down hard and long for their craven, immoral, and hypocritical behaviour.
10
Please, will someone explain why wealthy people living behind fenced and gated communities think everyone else to open their doors to the world's poor? Why must we live in equal squalor, while they do not?
20
@sandrala, Perhaps those in their gilded cages, I mean homes, would open their doors to them other than having them tend to their pools and lawns. Sandrala, we all know that will never happen. It's the do as I say not as I do thinking .
5
My new mission: Do whatever I can to halt the Open Society Foundation.
15
Soros is losing because his ideas are wrong... liberalism is a failed ideology and the EU is a terrible idea that is failing and was doomed from the start. Anyone who pays attention can see the natural evolution of liberalism in Venezuela... less freedom and economic disaster. Capitalism is the greatest ideology that has ever evolved and has brought freedom and prosperity to every nation that has embraced it.
11
@Bill
You don't think EU member states are capitalist, and you believe Venezuela is a representative of "liberalism"? Boy are you misinformed.
4
I added this to my list of favorite quotes:
"He also characterized Trump as a 'purely temporary phenomenon that will disappear in 2020, or even sooner,' and predicted a Democratic landslide in the 2018 midterm elections."
4
A very well written article-very objective. Certain countries in the world may never be ready for a Democratic or Republic form of government. The citizens have not grown up with such a form of government and may never accept it. Russia is a good example. Triabalism suits some citizenry as they distrust anyone from the outside who might change their way of life. This may not be good or bad just a result of their history. Perhaps trying to change it is the mistake.
3
Unhappy as I am with the undue influence of money on politics, I am also unhappy with knee-jerk vilification of George Soros. This is a man who, unlike right wing donors such as the Koch brothers, was a Jew in Nazi Germany. Unlike Trump, he does not claim that fascists are good people. If a billionaire is going to give money for a political cause, as do Mr. Soros & Bill Gates, I personally would prefer they fund humanitarian causes & the preservation of justice-seeking democratic societies. The Koch brothers spend hundreds of millions of dollars funding PACs whose sole purpose is to purchase Republican politicians; their goal is simply to reduce their own taxes & preserve their personal profits. Nothing else, and nobody else, matters to the Kochs & their ilk. Mr. Soros is probably not a saint, but then, neither is Trump yet the Republicans glorify Trump & viciously attack Soros.
Besides, Putin hates Soros. That sends a clear message to me that Soros is probably on the side of the angels.
12
When the author of this article writes that due to Soros speech and the Dow falling 0.02% on the same day equates to an economic crisis, well then there are far more serious issues to worry about, such as obtaining "reliable, unbiased information" rather than a promotional...
If you watched Soros speak at Davos the past year, you might ask yourself if anyone paying attention to what he was saying?
3
Much of what 'sec of CT' is true except that capitalism must continue. Capitalism is largely based on consumption which in the end is killing our earth, and it ranges from pursuing profit at cost to the environment to buying silly products of fleeting appeal to habitual waste. I have no idea what will replace it, but it must be replaced.
2
He is losing his fight, at least in the Vysegrad 4 countries, because they are traditionally very closed societies. The elites in these countries are sort of "international", but not the ordinary people. They see the problems in western European countries, and do not want similar problems at home. Pushing and creating new Muslim minorities in these countries would nt do any good to anybody.
Soros should redirect his activities, and concentrate on Africa, to create a future for the people who are now emigrating to Europe.
Why is there so much money in the West invested in inflated property and share markets, creating bubbles and financial crises, and not in Africa, in a long-term productive investments that would bring safe returns to investors, create jobs for local populations and trade opportunities.
Why are there so many corrupted governments there, interested in tribal wars instead of some future for their people.
He could also try to point the way ahead in the democratic countries, post free-market capitalism, which he sees as broken. How to fix the wealth inequality. How to improve the democratic process, how to make people more involved in decision making.
6
The world is a very cruel place as evidenced by many things in this article. Can a single person change the world? Absolutely. And each one of us must be that person. There is no other way. Each of us must change our mind about why we are in this world and how we can use our love and compassion to heal it, not to harm it. There is no other way. I need only point to history if someone would like to argue that point.
4
Yes, one person can change things significantly if not globally, but for evil as well as good. Relatively modern examples are Hitler and the Rev Martin Luther King, Jr. Neither did it alone, but through people they inspired. We underestimate evil at our peril, and the easiest way to underestimate is if foolishness is predominates.
This article explains to me why good government is so important. While it's nice that wealthy magnanimous people want to put their money to good use. We cannot get in the habit of looking to them to solve our problems. Global trade, open markets, free societies all need good government regulation and policy so the the markets work for everyone. Both capitalism and democracy need to be robust and strong. Today in our politics we worship money over everything else it seems. The desire to have a liberal billionaire to save the day is perhaps the same but opposite as the desire some have to have an autocrat make the rules for them. We need to believe more in our democratic governmental processes no matter how slow they sometimes seem and be more thoughtful about the future well being of our citizens.
6
What I am tired of is us having one billionaire from one party always fighting with another billionaire from another party, these bozos who usually are found out later to not to have paid any taxes are not elected, and on the news we always hear how horrible Russian oligarchs are. Well in my estimation an American billionaire is the same as a Russian oligarch, (an old ignorant white guy with a lot of money). Perhaps it’s time we stop listening to them, and stop caring what they say or what they do unless they get fairly elected without cheating.
7
After this week in politics, do I even want to read this article? I'm worried it will push me over the edge.
1
thank you for providing details on this influential individual.
in an ideal world, though, i'd rather see forces at play
which prevent individuals from amassing so much wealth.
but alas, such a world will forever remain just an ideal.
on the more practical side, allow me to quote & to differ:
"But apart from urging the European Union to direct
more aid to Africa, which he said would ameliorate
the refugee crisis that has led to so much of the recent
political upheaval in Europe" …
NOT AID. FAIR economic policies are the surest remedy.
- europe has been exploiting africa FOR CENTURIES.
- EU trade policies ruin african markets even today.
- US military interventions contribute their unfair share
to turning african countries [= homes] into hells on earth.
pushing people to move northward in utter despair!
- stop food speculation. hidden hunger would vanish!
- stop "free" trade agreements full of traps in the fine print.
- stop financial strangulation [IMF, world bank & co.].
- stop biopiracy. stop allowing nestlé et al. to steal water.
- stop stacking southern dictators' billions in northern banks.
i.e. live more modest, less exploitive lifestyles up north.
dare to share fairly what's there - with the south and all.
2
In 1989 gay marriage was illegal in the West, there was no mass immigration, borders were controlled and there were commitments to protect communities and their traditions after 45 years of assault by the Communist authorities
Theses countries supported democracy capitalism and the rule of law. Since when do the fashions of Liberal elites suddenly become "Western values" that must be adhered to without question?
14
"Liberal democracy" is one of those things you don't miss until it's gone, and when it is gone it is virtually impossible to get back. Whether this nation can survive the brutish Trumpian onslaught of thuggery and totalitarianistic demagoguery that has been unleashed against our freedoms remains to be seen, but when the institutions that protect us fall and all that is left is a cult of personality and whim, unrestrained by law, the beauty that was America will be nothing but a memory. Americans are right to wonder if, after 250 years, what George Washington called the Great Experiment has failed, and that our founders have lost their extraordinary wager that regular people could govern themselves better than a few rich men could. Kristallnacht is not here yet, but the sound of shattered glass is getting louder every day.
3
@Independent Voter
Unrestrained by law? How, exactly?
Kristalnacht? You insult the memory of those victims
7
And you insult the rest of us.
Oh George Soros, you do have friends now and you will have even many many more in the future in the work of historians of this frightening period....
Thank you for all you have and are doing.
5
I have always liked and supported George Soros' political efforts. I don't identify as Democrat or Republican in that my feet tend to stand on both sides. I do research on character, history, and platform for as many candidates as I can, and then make my vote on this work. I see Mr. Soros doing the same. I guess I get so upset when the far right deems it necessary to cut down and denegrate such a person based on lies and misinformation. Thank you for your "service," Mr. Soros!
5
Conservatives always have terrible things to say about George Soros because he supports liberal and humanitarian causes. However, they never say the same things about the Koch Brothers, The Mercers, or the Adelsons. As far as I know, they don't do anything humanitarian - they just support conservative politicians.
7
The idea that billionaires who first and foremost play their enourmous amounts of money, mostly aquiered at the cost of others, can represent true liberalism and an open society, is false. A single billionaire can force his wishes for any society on that society against millions and millions of voters. He/She does not represent democracy or freedom at all. He represents his money and himself/herself. There is no real difference between a Russian oligarch and a Western billionaire. They represent only themselves if not forced to do otherwise by legislation and political leading. They ruin small enterprises and ordinary peoples properties to get hold of bigger markets and investment room for their money, making them cheap and rootless labourours. They ruin the countryside and industries and place people in dwelling maschines with no prosperity to succeed unless they are very clever at serving the billionaires. The societies of Soros are societies where ordinary people have no say. They may vote, but their votes have no meaning, because the results of those votes are always taken from them by the power and wealth of the billionaires. As Piketty has shown: A society that gives too much to the billionaires, creates a few enourmous rich, larger portions of people with no chance and end up as ineffective and unproductive. That is the effect of the thinking and practise of Soros.
8
Soros made his fortune following the truth economically. Now he squanders that fortune in the politics of violence, threats, and fraud. This is the only political paradigm practiced worldwide, on every level. Representitives represent themselves, their power to coerce, not enlighten. I know, I lived it, I felt it taking over and I didn't even get elected. I got out while I still had my integrity. Now, 40 years later, I advocate for a new paradigm, a politics of non-violence, of zero agression, based on reason and voluntary social interactions. Soros has learned that democracy is not about truth but power. Great! But what is he doing about it? Does he embrace the power? Or truth? You can't do both. Choose.
2
According to my understanding the acceptance of indiscriminate and unlimited immigration toward Europe has caused another resounding failure for the liberal left. First it did not influence the totalitarian societies to change course by accepting western liberal leftist immigration to places ( Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt. Russia, you name it) where openness is non existent. Actually the very opposite is unfolding and in the wrong places: millions of unchecked immigrants not only openly attack the hardly earned established order in Europe but also have caused nationalist reaction to increasingly limit the self destructive openness by sacrificing liberal democratic values. Probably democratic liberal freedom has to be offered only to those who respect it.
5
L. Garai, the Hungarian economic psychologist, discovered a scotoma in Soros’s financial market theory; and he found an explanation of why Soros couldn’t have noticed the error of his opinion. “If I see the sign of prices rising” Soros writes, “this increases my buying mood or decreases my selling mood, and that will result in rising prices. If from the same price movement, I read the sign of the market’s price-breaking effect, I postpone my purchases or advance my sales; then, the decrease in demand or increase in supply will establish what I expect.” According to the expert, the reason why Soros couldn’t perceive his error: because with him, it is not communication that ensures the critical mass of money but the wall of his vault.” Soros can imagine creating a world according to his expectations. However, he will experience that the “criticism of reality” is sometimes still stronger. For example, the separate way of the Four of Visegrád, as well as the Hungarian government, asking for the opinion of the people, and the Bavarian, Austrian, Italian stance might begin to take their toll. As a result, it may happen that with the EU-elections approaching, the speculator who admits his error that was discovered by the scientist – although being used to be the one who frequently “blows the tradewind” yet at the same time, not an enemy of his own vault, either – will change his strategy to ensure his profit while also letting self-protection take the upper hand in Europe.
3
Thanks for this outstanding article. George Soros is one of the most vilified men on earth. This was the first article I have read that paints an objective picture of the man.
7
Wallets do not usually come with a conscience. Even if one does not agree totally with Mr. Soros' ideas he has a philosophy rather than reducing regulation of pesticides, stock markets, banks and more. While Soros did slash the British pound, he did not have a monopoly have donated a painting or endow a chair in finance, I doubt his competition funded an entire univerisity, black South African college students, the ACLU etc. I agree distributing the tools of capitalism more widely would help to an equal or greater amount. Aside from capital itself, education is valuable and Soros funded many forms of it from newspapers and more. Philantrophists do not have to answer to voters, donors or political parties and can act strategically.
1
It is not just "income inequality that has fueled so much of the current backlash against globalization" but especially the deteriorating social and cultural infrastructure. If there is income inequality but there is also a way to live without much money and still have acess to nature, culture and art, both as spectators and as active participants, and if education offers hope for the young, people will not notice inequality so much. What ordinary people care about is the life they live and the chances their children will have.
4
You know something, it’s WAY past time for not calling out the so-called, “Good People”, and the, “A racist?! Not ME!”, people when they continue to dissemble, gaslight, play dumb and innocent, and try to escape the fact that they are and have been doing bad and immoral things that harm other human beings whom have been deemed as unworthy.
The more people may rationalize, project and give specious arguments, the fact remains they are doing nothing to stop the impending horror and bloodbath that will accompany The United States’ unraveling and implosion because deep down they agree with what is happening.
Even children being imprisoned and unaccompanied toddlers in court hasn’t moved this country as a whole to say, “STOP!, Enough!”
To put it simply good and moral people, (who have choices, advantages and better access to the power structure), do not allow what is happening to our country and Democracy to continue.
Good and,moral people also do not denigrate, insult, malign, and/or eviscerate the few who DO stand up and try to do the right thing. Only BAD people stand by and cheer surreptitiously or bury their heads in the sand.
5
So many bashing commenters didn't bother to read the full article, but simply glued themselves to the false claims the article was trying to correct. My O My...how strongly humans cling to the scapegoats and false equivalencies while doing nothing to contribute to the truth.
9
I'll be your friend George.
4
Illuminating article.....but even more illuminating commentary: As the also-crude adage describes...we all have opinions, and most here decry the disproportional effect of the money-factor. If you like Soros' politics...then you likely approve his expenditures. If you are on the other side of the political spectrum....you love the Koch's 'manipulations'. This undoubtedly advocates for progressive tax reform, repeal of Citizen United, government-distributed political campaign funding and creation of a democracy where we all equally decide how our society looks & acts. Both Soros & the Kochs have their narrow agendas. It is time for the American people (and hopefully elsewhere) to decide our collective fate through TRUE one person-one vote.
7
The problem is that you never get to one person one vote when one side or one party disenfranchises those with an opposing view. This is what makes Soros' spending different from that of the Kochs. While he is spending to be more inclusive, the other side is spending to consolidate influence and power. There is a moral difference in this as well as a political difference.
7
We find Soros fascinating and intriguing. To me, he is another wealthy billionaire for whom the real world is but a parlor game. The fact that he spends his money on liberal causes and supports Democrats in the US makes him a darling of the media.
I have no time for people like Soros. He operates extra-nationally and sprinkles ideas whose real impact will be felt by us and not him. And the fact that he calls no country his true home makes me suspicious of what he really means to do for the overwhelming number of common people who get up each morning and (hopefully) go to work.
I am even more aghast when I see younger people uttering his name with great reverence; this the financial titan who ran a hedge fund and is just another rent-seeker who lives under the warm light of freedom of the US, the very light he cannot help but try and manipulate.
16
Do you equally disparage Sheldon Adelson or the Koch brothers for their interference with politics on behalf of conservatives? I’d bet not.
4
Hang in there, George.
We're in 'The Empire Strikes Back' phase.
'Return of the Jedi' is still in production.
Joseph Campbell predicted this... (with Lucas)
7
Thanks for the informative article and its open ending. I’ve read through a number of responses and am aghast at the vehemence of many (not all!) — a strange rhetoric that borrows language from the Left and ideas from Right. And as a Jew, I hear in some of the letters the old anti-Semitic characterizations around “gold” and the use of money to wrest a country from its original “pure” inhabitants. Btw, Soros and the OSF do not advocate that all countries have open borders as many many of the responses say untruthfully. For goodness sake, just read the Wikipedia page https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Society_Foundations to find all the wonderful causes he contributes to. To the far Right and the far Left: rhetoric is not reality, and simply repeating a set of interlocking ideas does not help us to understand. I feel shaken by the response to the article.
11
To me, Soros and Trump are both ubermenschen.
Soros is European. Trump is NYC-American. Trump knows the successful 100+ year old American-Canadian-Australian melting pot and sees a way forward. Soros watches the clumsy European efforts with immigration in despair.
Europe has an immigration problem that may not have a good political solution. It shows up as a process issue concerning borders and nationalism. It may bring down the Euro and even the EU as we have come to know it.
All the US has to do is copy Australia and Canada.
But for some reason Soros confuses America with Europe, and he spends money supporting anti-Trumpers. Why?
8
We have a culture that conflates success in one area with ability in others - why else seriously consider the opinions of late night comedians? Billionaires are smart about making money. It does not make them experts on any other topic - brain surgery, baseball, or politics.
14
Thank you George!
There could be no higher complement than, as you say, looking at the list of overwhelmingly vile and totalitarian enemies that you have. People like Sebastian Gorka and others who seem to crawl out of castle walls.
I think that what has happened was only possible through the enabling influences of media moguls, like Murdoch, who discovered that hate and fear mongering sold and then built large-scale propaganda empires that have proven very effective at manipulating populations... as on the scale of Pravda. This plus Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and so on, which have provided the data and tools for this manipulation.
A funding target of yours, if it isn't already, might be enabling objective media to become much more effective at reaching and then giving people the fact-based information they need whether through social network or traditional media.
9
As always, the comments are nearly more vitriolic than his regular decriers. So deeply sad that the opportunity for a short stab is taken,when it is clear this man has devoted his intellectual life to thinking about how to make the world a better place. So he didn’t succeed? What did you do during the same period?
19
Mr. Soros understands the importance of freedom while the rest of the wealthy people in America have no concern about freedom but want to ensure that the rest of America are there servants. If you fail to believe it look at how the Trump administration is attempting to destroy unions, take away women's rights, suppress the votes, destroy social security and the safety net of Americans. Mr. Soros should not give up hope on us because Americans who think realize that the Russian wing of Trump will not sit back and allow our civil rights be taken away from us the normal American citizens. We have fought to hard for our rights as human beings to let Russians take them away i.e. TRUMP
Months of government insanity we realize that our freedom is at stake and Mr. Soros know very well what it is like to live under the thumb of maniacs.
It is all around us now and we need to stand up ,get rid of do nothing politicians and VOTE. Where are the children?
13
Soro's money influence in the U.S. (and the Koch's money as well) is just as dangerous a threat as foreign meddling in U.S. internal affairs. We can strengthen our defenses to keep the Russians and Chinese at bay, and vote in another President, but how do you stop a man with $25 billion who is determined to run the world in is image?
8
And if you had his money, how would you influence the world? By giving the world more gold toilets ala Trump?
1
The comparisons to Trump are gratuitous and a little childish.
There are no logical reasons to compare the two men. Trump is a mental case. But the attempts to be helpful in post-Communist Europe were a bit more urgent, and likely receptive, to his involvement. The challenges tackling America, and many other parts of seemingly free and liberal democracies, are partially ushered in by the wild changes taking place in the past two or three decades.
Those who sneer at the easily influenced followers of "strong men" would be wise to try and walk in the shoes of the common man and woman. This is not a study group following a compelling lecture; these are people with very altered dreams of their own.
We do a poor job appraising how "rapid change" can really destabilize the world. And we should be more compassionate and less hysterical that we are encouraging new Hitlers and Stalins.
5
Soros has profited enormously from the free flow of capital and labor across the globe in the past 20 years...of course he and many of the loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires are for an 'open society'. It makes them richer...
11
I was living in Thailand when Soros helped crush the Thai baht. Much can be blamed on the failures of political and business individuals within Thailand, but Soros is a predator that takes no prisoners. I saw with my own eyes the misery and lost savings that followed. Don't ever throw a lifeline to Mr. Soros...he may pull you in.
15
Of course Republicans, hypocrites to their core, have zero problem with the Mercers and the Koch brothers.
6
Exceptional article and well appreciated. Two points stuck out as key takeaways from this excellent writing.
1) Liberal democracy may be failing because we are distanced by time from the horrors of WWII. Those on the right don't have the connection to the visceral results of tribalism gone haywire. Those on the left were not forged in those fires and lack the steel to enact their visions. Soros is an old man, but you can see how his experiences gave him the fortitude to build his empire and the humanitarianism to enact it.
2) The whirlwind of conspiracy theory theater around Soros is objectively insane. It's another lynchpin in the bizarre, constructed universe inhabited by authoritarians. More than most articles on similar topics, this one drove home that we are living in a world where people don't care to consider causality, physics, reason, reality. Are we losing the Enlightenment, too?
13
@Dan
On the other hand, to expect that the Europeans will give up their desire to preserve and cultivate their national identities is also detached from reality.
10
I met and worked with some of the Open Society foundation staff in the mid-1990s. Mr. Soros and his staff unfortunately ignored how their very existence - as a hugely rich, financially powerful entity, the foundation altered the playing field and denied 'democratic' decision making by simply flooding communities with money to be spent according to the foundation's rules. This is an issue at the heart of all private fortunes that are directed towards public policy: what right do the ultra-rich have to force their views on others?
There was also troubling naïveté about the young people surrounding Soros. (World travelers, well-connected, well-educated, but so fully in the elite that opposition of any kind had never touched their lives.) At the time I was advising on a minor activity of the Soros Foundation, I kept asking the staff how their efforts to establish new power centers ('public interest' forums and groups) in countries that had been Soviet satellites was going to be seen by the diminished (but by no means dead) governments. The Soros staff were so enthralled with their own philosophy -- and so inexperienced in real-world politics - that they denied that any issues would evolve because the 'opposition' would simply disappear as more progressive and educated people rose up. How wrong they were!
19
A multi billionaire who made his money running a hedge fund is going to tell us how all of western civilization should be run. That's great. I bet next we'll hear from someone who is good at dunking a basketball or won an Oscar 30 years ago.
27
Hmmm
Think we have already. Not to mention some dude who used to be on a reality tv show...
10
Does Mr. Soros realize his open border migrant policies are increasing the misery in North Africa and the Middle East? While I don't doubt his good intentions about helping with the refugee crisis, his prescriptions for open borders are exacerbating it.
22
You missed the part of the article that explains his donations to Africa, and his push for Europe to contribute to poor African countries as a method to start m the tide of economic immigrants. Add, your claim about "open borders" everywhere was explained as false Too bad you didn't read the full article.
7
I see a great deal disturbing thinking in some of the comments. As the article itself asks, and I paraphrase, wouldn't it be preferable to live in a society as envisioned by and supported by Soros than in the tribalistic and narrowly defined societies as those in present day Hungary and to an extent Italy? Soros survived the Nazis, because of money and he is trying to help the rest of the world survive with his money. That's greatly preferable to the money being spent by others including, but not limited to, the Koch family and it's foundations which promote anti government and far right neo fascist movements. Never make the perfect the enemy of the good. We cannot have a perfect union but, definitely can have a more perfect union.
31
@Marian Passidomo By encouraging and subsidizing the millions migrating to Europe, he has fueled the rise of the far right and destabilized the EU. I don’t believe his intentions were noble - if you could scrutinize his investments, you would probably find that he positioned trades to take advantage of the instability.
17
I can't see Soros as good or evil, right wing or left wing. I think he has an ideology that blinds him to a simple conflict: you can't make a liberal democracy of people that don't believe in liberal democracy. That's why open borders will kill a liberal democracy. You can choose one or the other, but not both.
19
Mr. Soros, the world is not your toy and you're not God.
“I don’t like making the rest of the world live in my dreams, but I certainly don’t want to live in yours."
Ursula K. Le Guin The Lathe of Heaven.
22
Yes, Soros has money and spends it where he sees fit . . . . the same as Koch brothers, Mercer, Adelson. But the parallel stops there. Soros is open about what he does and the institutions he starts and/or backs. The billionaires of the right mostly try to hide their activities as much as possible. Note Trump's Treasury Department's today announcing elimination of donor disclosure for whole class of recipient front organizations. "Dark money" expands under Republican watch.
Should also note that Soros's intellectual mentor Karl Popper was an acknowledged conservative. Open Society is a conservative concept; neutral at the most extreme. Soros is honest about the "open" part in his own activities - compared to most right wing billionaire donors who try to hide their activities as much as possible.
42
@Bob T. What the Koch Bros are doing in the US is LEGAL in the US. What Soros is doing in Russia, Hungary, Malaysia, Poland, Ukraine, Mozambique, the SAR, and beyond is ILLEGAL in every single of these fine (and not so fine) countries. THAT is where the line must be drawn.
20
@Bob T He creates conflict and profits off of it.
8
@Yulia Berkovitz- What Soros and his philanthropic organizations did were all LEGAL until the governments there felt threatened by the very thought of open societies, and then THEY MADE IT ILLEGAL TO PRESERVE THEIR POWER. The line should be drawn between right and wrong, not between legal and illegal. Remeber, slavery, among many other wrongs was legal in the US and many other countries.
3
To the American people.
Ever feel like government doesn't represent you?
Did you vote?
7
This isn't liberal democracy, it's elitist, top-down global progressivism - rule by Brussels bureaucrats and billionaires, such as himself.
37
Soros reaps what he sows. He promoted some of the worst neoliberals and got wealthy on currency speculation. In that regard, is he truly better than say, the Koch family?
The Liberal order he promoted is losing credibility because the common citizen is facing declining living standards, while billionaires get wealthier and wealthier. The current order seems to exist to transfer the wealth of society to them.
While he has been donating, I must ask, would we not be better off in a society with steeply progressive taxes? We could build far more with the money than any philanthropy could.
I should note that Soros has defied public opinion on many issues, most notably open borders. It seems like he has promoted his version of politics and imposed his views under the guise of democracy. He is villifed and I think rightfully so.
Our world would be better if the billionaires had less influence over society and frankly, less billionaires to begin with, while the common citizen is wealthier.
34
@Chris: THANK YOU!
3
How can liberal Democracy work. It is effectively socialism with open boarders and a destruction of all culture. All religion goes away because its bad and something the less enlightened embrace. Europe has promised pensions and benefits to its citizens that cannot be paid if they stole all the wealth of its wealthier people. Those who want to move in this direction and approach this along the lines of Soros are doomed for failure.
You must have immigration but it must be controlled and not destroy the culture of a country or over run it's public services. You cannot let politicians give themselves and those willing to vote for them publicly funded benefits that are not sustainable and blame the collapse on others.
23
@Walter: you state that "You must have immigration but it must be controlled and not destroy the culture of a country or overrun its public services."
please, kindly try to bear in mind that
people who now seek refuge in europe have had
their countries destroyed by centuries of greedy,
destructive trade & military policies by the EU & US.
and counting climate change in ...
refugee numbers will soon increase.
we'll have to bring in sustainable solutions fast.
2
Look to one wealthy man to safeguard democracy is antithetical to the very concept of democracy itself.
17
I am elated to hear that George Soros might be losing.
What pharaonic globalist plutocrats like him mean by "Liberal Democracy" encompasses a sinister set of objectives. Prominent among which are these two:
1). Full support for neocon/neoliberal destabilization, confrontation, and military interventionism.
2). The destruction of borders, nations, and cultures — particularly Western Culture here and in Europe.
Soros and his peers want unhindered unlimited access to cheap Third World labor as well as to have complete control over the entire global economy. To his class nationalism and culture are speed bumps on the way to those self-serving goals.
37
(2 of 2)
Yet - the inconsistency in every billionaire’s set of rules is that, buried somewhere, there are rules that make him (generally a him) – or a younger version of himself – king…
They’d disavow this – but actually a strength…Though everyone’s equal – things devolve without a governing hierarchy…
And here’s where Democracy sneaks in…
Look at the scope of any government, and realize how much of its work could be done by the private-sector…
The exception is enforcement and justice…Operationally, it could be handled privately – but, after a short while, levels for civil fines would rise like the price of “regulated” drugs in the US…
So, toss in enough other things – firefighting and educating and permitting/recording and roads – to create a motley excuse for electing people to oversee the operations and/or budget of these civil agencies…
With this, what may fascinate these titans about Democracy is not the inherent equality of one vote/person, but the inherent volatility of one clique of humans battling another to oversee operations and budgets…
That is, their already-outsize influence is never greater than when a nation’s politics are in turmoil, which can range from low-level tension to utter chaos…
And just as they arbitraged the difference between what something is worth today vs tomorrow or next week to make their fortunes – they can now arbitrage the difference between campaign promises, and governance – and consequences, intended or otherwise...
1
@W in the Middle; and the alternative would be...what?! some mythical "ethical democracy"? benevolent monarchy? what in the world works better long0-term?
Soros says he opposes the extreme left...but then “Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood are among its grantees.”
It’s exhausting to try to sift through all the bias in this otherwise well-written fence. Or An is called xenophobic without specific evidence in support (unless being conservative and building a wall/fence to stop unmitigated immigration counts as xenophobia). Other examples abound.
Soros is an extreme leftist who admits he indulged in “messianic fantasies.” He clearly tries to manipulate governments just as he manipulates markets.
15
Well written article. It helped me to know the man.
17
What makes someone a "billionaire philanthropist" instead of "billionaire hedge fund manager"?
12
@Kohl- by spending his money on things that you think will make a better place for everybody to live in, rather than hoarding it all just for you and your children. That's what!
2
@MS. That's what the Kochs do also
It doesn't make one a "right-wing troll" to find Soros hypocritical, greedy and opportunistic.
Soros came to fame, and accumulated his vast wealth, by trashing the currency of one of the world's greatest democracies. Currency devaluations are devastating for democracies. They weaken the people's confidence in the security of their own economic future and breed distrust of democratic institutions. This has been seen repeatedly in the modern era.
To score an arbitrage, Soros deliberately trashed one of the pillars of democracy in Britain. After rocking one of the foundations of democracy, he appointed himself the scourge of those who, in his telling, undermine democracy.
The man is a poster child for the moral bankruptcy, the hypocrisy and smugness, the preening obtuseness of the globalists.
When historians try to understand the rise of extremists in the age of Corbin and Farage and Sanders and Trump, they will devote a chapter to bumbling hypocrites such as Soros.
20
@T-Bone
My understanding is that Soros made a bet that the Bank of England would devalue its currency because of an unsustainably high interest rates. George had nothing to do with the decision to devalue the currency. Its one thing to bet against a horse to win. It's another thing to feed that horse tainted oats.
Please explain how other than placing his bet, Soros influenced, caused, orchestrated the currency devaluation.
21
@Surfer Dude He sold short, helping accelerate the decline. You don’t understand how trading works.
Of course, Soros receives a lot of criticism - much of this is earned.
Using vast personal wealth to interfere in other country's political affairs can be unpopular. Nearly destroying some countries in the pursuit of that wealth also does not win friends everywhere.
26
@Dan T
You wrote, and it's spot on: "Nearly destroying some countries in the pursuit of that wealth also does not win friends everywhere." I think that the guilt Soros probably felt over his ruthless currency speculation may very well be the reason why he invested himself so heavily in efforts to eradicate borders and national currencies. Alas, this destructive"solution" is a medicine that kills the patient.
2
It's evident the comments section of this article has been targeted by the vast army of anti-Soros propagandists. Amazing how threatening a billionaire on the left is to the right wing. One doesn't have to admire every aspect of Soros's financial,or political positions to appreciate that he's been a precious ally against the re-emergence of Nazism.
42
@Portia So you don't think big money has much power to influence politics?
12
@Portia
No he is not protecting the world against Nazism. He is driving working people and the middle class into poverty, and destroying their social safety networks by encouraging mass immigration. In the process making the oligarchs and plutocrats even wealthier
19
@Portia Didn't he work for the Nazis.
watch his interview in 60 minutes.
9
Amazing how the left somehow forgets to mention super-rich multi-billionaire Tom Steyer when listing the ultra-rich Democrats who want to buy our democracy
15
We can only hope. Soros is a barracuda in goldfish clothing, and he's not fooling anyone. Hungary has already thrown him out. The US should be close behind.
25
In Hungary, most of the people do not want to be represented by György Soros (Open Society Fundation). This was an open vote in this case. We do not even want migrants to enter and destroy our social care system and our economy from Africa and other parts of the world. We do not want chaos and crime and terrorism. A Hungarian citizen's opinion.
29
History will judge George Soros after he is gone as a hero of liberal democracy and a victim of anti-Semitism (throughout his lifetime and up until today). His life time achievements are those of a courageous proponent of open society, liberal democracy; we should all be thanking Mr. Soros.
31
@Meg Maggio To me Soros represents economic collapse, social collapse, and descent into a dystopia of anarcho-authoritarianism.
19
Soros is the lefts equivalent of the Koch brothers. Neither ones money belongs in politics.
16
So long as the right uses money to influence politics, I laud those on the left who counter them.
1
I have admired George Soros ever since I heard of his funding of a water treatment plant in war torn Sarajevo.
I was impressed by his major score at the expense of the British pound. Speculators like George keep central bankers honest. But, as long as liberal democracy is synonymous in the popular imagination with unfettered immigration and gay marriage, liberal democracy will decline and “right-wing extremism” will be legitimized.
There are plenty of democracy lovers opposed to gay marriage and open borders. They are being hung out to dry by the political left. Weimar beckons.
11
Many of the comments concerning the Soros article have provided me with some additional insight into my relentless quest to understand how people, who seemingly support democracy, could vote for Trump.
I believe many Trump supporters are attracted to his school yard bulling tactics, his celebration of his ignorance, his moronic use of language, his denigration of certain democratic freedoms, the dumbing down of international relations and domestic programs, his re-inventing of realty through his relentless lying, his so called wealth and deal making prowess (vastly over-rated and funded by his manipulation of the tax system), and his ego driven, from the gut, nose thumbing form of governing. Very COOL, no? Is he not the ultimate maverick? NO! There is absolutely nothing honorable or worthwhile to commend his leadership.
One of the benefits of democracy is the right to vote. But voting is a significant responsibility with consequences. Like driving that requires a license attesting to an individual's knowledge of driving, road signs, safety measures, etc. the election of Trump suggests that voters should be licensed. The license would not be a function of education rather one of understanding the basics of American government (its structure and functions), the ability to listen and hear, and some facility demonstrating critical thinking. I recommend 2 commentors in this thread:Luci and HapinOregon.
Informed, thoughtful. engaged voters are the antidote
14
@Arizona
Who decides who is qualified to vote?
Would you favor literacy tests?
How about a poll tax?
3
Its very simple, the open society wants people to cooperate. So you must take the money and cooperate with us. Understand?
3
This is a man who cornered commodity markets drove up the price or set up an elite pump and dump stock scheme using as he admits the herd psychology. He likes the neoliberal open borders policies because he can game the system. It says a lot that his protege Orban saw through him and turned against him.
15
I like Soros and agree with him, but I hope he does lose. I hope all the billionaires lose their political games. Democracy is not supposed to be about who can stuff the most money in the right pockets. Really, folks, it's not!
14
"Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has reverted to autocracy"? No, its governance is like France's and, though Presidents Putin and Macron wield greater individual authority than, say, PM May in Britain, neither is remotely close to being an autocrat.
"He decided that his goal would be opening closed societies." He then decided that China's ancient Confucian culture–the most successful on earth–was 'closed' and attempted to destroy it. That's why George is unpopular: his political judgement is naive and parochial.
8
GEORGE SOROS Has been a philanthropist, helping countries in Eastern Europe to build a governmental infrastructure. I can understand his discouragement. But I hope he will continue in his humanitarian endeavors. George Soros sets a fine example of a person with a social conscience. As a Jewish survivor of WW II, he knows all to well what can be lost if tyrants rise up and attempt to destroy the world.
18
What Soros has done to the economies of the UK and Thailand and the interferences in elections worldwide, especially Hungary, make the Russian interference in the 2016 US election look rather amateurish and quaint in comparison.
Why such outrage at the Russian interference and hardly a peep of criticism for Soros. who arguably has done far more damage.
Also, he is one of the most destabilizing forces, who funds mass illegal migration to the EU and the US via his Open Society Foundation. This tactic has increasingly turned voters off, who increasingly are voting for conservative controlled-borders candidates.
16
Liberal democracy, it turns out, could only work when there was a threat of some competing (hostile) ideology present, namely: socialism/communism. I remember a couple of great thinkers of the day warning on 1991, upon the USSR collapse, that the uni-polar system will not stand, that the world needs balance, that another ideology will emerge inevitable, and that it may not be as predictable / sane as the USSR's breed of communism. It all came to fruition.
3
Perhaps Mr. Soros would find himself with more friends and admirers if he chose to focus his vast wealth on humanitarian issues and left politics. Putting those billions into into cancer research, for instance, would help far more people, and leave a more enduring legacy.
6
"Setting aside all of the complications that come with being George Soros, would you rather live in the world that he has tried to create, or in the world that Salvini and Orban (and, for that matter, Trump) seem to be pushing us toward?"
I suggest that the question as framed begs the real question.
The question is would you rather live in a world controlled by outside interests and forces over which you have little if any input or control, or in a world controlled, at least to some extent, by local considerations.
That has been the existential political question since day one. The principal of self determination is a rejection of authoritarianism which in all forms is dangerous regardless of alleged, justification or need and in reality merely an exercise in concentrated power, be it one man or small coterie.
Despite "our" imperfections the people of this country opted for a system in which political power is relatively broad based, their freedoms protected be granting only certain enumerated powers to their governments which are controlled by frequent elections.
Our system is assuredly not perfect, but as the present dynamic indicates, it's probably as good as you can get.
13
The open society with liberal ethos as visualised by Karl Popper and promoted and funded by George Soros might be under the clouds today, still not all is lost yet, as the victims of authoritarian repression will soon want a breathing space which will inspire them to end the gloom of populist suffocation.
17
Soros’ response to many of the readers who criticize him is that he agrees with them. He condemns free market fundamentalism as being as bad as any other ideology. But the way to overcome it is to create a truly open society with truly free and fair elections and responsible and accountable governments. Yes, he takes advantage of the current economic and political situation, but he uses that money in an attempt to reform that system. Clearly few readers have read any of his books or understood what he means by a truly open society. If he is what many people think he is, why would he support a party that opposed the Republican tax cuts?
15
@ARM Because the Republican tax cuts were vastly disproportionate in their benefits to the rich. He would have profited, but as he says, he has more than he can spend. His interest is the poor, the minorities, the general public.
3
@ARM
Soros wants affluent people to pay higher taxes except for himself. The 12/29/15 NYT article titled "For the Wealthiest, a Private Tax System That Saves Them Billions: The very richest are able to quietly shape tax policy that will allow them to shield billions in income", explains how Soros has shielded his wealth from taxation.
Soros believes in high taxes, but not for himself.
2
All who value representative democracy should applaud the efforts of Soros the political philanthropist.
The rise of Putin, Orban, Erdogan—and of the other autocrats President Trump admires—should serve as a warning to Americans who value liberal democracy.
Democratic institutions are founded on the rule of law. They are designed to protect individuals against the dangers inherent to both dictatorial authoritarianism and majoritarian "populism": bias against and scapegoating of religious, racial and ethnic minorities; neglect of the vulnerable; rank political opportunism; consolidation of anti-democratic power; restrictions on and_ control over the free press; xenophobia; jingoism; abuse of power by elites; and conflicts of interest on the part of elected officials.
The Trumps, Putins, Erdogans and Orbans of the world despise the rule of law. Manipulation and coercion are the bases of their personal power.
Steven Levetsky’s and Daniel Ziblatt’s “How Democracies Die” offers a very disturbing take on the current state of western democracy. One of the book’s most chilling insights: The “people” have never turned back a nation’s drift toward authoritarianism. Only political parties have done so—and they have done so only when a conservative party, recognizing the threat from the radical right, has joined with a liberal party to counter a rising authoritarian tide.
Where are those with the political will to reform the GOP and counter its authoritarian Trumpublican turn?
25
@Andrew G. Bjelland, Sr. We need a Moderate Party. Badly.
1
I like George Soros and his teacher Karl Popper. Karl Popper came up with the idea that the scientific method should be to creatively disprove a hypothesis to determine the truth.
I would encourage Mr. Soros to read Noam Chomsky "Understanding Power" to obtain a more realistic view of reality than "The Open Society and its Enemies"
Noam comments in the book:
"Well, states are not moral agents, they are vehicles of power, which operate in the interests of a particular internal power structure of their societies"
I think the choice is not between democracy and dictatorship, rather between the corporate state and dictatorship.
5
I am not at all happy to say that, not only having the opportunity for years interact and work on his OSF projects in Central & Eastern Europe that Mr. Soros' brazenness in making huge financial speculation gains (at times, see French court sentence) inevitably seeps into and is apparent in his political financing enterprising.
Lets say, starting with his family miraculous survival during WW2, that he is a "complicated" person.
But donors, especially donors with really, really deep pockets are irresistible to too many people.
Mr. Soros' closing remarks in te article reflecting that he doesn't like to have that many enemies and wishing he had more friends might be illustrating his disappointment as professional, life-long wager. Investments into politics, he realizes, didn't yield hoped for - in any - profits.
7
Democracy doesn't work unless almost all of the people who are eligible to vote watch, learn, and vote. We can't expect billionaires or whoever becomes the first trillionaires to save us. Both the cause of the problem and the solution are us. If a few greedy elites got us here, it is only because we let them, even if we were fooled into letting them. Democracy without everybody voting is like the perfect human body functioning on half a brain.
8
George Soros bet big on open borders,one world governance and destroying the working class through unfair trade agreements. Yes he appears to be losing. Thank God for small favors.
65
I can only hope he's losing and I hope it continues for a good long time. After 8 years of Obama (who supports soro's plans for America) there is no way I want his type of government in this country.
30
@MikeInAZ
Soros is not a proponent of liberal democracy. He is an advocate of socialism: centrally planned autocracy.
4
A very sympathetic article, I think he has a few more warts than the author mentioned. Money of his unique richness is not a positive to me. I prefer richness in ideas sparking action. I have never ever heard someone say Soros thinks this is a good idea let’s jump on it. Crickets.
8
Soros' flaw is that he only tolerates centralized socialist democracy. He cannot stand the idea of democracy in the form of a federal republic with a weak central government. Interestingly, he made his billions as a predatory capitalist now he turns on capitalism. He also exhibits a particularly vicious elitism: No one should be allowed to own guns except his private security guards. He knows that umarmed men are always someone's slaves.
42
@Burton The last sentence is complete nonsense. Europeans generally, and Japanese, among others live in countries where access to firearms is extremely limited. Thing England and Germany for example. Yet these countries are as free as we are.
8
@phil There's a social experiment going on in these countries. Japan is a very closed society, where you can visit all you want, but not become a citizen. Germany has been welcoming massive numbers of refugees and migrants, and suppressing any dissent about it.
So far, both are doing pretty well. I'd bet on the Japanese model, myself, but will admit that the results aren't in just yet.
2
@ProfElwood
While waiting to see which demographic/immigration model (Japanese or German) is more successful - how do you define success? Prosperity is only a part of what people strive for. A people without a sense of ethnic/national identity can't survive in the long term.
1
This super-rich elitist from Hungary is trying to buy American democracy and reshape it in his image regardless of what We The People want. And the Democrats are on his payroll and totally owned by this foreign agent!
42
A man with all the money in the world but yet, not enough to stop Trump from becoming president. What use is it then(
Mueller ended his Investigation into Russia, however he might still investigate Trump further. A statement will be made by the end of this week Friday
2
Hmm. I utterly loathe the unelected rich who see fit to meddle and subvert democracies to help their own investments. Whether a Soros, a Koch, a Banks, a Barclay or a Mercer, they are all equally deserving of exile. However the singling out of Soros in particular by certain types smacks of a different form of prejudice...
22
@Mat
Like what? Anti-Semitism? I respectfully disagree. He would be just as reviled for his actions if he were Hindu, Chinese, Polish, Spanish, or anything else.
3
I've worked indirectly w Soros via Stanford University. He is a man of integrity and benevolence.
41
@dolly patterson
But well intended people can also be wrong, unaware of the long-term consequences of their beliefs, and very stubborn about it.
3
The writer neglects to mention another serious mistake in Soros funding. His support for Burman Buddhist nationalists such as Aung San Suu Kyi has fostered the aggression against the Rohingya and other Moslem minorities in Myanmar. Far from being a credible democrat it has been clear from her writings for decades that Suu Kyi saw democracy as a route to power, not a system to govern people in a peaceful and tolerant society. However the Open Society Foundation continues to fund exclusionary institutions such as the Universities of Yangon and Mandalay that do not admit Rohingya students and propagate racist ideologies. It has also supported publications and groups that have led campaigns against the Rohingya. Soros obviously does not support this view of a minority but his money continues to support what can only be described as policies and institutions that contribute to genocide in Myanmar. He has been bamboozled by Suu Kyi and other nationalists posing as democrats and so have too many people at OSF.
6
@Daniel Hudson
Soros has not been bamboozled. He knows exactly what he is supporting: strong central government who can join strong central international government, with the wealthy in charge.
6
Soros and the Koch brothers have a lot in common. Vilified by their political opponents, they use their own money to push their own political philosophies. Libertarian for the Kochs, progressive for Soros. Of course the Kochs would never get as flattering an article as this written about them in the NYT.
58
@JB
it would be much harder to paint a rosy picture of the Kochs since their efforts are all aimed at lining their pockets. This is after all the main focus of conservatism...to ensure the flow of wealth and power continues to flow to those already at the top.
On the other hand, when the rich work to advance progressive policies, they do so against their own economic self interests since they are endorsing higher taxes, regulations and other impediments to their ability to gain even more wealth.
Plainly put, they are just better people and more worthy of admiration...
21
@Rich Huff
Actually the rich can promote progressive policies secure in the knowledge that their wealth protects them from the consequences of those policies. The rest of us aren't as fortunate.
14
On so many different levels this man repulses me.
61
@Andrew - Is that a different repulsion than felt toward DJT and the Koch / Adelson oligarchs?
8
George Soros is openly anti-Israel in it's present state of war re: Palestinians. Let's not confuse nor compare him to any other people - whether they are "Jewish" or not! Irrelevant information. Mr. Soros earned his money and has a right to do with it as he wishes. I for one have no problem with, what we all know about the world today vs. the world 70 years ago him donating funds as he sees fit.
4
Mr Soros is no better than those that the Socialists complain about, like the Koch brothers. Just another extremely wealthy person trying to cram his belief systems down the throats of others.
31
The Russian bots are out, be careful.
outstanding journalism...and Mr. Steinberger might reassure Mr. Soros that his silent friends far outnumber his noisy, mendacious enemies.
12
It's amusing to read phrases like "nationalism and tribalism are resurgent". It never does to underestimate tribalism; as long as groups feel safe they are tolerant. But when groups feel threatened, tribalism rears up in what is not so much a resurgence but more like an awakening from a nap.
The older cultures of Europe are waking up from a nap and realizing that unless they reassess a few long-held assumptions, they will eventually be ethnically diminished and culturally pressured.
Denmark has banned the burka and legislated some of the harshest migration, immigration, asylum, and naturalization laws in Europe. It is implementing laws to ensure integration, including stopping benefits to families whose children are not integrating. Do the author and Mr. Soros think that Denmark exercising control over its future demographics and preserving its culture are malign?
The Danes some years ago elected the Danish People's Party to significant power; the DPP is often referred to as a far right party, but is a typical left-wing party in everything except pushing Denmark toward "multiculturalism".
Sweden's centre-left government, on the other hand, brought in hundreds of thousands of Third World immigrants and then refused even to admit, let alone discuss, the glaring problems with integration within its immigrant community.
Result: the Sweden Democrats, a bona fide neo-Nazi party, are set to do extremely and alarmingly well in Sweden's September elections.
Yes - in Sweden.
45
Lie #1 "Soros bet on liberal democracy."
Populism is liberal democracy. Trumpism is liberal democracy. Hillary ran to the right of Trump on NAFTA, TPP, Outsourcing US jobs, and indentured labor (H-1B).
Lie #2 The past 25 years was liberal democracy.
The labor market was distorted to keep wages artificially low. Workers were bound by law to one employer (H-2B) who doesn't pay them, rapes them, etc. .. and the news media remains silent because they are owned by billionaires who profit from all this.
18
@Doug
Black is white and white is black. Up is down and down is up.
2
Ah yes. $$$ and freedom (just another word for nothing more to lose..). Most interesting FACTOID today had to do with the Gates' Foundation investment in FEMSA a purveyor or/ bottler of CocaCola in MX where bottled water can be hard to come by and expensive and clean tap water unavailable in some/many places. So a non taxpaying foundation gets $$ to treat disease worldwide from an entity directly related with causing disease in a country where the Fed had thought it great policy to hold down interest rates for years -- so more people will "invest." (I have omitted the FEMSA investment in the junque food store OXXO.)
Really time to say NO again and again. Boycott all of it__ and let the market fall. Maybe time to disallow NFPs? Too much corruption, exploitation, hypocrisy -- feed people junque, treat them with drugs..
Yes, words do matter .. as do policies... and Obama was a disappointment at the least. Immigration is a problem and perhaps Soros might turn his efforts to the lands whence come the refugees (and birth control). Might well help the less well off at home to feel secure.
??what investments does Soros's fund hold. Capitalism IMO malfunctions when its supporters profit by doing harm and then don't pay taxes by creating NFPs to "do good" (or memorialize themselves: the so and so foundation. To me a more impt. issue than statues of Robert E Lee.
10
I would prefer Ford to Soros a million times. Ford had been close to community while Soros has no whatsoever understanding of such.
7
It really is interesting how the extreme right love to slime this man who is at least on the correct side of history. He has supported liberal, progressive causes and thank God for him. But the voices of chaos on the right who point this out never mention the billions of dollars the Koch Bros. & The Mercers (Rebecca & Robert) all billionaires, spend on all races in every state of the Union to control the government in offices from election boards and school boards, all the way up to the presidency...Now that is MONEY in politics you can't ignore!
17
@Richard He supports socialism and powerful central governments, making lots of money doing nothing productive along the way. He spent hundreds of millions trying to get Hillary elected.
4
@Richard
Are Rebecca & Robert Mercer billionaires? Robert's former boss and founder of the hedge fund certainly is( https://www.forbes.com/profile/james-simons/?list=billionaires#23abf3851b61 ), he makes a billion or more every year( https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2018/04/17/the-25-highest-earni... ), and is a donor to the Democrats( https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/superpac-donors-2016/??....
1
@Richard,
“...this man who is at least on the correct side of history. ”
There is no correct side of history. There is just history. The “right side” part is nothing but lexical posturing.
5
Putin hates Soros. That is all the evidence I need to like Soros. All billionaires have piled up their gold at the expense of the middle class and poor. But how many pay their penance by spending their loot on protecting democracies? Name one besides Soros!
25
@JAB. The Kochs
1
Every right wing news outlet and small town newspaper in America has demonized Soros. Millions of Koch brothers dollars rolled in, and industry money was used to sway elections. The facts and dollar amounts are carefully left out of media accounts, while they go after Soros. When the grocery, and soft drink industry money paid single mothers to denounce a tax on soda, they used Soros to demonize the opposition.
We are living in Post Fact America. No one in the fourth Estate recognized Fascism.
14
I'd rather have a sane democracy than wealth-controlled politics.
But I'd much rather have the sane wealth-controlled politics of Soros than the disgusting wealth-controlled politics of the putin-"covfefe" duo, or their fellow wrong-wing friends of the Poison Sumak: the Schwartz, Uline, Merciless, Addledson, and Koch. (Note their initials.)
11
@SR
Please explain why it is that when you look at the money contributed to remake society by the 0.1%, that those funding Democrats pay ten times as much in dark money as those on the Republican funding side.
There is a reason why Hillary spent three to four times as much dark money as Trump.
3
@ebmem
And, where's your proof?
There's a book that Soros wrote after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, called "The Age of Fallibility". In it he calls the United States a "feelgood society" where people are only interested in messages that confirm what they already feel about things. This makes them vulnerable to manipulation by sophisticated political operatives like Karl Rove, Steve Bannon, and Vladimir Putin. Bannon and Putin both hate Soros. to them open society is an anathema. Modern open societies are pluralities: multiplicities of cultures, languages, religions and values. That means that people in open societies have multiple identities. Fascists always simplify the world into "Us versus Them" They want allegiance to a single identity: "America First!" "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer!" "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists... We will build a wall along our southern border." Trump and Putin's world is a world of fear and confusion where the truth is no longer visible, but it's all "Fake news" and no person or institution is trustworthy. It's a bombed out moral landscape where the strong prey on the weak. Welcome to the post Helsinki world of Putin and Trump.
9
George Soros is the Left's Koch brothers. He hates ordinary people having freedom to live their lives, without government forcing them to live according to his Anointed Vision. Much like the Socialist existence he was born into in Europe.
14
Not unusual, the headline overstates the premises of the article. But then, Dems, in light of their SCOTUS losses, must forage for cash ever harder.
4
Soros was deeply influenced by his upbringing as a jew in Nazi occupied Hungary. 70 years have passed since WWII and I wonder if the lessons the we should have learned from this have been forgotten.
5
big money guy funnels money to communist and Socialist groups year after year.... oh, the irony!
8
From the article: "I asked Soros what he would say to a Brexit supporter puzzled by his seemingly contradictory roles in Black Wednesday and Brexit. His reply suggested he thought the answer was obvious. 'This is the difference between my engagement in the markets, where my only interest is to get it right and make money, and my political engagement, where I stand for what I really believe in,' he said."
-------
The conflict arises because one's business dealings should also reflect what one really believes in. Things generally don't work out well when one compartmentalizes one's life that way.
12
Democracy is alive and well, regardless of what Soros thinks. He does not represent democracy, he was never been elected to any public office. He represents open borders mass migration, as the name of one of his NGOs implies, Open Society Foundation. Brexit voters, and other voters across the west are increasingly voting against his philosophy. Voters in the US, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovenia, etc, have democratically chosen as their leaders conservative controlled borders leaders, and to underscore, all were elected via the democratic process.
Open Borders and globalism that Soros is pushing is increasingly being rejected in voting booths in the EU and the US.
It is hardly undemocratic to increasingly vote against what Soros is selling – chaotic mass migration made possible by open borders.
He represents liberal democracy, and voters increasingly favor conservative democracy.
38
Much more relevant than the market losing 400 points on his pronouncement is the fact that it soon recovered and surpassed his dire prediction. Per usual practice.
5
Mr. Soros' reputation as a true libertarian was smeared by the rumors that he was training CIA agents to attack currencies of countries that US does not like. Whether he accept that or not, his failure to convince many that those rumors were baseless is now part of his legacy.
3
The great irony of it all is that it is the corrupt influence of oligarchs like Soros that is causing liberal ideals to fail. Ultimately, he wants a return on his investment--be it more money or greater personal influence. The same is true of modern-day progressivism in every form. Its success hinges on there being a vulnerable subclass to exploit. Once people become self-sufficient, they see no purpose in continuing the cycle. Therefore, their elite benefactors must keep them dependent and complacent.
12
Soros provides major donations to advance unhealthy causes, such as the legalization of marijuana, which Colorado has found causes marked increases in driving accidents, and increased hospitalization of youths with psychosis. The so-called freedoms that Soros supports are really counterproductive to a healthy society.
5
@Philip So does booze - and its been doing it for centuries. On the other hand, marijuana is now known to serve medicinal purposes for certain people who need what it does. The choice of who takes it and who prescribes it is what makes the difference.
9
There was no bet on democracy placed by Soros the moment he started to override the will and best interests of the citizens of various countries with his open border policy. Every international affairs book and course states that globalism and the liberal global order are incompatible with democracy. I wished the author of this article who wrote the headlne was educated about this more than us readers, not less.
30
@European in NY
Please name those that state "globalism and the liberal global order are incompatible with democracy." And please, do not include crazy stuff from people like Bannon, Hannity, Alex Jones, et.al. Thanks.
Thanks Mr. Soros for all of your efforts.
Some of us have been watching you for years and have a sense of the titanic struggles you have engaged in.
For all of your critics let me say the world has been a better place because of you.
You must have done something right to get all the right people mad at you.
Don't think we will not notice the attention of your critics and use it to frame our ideas of their warped politics.
It will take a lot of effort to pull out of the hole we have dug, but I have faith that good people, like you, will be essential to this effort.
13
Globalism does not profit the common man. This is the one thing that sticks out and will hurt all liberal politicians. Globalism helps only the few , the one percent.
31
Soros doesn't know or doesn't care that the source of his wealth is a low-tax free-enterprise economic system (as well as insider trading, but that's a different story). Wealth is wasted on liberals.
5
A large percentage of the world’s problems come from poverty and that poverty is due in large measure to over population. Mr. Soros should devote his $18 billion fortune to providing free birth control to the third world. It would be much more effective than trying to manipulate world governments.
63
The global poverty rate has steadily declined over the last 100 years as the number of people on this planet has soared. If your claim is true, it is not verifiable by any known measures.
1
Soros epitomizes the globalist world view: integrated societies, and interdependent economies create a stable, global community in which war is unlikely. Here ordinary citizens have ample opprtunity to develop their talents and share those talents to strenthen their communities while enriching themselves. This world view clashes with nationalism, erhnic and racial elitism, and xenophobia. Here wealth is viewed as a zero sum game in which in order for one group to do well, some other group must suffer.
Perhaps Soros's efforts may have helped to stabilize eastern during its rapid transition from communism to a free market economy. But the fast transition may have been too much for adults who had lived their whole lives under a bygone system, and now there's a backlash.
Geography may also be a factor in eastern Europe. Being in the crossroads between Europe, Asia, and the Near East, this area has suffered a disproportionate amount invasions. It has historic reasons to fear outsiders. And just as the area is enjoying economic ascendancy, migrants come fleeing war and poverty.
6
Donald Trump won because the Democrats nominated ineffective candidate Hillary Clinton (I voted for her in the general election but was not surprised when she lost a close race to Trump). Most of the billionaires who shoveled money at Clinton assumed that they were going to get Jeb Bush, but wanted her as the nominee because she was likely to lose and guaranteed to be a neoliberal even if she won. If Soros actually wanted a Democrat to beat Trump he should have fought for a competitive primary to select a strong Democratic candidate. Lack of billionaire support was not a problem for Hillary Clinton. She spent far more than Trump and in fact more than any other candidate in history, a record that may stand in real dollar terms. Throwing more money at the money-bloated but incompetent Clinton campaign made little sense, and if that was his choice, he should partly blame himself for Trump.
9
George Soros is the epitome of corruption – penetration and distortion of political process by obscene wealth. It does not matter what his true intentions are – he can say whatever he wants but we will never know for sure. And stop calling that "philanthropy". Red Cross and Salvation Army is philanthropy. What Soros is doing is imposing his personal political beliefs and ideas on everybody by buying political influence with his money - that is called "corruption" pure and simple. Sure, he is not the only one doing that, but he is the one doing that most overtly and blatantly. He seems to relish being the face of the elitist disregard for the masses. What he does is not democracy promotion - it is the exact opposite – democracy destruction. It is good to know that he is failing in that effort.
39
@David The overt and blatant is what makes the difference, here. The sneaky is what you have to look out for.
2
I agree with Soros’ politics.
Yet, I have a huge problem with one man having so much money which has contributed to the income inequities that is causing to the anger which gave rise to Trump and the GOP.
Koch, Gates, Zuckerman, Bloomberg and all the other philanthropists should not be allowed to force their arrogant agendas on the rest of us.
The wealth of the nation should be paid in fair wages to laborers. CEOs and Hedge fund managers are not smarter or more valuable than anyone else.
Unfortunately, in today’s society it seems that folks equate wealth, the friends one has in their network or the IVY league school they attended with a person’s value, IQ and an expression of how “hard” someone works to get ahead.
It’s as if we all start at the same point in life. Which is not true.
Tesla’s CEO is no more valuable than the laborer building the cars on the manufacturing line. He is smart in a different way, much like driving on the left in Britain- it isn’t better, just different. CEOs and laborers should share the wealth more equitably - not with todays inequality of the CEO making 1000s time more. Let the public decide how funds are to be spent, not corporations nor politicians purchased by corporations or philanthropists.
Trump is an example of how wrong that is.
Soros is the left to the Koch’s right agenda. I want neither putting their money into our democracy. Both are helping move the world into the spiral of facism. Ironic, no?
14
This is an aside, about Soros and Victor Niederhoffer, mathematical prodigy, Hedge Fund founder, a man-in-full. Check out Wikipeida for his decade of meetings he sponsored to explore a liberalism of Fredrich Heyack, built on Austrian Economics-now close to Libertarianism.
When Soros's son got his MBA and was ready to learn the profession he reached out to his friend Niederhoffer to be his mentor. Their philosophical-political differences only enriched their friendship.
Retail politics means winning elections, with principles ditched as weighing down a persona that must resonate with one's electorate. From my knowing Victor, and their relationship, both of them value the process of understanding a civilization that struggles to survive.
2
This is not rocket science. Soros has not invested in any kind of democracy. He is a liberal progressive (itself a misnomer). Democracy is focused on individual freedoms and liberty. The liberal progressive movement is focused on globalism and enslavement of the individual to a single ideology antithetical to individual freedom and liberty. It's why the EU is starting to break up...and it's why Soros "senses" that all of his money and influence is gradually being rejected by so many, because people are starting to understand where his ideas lead: to a marginalization of any/all positions and opinions that conflict with the liberal/progressive ideology. His way is anything but support of individual freedoms and empowerment
30
Soros’ Open Societies Foundation funds social service agencies which organize undocumented migrants to make demands of our government. Even though the migrants came here illegally, they are demanding a path to citizenship and the right for more of their brethren to move here.
Therefore, I was surprised to read, in this essay, that Soros does not back unrestricted immigration and a border-free world. What exactly are his views on immigration?
Instead of championing the alleged rights of undocumented migrants to citizenship in the U.S., why doesn’t Soros use his billions to help ordinary Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans improve their lives in their own countries?
52
Based on what I've seen recently I'm much more optimistic about the Western European democracies than I am about the U.S.
4
@B Windrip
THE US
ECONOMY BOOMING
US Military getting stronger with other NATO members finally agreeing to pay their fair share
US out of control bureaucracy being shrunk.
Freedoms being restored
THE EU
Economies reaching End Stage Socialism
Out of control elitist dictitorial leaders no longer accountable to the people
Out of control, massive immigration overwhelming European culture with immigrants who reject our most cheerished human rights and values.
7
If Mr. Soros truly wanted to do “good” for the world, he would be funding family planning clinics. He would be funding local health care organizations. He would be fighting for the global environment. He would be funding primary education initiatives. He is not doing that - it appears he is buying his way into the local politics of countries where he is not a citizen. This is not doing “good” for the world - it is a vanity project - and it is buying him much deserved scorn. The overwhelming danger our world faces right now is the fact that our environment is being destroyed. Overpopulation is one of the major causes. Work on lowering population growth. Fund work on remedying water pollution. Fund work on cleaning up environmental disasters.
58
@Maureen If you'd read the article, you would have seen this: " Its annual budget of around $1 billion finances projects in education, public health, independent media, immigration and criminal-justice reform and other areas. Organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood are among its grantees." As much as he spends, there is still more to do and so working to establish justice is no small thing.
17
@Maureen, right wing governments don't tend to fight for the environment, like family planning clinics, devote much money for local health care, want to improve education, etc. Look at our own government. They want 'em barefoot, stupid, and grateful for the meager healthcare they can get, and the right wing voters seem to be happy to go along with it. What am I missing? Maybe he should be more of a politician and make nice to dictators and try to persuade them with bribes to make them go along with such initiatives?
Maureen- you are wrong. Take a minute to look at the website of the Open Society Foundations and you will see the breadth of the initiatives that OSF funds or partners with other organizations on. Educate thyself.
3
It is "failing" decent patriotic US citizens are not so selfish that they want something that is (in their opinion) bad for the country. Hopefully the Hillary experience indicates that the office of the president can't be purchased (she spent more than Trump). And that at least some of our citizens think more of their country than they do their selfish interests.
38
By voting for someone who has been sued repeatedly for not paying his workers a living wage or who won’t release his tax returns? Very patriotic.
9
@vulcanalex Cue Samuel Johnson quote.
"Billionaire philanthropist?" Really? Does that make the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelstein "philanthropists" too, or does that label apply only to left-leaning individuals seeking political leverage many times that of the average citizen?
One citizen, 1 vote. ALL citizens should be limited to $100 contributions for their senators, representatives and the President. NO citizen should be able to contribute to a campaign in a state where he/she is not a full-time permanent resident.
And NO citizen should be able to contribute more than $100 to his/her own campaign. We don't need more Kennedys, Clintons, Bloombergs, Trumps, Perots or Forbes buying (or trying to buy) their way into public office, using their millions.
Of the people, by the people, for the people. That's the model, folks. Depart from it at your peril.
235
@alexander hamilton Your proposed limits would require a constitutional amendment, go work for it.
3
@alexander hamilton
But no limits should be imposed on corporations. So said the Supreme Court. Surely you would agree with that?
@alexander hamilton I could not agree with you more. There are many people working on this. Why not join us? Look up the American Anti-Corruption Act . Look up makeitfair.us. Both of these organizations are dedicated to getting money out of politics. We are not partisan. We have room for liberals and conservatives. Let the people decide. Keep up the good work.
1
At my age, one tends to recall certain statements but not their source. For example, I knew Putin baited our President but had forgotten the context Soros made clear in, "The Crash Of 2008." It led me to the few pages devoted to Russia and his insights about Russia's aspirations toward European values.Those few pages served as a recollection of what I admired about Soros's wisdom. In the meantime, I hope he doesn't grow too harsh on his mentor, Popper. I remain steadfast in my admiration for a man from my generation-namely, George Soros, and his humanitarian concerns which are presently in rare political view.
24
Soros, like the Coke brothers, exemplifies why no one should have so much money - which can translate into so
much political influence. We should have tax rates of 90%
for the very wealthy, not just for the sake of greater economic justice, but for the sake of greater equality in terms of political influence. When Soros says that the Democrats ar moving too far to the left, I'm thinking why doesn't a man his age know that even Bernie Sanders is to the right of where the Democrats were before the 'New" Democrat Clintons in the '90s, who are basically like the Liberal (Eastern) Republicans used to be. I was not thrilled to read that Soros contributed hugely to continued Clinton ownership of the Democratic party. Sure, he has the right to support what he believes in, but he shouldn't have that much money to do it with.
26
@Jenifer Wolf
Ms. Wolf, you are going to have to cite some examples of Democrats who were further left, prior to the Clintons, than today's Democrat Party. I argue that ascertion is not true.
On the matter of 90% taxing the super wealthy. Who determines what is the income where that goes in to effect? Where does the money go? What would be a person's incentive to create more jobs and expand if the government is just going to take the money? How many of the wealthy would stay in this country and create jobs here when the government takes 90%? What gives anyone the right to take 90% of a person's money they earned?
8
@Michael Redford When MARGINAL tax rates were upwards of 90% there was no shortage of individuals creating jobs. No one lined up to leave. It's not incentive, it's initiative that matters.
1
That 90% Tax is what made America great, now we are seeing the decline. Ever since Reagan the American way is under attack. This is why Americans are falling behind in every way. @Michael Redford
Neoliberalism has failed to improve democratic governance and reduced distribution of wealth, just as leftists predicted. Soros benefitted financially, which has increased his privilege to participate in governance voters cannot achieve. Despite Soros' wealth, successfully manipulating currency markets does not easily transfer to manipulating electorates. Even if Soros believes his projects would produce good governance, he lacks the ability to convince voters what is in their best interests.
34
@idimalink "what is in their best interests" as he sees it. He made his money legally, he can spend it however he likes. The common person may or may not see the world as he sees it, however.
22
@Dave And idimalink has no problem with the Right's chumming for the electorate by playing to their base instincts.
@Dave Three pinocchios for "made his money legally." https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/21/business/soros-is-found-guilty-in-fra...
George Soros is certainly no Jonas Salk & is less valuable to mankind, his gifting notwithstanding. As a Democrat, I'd want to have some say over application of his wealth for betterment of the social fabric through a graduated income tax, if outlawing the source of said wealth failed, another certainty.
Most likely however, like most effectively unproductive plutocrats, he'd have gathered up his marbles & gone home if denied "freedoms" trumpeted by the megalomaniacal capitalists as a foundation stone for civilized society.
Even so, if I had to choose my grudgingly favorite plutocrat, I'd pick Soros.
8
@Apple Jack Why does Soros have to be an angel? Because it's safer than wrestling with the Devil?
@Apple Jack
Not sure why you feel you are entitled to "some say" over his money. If you "graduated tax" him into oblivion and he "picks up his marbles" along with his jobs and moves to a different county, what have you accomplished to help the US people?
@Apple Jack- I’m sorry, did you actually say “As a Democrat, I’d want to have some say over application of his wealth”? The man survived Nazi Germany, immigrated to the US and like it or not, made a whole lot of somethings out of nothing. Sure, I’d like to see him create a foundation in the US that focused on changing our Welfare system from hand out to hand up for those who are able. You know the whole “.....teach a man (person) to fish...” parable, but it’s his money, he earned it and is spending it according to how he sees fit. Frankly, if you review the article another time it’s fairly easy to see he hasn’t been too successful in many of his philanthropical choices. I’m certain you (as do I) spend your own money as you see fit and certainly don’t need someone else to have oversight or govern your monetary spending choices. Respectfully, just because Mr. Soros is wealthy doesn’t entitle anyone to how or on what he spends his on.
1
A progressive, liberal form of government has the least chance to succeed. It needs caring, educated, knowledgeable and participating citizens in order to function optimally. Maintaining and governing a democratic republic is hard work.
On the other hand a fascist, theocratic, reactionary autocracy, whatever the nomenclature or description, is easier to maintain and govern than is a liberal/progressive democracy. Neither thinking nor governance are required to maintain an autocracy.
Edmund Burke on democracy:
Burke believed that government required a degree of uncommon intelligence and knowledge not possessed by most people.
Burke thought that most uneducated people, if they had the vote, could be influenced and easily lead by demagogues. He feared that then the authoritarian impulses unleashed by demagogues would undermine traditions and established religion, leading to violence and confiscation of property.
Burke warned that democracy could create a tyranny over unpopular minorities who needed the protection of the educated, intelligent and non-discriminatory.
I applaud Mr. Soros for fighting the good fight, rather than emulating William Buckley's mission statement in the first issue of “National Review (1955) that his mandate was to stand “athwart history, yelling Stop.”
35
@HapinOregon
Soros is/was a wealthy, privileged elitist. He conspired with fascist, theocratic, elements to acquire wealth as a youth and enriched himself by destroying the British economy and Pound. He has sewn chaos and socialist causes around the world keeping millions subservient and ignorant slaves to the elites. Wake up and do some research.
8
@Patrick
Absurd. Trump is a demagogue. Soros works in the background and is not a popular leader in the US at all, so can hardly be a demagogue.
@Mike Jefferson
You need to do your own research; Soros did not destroy the British pound or their economy. They did it all to themselves. He was smart enough to bet on them doing so, and was proven right and made $$ on it. It's not him who kept millions subservient and ignorant- it's the autocrats and the fascist states run by them.
George Soros recently sullied his reputation here in Portland when his PAC supported an inexperienced and unqualified defense attorney for DA of Washington County. Soros's PAC campaigned against a candidate who is well-liked, not averse to progressive reforms, and deeply involved in the community. That candidate ultimately won the election by a landslide, despite significant financial opposition from Soros and his PAC. Many of us found the meddling in a purely local, county election to be pretty offensive.
https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-primary-kevin-barton-max-wall-wa...
59
Willamette--I understand your frustration with the mistake Soros made in your community, but let me point out that I "meddle" in other people's elections, by sending small donations to more than 3 dozen candidates, in many states, because I want local, state, and federal elected offices to have a suitable number of progressives, representing the needs of all Americans. This may not be your point of view, but we all have a right, and a duty to try to save democracy, the best way we know how. I'm sorry if you believe that Soros made such an egregious mistake, but that doesn't make him a bad guy, who's opposed to the democratic process. I'll bet I've made a couple of mistakes, myself, even with my $25 donations.
7
The 'meddling' will persist as long as we allow people to retain the kind of wealth (& therefor influence) that we allow now. People with great wealth shoult be taxed at the 90% rate that they were in the good old days. Soros is not the worst of the worst. But that doesn't change the fact the his wealth gives him greater political influence than any one person should have.
1
@Willamette Oh, please! Let's stick to the facts. Kevin Barton was funded by a Republican PAC . Yes, he won - but that's no cause for celebration. At least, not for Democrats.
4
While our country was born a republic, a rabid democracy is what got us a Trump Presidency. I'd hope that we can return the Electoral College to its formal extremely understated glory.
3
@dugggggg The Electoral college did exactly what it was designed to do, that is to prevent in presidential elections a majority from imposing their ideas on the minority. How about they abandon their highly irrational ideas, they won't do that.
11
The Electoral College is what gave us Trump, not the popular vote.
2
It had nothing to do with tyranny of majorities, or protecting people from being misled (the people writing the rules were among the only ones allowed to vote, and there's no way they'd refer to themselves as "easily misled")
The electoral college was a give away during the constitutional convention of 1787, along with the 3/5ths amendment, to the slave-owning Southern states in order to give them demographic / political parity with the North. The college had final say in executive elections and was made up based upon a state's total number of members of congress which, in slave-owning states was boosted by being able to count their slaves as 3/5ths of ONE person. It's one of the last and most enduring legacies of slavery in America and needs to be abolished.
5
This country has - more and more - been saddled with politicians in high office that are bought and paid for. Both Democrats and Republicans are agents of the uber-rich, because the wealthy are the ones that have enough discretionary cash lying around to buy the campaigns for the politicians.
In our last election, a new wrinkle was added - a candidate owned by a hostile foreign power, with assets and resources that you and I cannot even begin to imagine, much less pay for. Lo and behold, that candidate won, and now we are in a terrible spot.
But was this campaign any different from what the U.S. did to elections in the Ukraine? It appears that we may have set the example, and Putin's response is only tit-for-tat one-upmanship.
Anyone with any sense knows that Trump is a goner, and that there is years of work to undo that chaos he has brought to our domestic policy, foreign policy, environmental policy, etc., etc. We do not, however, need any persons in high office that are beholden to anyone but ALL the voters in their election.
Sorry, Soros; your philanthropy can be spent well on other causes. We need to get the money out of politics, and we need to do it NOW. We need to limit political donations to some fraction of the average American income, and eliminate donations by anyone except registered voters. Supreme Court will be damned, but We the People is still the basis of our country, not unions, corporations, or foreign "investors". We the People.
34
@Chris
"In our last election, a new wrinkle was added - a candidate owned by a hostile foreign power, with assets and resources that you and I cannot even begin to imagine..."
Mr Mueller has had a team of investigators trying to prove this for over a year. Will you please send the evidence you have to support your accusation right away. He needs you help.
6
I'm with you Chris, well said.
@Chris oh, puhleeze- no more false equivalency!
It's at times, like this, when your goals and your lives are in jeopardy, that you redouble your efforts, renew your spirit, and refuse to give in. George Soros, a holocaust survivor, knows a little about this.
40
@ChesBay Soros is actually ON RECORD discussing his collaborations with the Nazis, despite what the spin machine has attempted to do to distort his history. He literally explained in a 60 Minutes interview that he pretended to be a Christian and helped with the confiscation of property from fellow Jews by rationalizing: "If I weren't there, if I wasn't doing it, somebody else would be taking it away anyhow." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Id0-Lsyr0
We can quibble the finer points over whether he was a pure Nazi or was under duress, but it is an absolute disgrace to call him a Holocaust survivor. If you and your friend are walking down the street and a mugger comes along and your friend decides to help the mugger out to rob you in exchange for protection, you don't call your friend a robbery victim.
9
Soros employs his vast wealth to create the society he dreams of, regardless of what the rest of us want. When the democratic process veers away from his vision, he uses the power of his wealth to steer it back.
So he's just another wealthy and powerful elite trying to remake the world as he prefers it. Such arrogance!
87
He’s generally been an awful person
2
Our government encourages this arrogance by failing to adequately tax the wealthy.
1
@geezer117
Political environment heavily depends on lobbying, super PACs and other forms of big money influencing democratic process which is not Soros’ fault. Do you think the same about Kochs, Thiel etc?
http://ifmbanm.com/blog/?p=547. I was saddened by Mr Soros' distress at having more enemies and fewer friends. I, for one, think he's a hero. I'd be honored to be his friend.
33
Please do not defame the name of Judaism by associating him with Judaism. Bibi and the State of Israel disown him for many reasons.
30
@profwatson And his religion appears to have very little to do with his politics.
6
Bibi is a Zionist, the Jewish equivalent of a nationalist. Soros is a globalist. It is possible to be Jewish and either left leaning or right.
4
Judaism is a religion. Israel is a state. Neither Bibi nor the State of Israel speaks for all Jews.
4
Soros made his money as a trader. Big money. As I see it, there is nothing wrong with that. When he saw a profit, he went after it, irrespective of its size.
His other activities lay bare the key problem of democracy, its vulnerability to internal demagogues who make promises that the population wants to hear, and to external dictators such as Putin. Soros assumes that politicians stand for some ideas, and that in a democracy we can choose those who have the best ideas. Unfortunately, in both democracies and dictatorships, many leaders are only interested in power for power's sake. Fortunately, in democracies we can at least replace the leaders, so they have to behave to some extent.
Aristotle already wondered what the best type of government was. Clearly, a democracy is better than a dictatorship. One should however always be aware of the existence of groups of people who only seek power for its own awards, and here Soros has a blind eye. Having gained from the opportunities, he does not see that many leaders are only in it for themselves, and want to take away the opportunities for others that he received.
My sympathy goes however to Soros, who is beacon in this world of awful despots such as Trump and Putin, and their toady trolls, not to mention the current incredibly servile GOP leadership. Keep up the good work!
28
I have always admired Mr. Soros for putting his money where his mouth is---supporting many good causes.
He has been maligned by those right wing extremists unfairly.
As he says, maybe he has done something right to incur their hatred.
I wish Mr. Soros well and a happy and content golden age.
47
@May MacGregor I don't follow him closely so I might have missed it, I think most of his money is spent on politics. If I had such wealth I would apply it directly to those issues I care about. First would be child abuse, and poverty that fosters it. None would go to politics, NONE!!
6
@vulcanalex Soros has different priorities, apparently.
@vulcanalex Your thinking is not accurate. His funds have directly donated to many good causes, involving open society, and more.
Also, donating funds to good politicians whose belief aligned with his is also supporting good causes even though it is indirectly.
Wow, the vituperative comments in the Comments section surprised me.
Soros appears to be donating large sums of money towards helping to bolster liberal democracies and open and democratic reforms. Not so bad, I think.
All the comments seem to talk about the ways he made his money and that very wealthy people should not have so much say in our democracies. While I agree, particularly as embodied in such travesties as the Citizens United judgment, he's still doing a lot of good for a lot of people. Compare him to the Koch brothers or Adelson for a quick reminder.
Capitalism needs reform that diminishes inequality, including reforms of the financial sector, to political contributions, and to wealth taxation. But slinging arrows at George Soros seems peculiarly misguided. He succeeded wildly in what may well be called an unfair system; but he is spending his money to help foster democracy. He's one of the good guys.
180
why is it up to Soros, merely because he's wealthy to decide what values are the right ones. Personally, I agree with some of his values & not others. But that's not the point.
4
Gary A. Klein--there are a lot of trolls, and no goods, who comment on this news site. Not all of NYT readers are devotees of our democratic republic, or in favor of the interests of the majority.
3
@Gary A. Klein Anyone who wants open borders is not a “good guy.” Every nation has a right and an obligation to control its borders for the safety and well being of its own citizens. To do otherwise is negligent. The majority of Americans want illegal immigration stopped. So do the majority of Europeans. Ask Angela. She recently found out the hard way.
2
Soros is right here: “Soros was in a reflective mood. He said democracy was in trouble because in many countries it had become sclerotic, insufficiently responsive to the public’s needs.”
I think of the new left and the energy it is mobilizing. Maybe excessively to the left, but it is like a breath of fresh air. They will learn, like we all should. But aat least they are striking a resonant chord.
13
violetsmart--The "new left," or progressives, often referred to as "extremists, are actually the new reason that is mobilizing the American public. We favor the interests of ALL the people, heath care for all, quality equal education for all, better (and more) immigration, fair taxation of the wealthy, freedom from religion, voter expansion, a living wage, a regulated environment, a regulated corporate, and banking, world, a continuing fight against racism and xenophobia, a reformed judiciary, and law enforcement, support of our allies, fair/free trade, and suppression of oligarchy/plutocracy/fascism, just to name a few of our goals. These used to be the "middle." Now, they're "extreme?"
3
Hey George,
Socialism does not work. It never has. It never will.
37
Ironic that you have misappropriated the name of the great writer, who was a democratic socialist to the end of his days.
22
@George Orwell
Have you heard of Denmark Norway, Sweden and Finland? Socialism has thrived in these countries for many, many decades. On the other hand, Democracy is failing at a terrifying speed in the USA and in many countries in Europe including Italy, Poland and Hungary.
10
@Michael Feldman Good point, but all of those countries are highly homogeneous in their populations. And some are now failing as well. Some are insulated by large oil income that they invest as well. Such won't work here and somewhat is failing there.
2
What? An article loaded with references to Soros's wealth, but not a word about the Koch network of right-wing billionaires? Not a word explaining that Mr. Soros's contributions to the Democratic Party are dwarfed by the contributions of the millionaires and billionaires on the right?
And no explanation that Viktor Orban is, in fact, a fascist? No mention that Mr. Soros is fighting a battle against the same fascism which, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright points out in her book "Fascism: A Warning" is rising across Europe?
I find it unfathomable that Times Magazine would take this generally negative tone towards a man fighting for democracy, for freedom, and against anti-Semitism and against Fascism.
Sounds almost like Trump's claim that there were "good people on both sides" in Charlottesville.
52
Sean--In fairness, the NYT has covered the Nazi associations of the Koch family, and so many of their nefarious entanglements with organizations that have benign sounding names. The Kochs and the Mercers are bad people, who have no interest n the common good, or a diverse nation. They possess most of the worst qualities known to humankind, and no effort should be spared making their associations, and morally questionable activities, known to as many Americans, as possible. Using their vast wealth for evil, rather than good, in spite of those cozy commercials you often see on TV. These are really terrible people.
2
@Sean Amen!
1
@Sean it's an article about Soros after all.
What Mr Fukuyama says of the support for the liberal order in Eastern Europe is equally true of the US. No reason not to add Trumpism ... and Erdoganism, Netanyahuism, LePenism, Farageism, to the list.
5
Amazing how this story has brought out the radical right-wing and anti-Semitic trolls. The billions Soros has given to liberal causes pale before the trillions that businesses and governments spend every year to market and support right-wing dictators and oppressive systems generally.
55
@dschulen: NOT amazing when you add in the known fact that MOST such trolls- are paid Russian employees. The word "Soros" is a current focus for them- mention it; and like flies to road-kill; they swarm in and go to work.
I am not interested in windfall investing profits. Soros is *not* my hero: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-george-soros-broke-the-bank-of-thaila.... Wretched.
46
@Charles Becker From the article you cited: "Had the authorities responded to the depletion of their reserves, the adjustment would have occurred sooner and been less painful. But the authorities allowed their reserves to run down; the break, when it came, was catastrophic."
Seems like there are at least 23 bobbleheads who didn't even bother to check your assertion.
2
@Stourley Kracklite,
And how did the naivete of the central bank directors in Thailand excuse the attack on their currency for massive private gain launched by Soros? Soros is a financial predator; untold millions of ordinary citizens of the world who haven't the capacity to monitor central bank decisions pay the price. Your final sentence sounds an awful lot like an infamous statement made during the 2016 campaign by Hillary Clinton.
So I read the headline of this article and thought it would be a nice lengthy article that would supply me with some in-depth information and perhaps insight into how this person "ticks". Instead, I am forced to read a childish, unnecessary, cheap-shot thrown at another and thinly veiled in the first paragraph. I immediately stopped reading any farther. Not only does Steinberger come off as immature and unprofessional, but he makes the reader take the nearest off-ramp to avoid any further disappointments. It only hurts Steinberger and the NYT.
9
I think this is a fair and illuminating article which gets to the heart of the questions - philosophical, historical, economic and personal - that go to the core of modern Western tensions, between freedom and the speculative power of modern capitalism.
Soros' life and views are at the heart of those tensions, because the rise of inequality resulting from the free mobility of capital has created the conditions, an echo of the collapse of capitalism in 1929-1932, though yet not as intense, that fueled the rise of fascism, and added to all the destablizations that followed in the wake of the other great 20th century trauma: World War I, 1914-1918.
It is fascinating that he senses another great financial crisis, but can't pinpoint its causes and origins - what he named in May of this year are pretty general, far less specific than those named by Michael Greenberger of Maryland and the Institute of New Economic thinking - which has an old Soros hand - Rob Johnson - at its head.
George, take a look at where credit default swaps bets are going today, and the attempts to get them away from Dodd-Frank's reach.
The man of the hour in the West is now Yanis Varoufakis, not Soros. His "Talking to my daughter about the economy" is going to be a classic, a match for Keynes' "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" - the debacle after 1918 which paved the way for the rise of fascism.
But yes George, I rather live in your vision than Trump's, or Orban's.
13
This is a horrifying interview and does not improve the image of George Soros. "My ideology is nonideological," he says while spending billions on politics, which he defines as "In politics, you are spinning the truth, not discovering it." He describes Obama as his greatest disappointment because Obama "closed the door on me," as in he expected Obama should work with him and take his advice. Soros uses his billions to fund politicians and meddle in elections... this is a man who enjoys influencing and manipulating politics and becomes frustrated when his efforts backfire or are not successful.
68
But we’re not reforming how political campaigns are financed. Till we do, Soros is just another plutocrat, along with the Koch brothers and the others, in the fray. But he’s my plutocrat: ours, really, if you’ve any interest in maintaining open debate by off-setting the rich reactionaries. My own words for George: keep fighting! And thanks ....
17
@P and S:"he’s my plutocrat: ours, really, if you’ve any interest in maintaining open debate by off-setting the rich reactionaries."
Excuse me? "Open debate"? I don't see any evidence of the "rich reactionaries" quashing free speech or opposing open debate in any way. On the other hand:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/09/14/uc-berkele...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knv7ZwIBmvs
2
It is important to engage your critical thinking when reading articles about wealthy financiers guiding social policy. Is it compassion that drives the open-arms attitude of the wealthy EU states towards immigrants? Or is it a desire to exchange the existing labor force for one with far lower compensatory expectations? Investment bankers driving sympathetic immigration policy? Hardly. Investment bankers manipulating labor markets? More than likely.
43
@Grendel: 100% agreement; history teaches us that suspicion here is well warranted.
I would add, though- there is also some history to indicate that sometimes- compassion can motivate even the most hardened capitalist.
What a sad case. The poor guy probably meant well but ended up doing so much harm around the world as well as here with his open society nonsense. That his cluelessness has not abated is evident in his preoccupation with legacy rather than atonement or reparations.
30
The key takeaway: No matter how much money you have, it can't protect you from people willing to tell lies for their advantage.
If we allow the Rule of Law to fall, every person will be at the mercy of the mob's leaders and their followers, to survive everyone will join the mob enslaving all of us.
We are facing a dangerous time for humanity, stand up for truth and justice.
10
Mr Soros, I believe that in the long run, demagogues like Trump, Putin and Erdogan are going to propel democracy forward, by their very efforts to undermine it.
4
We have super rich dabbling in public outcomes via their boutique enterprises. Be it Bill Gates or the Kochs the people can only watch and wish, meanwhile they invent stories that reflect jealousy or suspicion. This is natural. In Roman times a successful person would be presumed to have the unfair aid of an appropriate god.
Perhaps the billionaire puppet-masters should stop trying to reverse engineer existing social order and instead contribute to most basic of the natural processes that got us what good we have - early childhood education. Most great ideas concerning peace or human progress already exist in classic works of literature and texts of science. Therefore I would advise the likes of Soros, rather than grandiose think tanks or philosophical projects, to simply create supplementary educational institutions for young children, so that in 50 years an average 12 year-old is as well educated as an average 16 year-old is today. Do that and the downstream effects of that advanced status in learned understanding will provide the impetus for more than enough social progress to improve the lot of humankind.
28
Efforts as fragile as childhood education cannot succeed in an environment as volatile as modern day Hungary. These think tanks exist to first create an environment that is receptive of education. @CK
5
@CK
"so that in 50 years an average 12 year-old is as well educated as an average 16 year-old is today. "--I should certainly hope we can set a standard better than this.
5
No matter how honorable Mr. Soros' love of and support of democratic governance is, the fact still remains that he is a predatory capitalist. Any "master of the universe" ego is destructive.
Hedge funds should be outlawed for bonds, currencies and other governmental financial tools. One person should never be able to manipulate the world through the worlds' biggest craps tables - markets.
NOW is the time. Mr. Soros and his Robber Baron brethren on the other side of the political spectrum are destroying the world with their demented, insatiable greed.
Forget "philanthropy". It's just a word used by those who have stolen/inherited enough wealth to try to create the world in their own image - and to massage their demented egos.
Taxes. BIG taxes. 99% taxes on the International Mafia Top 1% Global Financial Elite Robber Baron/radical religion Good Old Boys' Cabal that is trying to start WW3 and destroy OUR lives. Confiscate the inherited/stolen wealth they are hiding around the world - and OUR natural resources they have gotten control of. Use the money to erase deficits around the world and for Social Good like health care for all, excellent education for all, reasonable communications/entertainment costs, reasonable housing costs, reasonable water/power prices and other Social Goods.
NOW is the time.
27
@njglea: i agree, 1000%.
for those who want to know who governs us:
do check out who doesn't pay taxes!
- stop tax evasion.
- banking secret, anybody?
- work towards a global minimum wage.
- stop allowing money to make [too much] money.
- enough is enough.
- ...
- ...
and too much greed is deadly, not healthy.
1
Why should someone who has never held a political office have a political legacy? Soros claims that Trump wants a mafia like government but what is more mafia like than having someone in the background pulling the strings of puppet politicians like Ms. Rodham and Saint Barack. Interesting that he claims he wants to better the world. Is the world better because of the causes he backed? Are Germany , Sweden , France , Italy and England better places to live than they were before Soros' efforts? Apparently, common people are just too ignorant and uninformed to understand what is good for them.
52
It is good to be a multi- billionaire. There are no rules and no borders. You can do what you want. To the credit of Mr.Soros he has used his wealth and influence to improve the lives of ordinary people around the world. As someone of Jewish background surviving the Holocaust influenced his world view. His support for democratic governments around the world is unparalled. His disdain for Putin and his pal Trump is unmistakeable.
22
America 's Founding Father's malignly intended that only white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men who owned property were divinely naturally created equal persons with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
America was built upon the blood sweat and tears of enslaved black African property along with their separate and unequal black African American Jim Crow heirs. America was built upon the theft of brown aborignal Native land, lives and resources. Expanding the definition of persons to include other colors aka race, ethnicities, faiths and national origin has been the history of America.
America was never meant to be nor is it a democracy. America was and is intended to be a divided limited power constitutional republic of united states. George Soros is the antithesis of the corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch welfare conservative Republican majority billionaire icon darling Sheldon Adelson.
See " The Half Has Never Been Told : Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism " Edward Baptist; " Dog-Whistle Politics : How Coded Racial Appeals Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class " Ian Haney Lopez
8
This is an excellent, well written and complex article. It is sinning against painting Orban as a bad guy, though. It is clear from the interview of Alex Soros, that George Soros, as a Jew is against nation states and is dreaming up a world where nation states are replaced by a mix and match of minorities. Therefore every citizen of a nation state is rightfully rattled by Soros. If you dont respect who I am and what I represent, then why should I respect you and who do you represent? The so called liberal democracy that Soros champions turned into a death sentence for nations states, to accomodate people like Soros. Soros is no better than Orban. Soros says he is first and foremost a Jew, Orban is first and foremost a Hungarian. They both defend the group and the type of group they belong to. It is telling that Orban, a Soros protegee turned against his mentor, AFTER the mentor changed the contract and tried to force Hungary to cease being a nation state and become a melting pot of ethnicities. Hungary has been around for 1200 years and is a small country, only 8 million people. If it opens to refugees and migrants, in 50 years there will be no more Hungary, and real Hungarians will become a bad name in Hungary like white has become a name of scorn in the US. If Soros hated the Holocaust, he shouldnt push it on Europeans.
36
Are you of the impression that Hungary has been static all these years? The history of Europe is full of migrations, mixing and melding. Trying to freeze them in amber now is not good.....
7
@alexgri
And exactly who are the "real Hungarians?"
And "like white has become a name of scorn in the US?" The US you are living in must be a whole different animal than the one I live in!
1
I think, perhaps, that Putin was equating Soros (extreme meddling in U.S. domestic politics) with the indicted Russians--acting of their own volition, with inclinations that conveniently coincide with Putin's.
The howling over the press conference misses many marks, the biggest being the reality that the DNC had a heavy, heavy hand in election fraud and manipulation, and is likely contained in the DNC server attended by Pakistani IT guys !!! and that was deliberately shielded from FBI scrutiny.
And, Brennan is howling loudest because he is likely at the heart of the "insurance" scheme.
15
Part of the Holocaust was the failure of attorneys, judges, and European legal systems to protect fundamental rights. As I understand what happened, the Jewish lawyers had their professional licenses taken away from them because they were Jewish. And, before losing their bar licenses, they and other attorneys did not establish the rights of self represented litigants. So the Jewish lawyers had no "pro se" rights to fall back on, even though they knew the law and were great wordsmiths.
Access to Court is the right from which all other rights flow. If Mr. Soros reads this, then he should consider using his forces to support worldwide access to court.
Many countries have no civil legal system at all. In many countries no one can sue for police brutality and other crimes by the government or by government actors.
In 1970 or so, United Auto Workers were paid $25 per hour and lawyers charged $45 per hour so workers could afford attorneys. Now, even though there are many law school graduates not working as attorneys, somehow even the least expensive attorneys charge about 20 times workers pay. As a consequence 98% of the population cannot afford a lawyer filed lawsuit since that starts at about $100,000.
Right now, Judge Richard Posner is the only attorney I know of who is fighting for the procedural due process rights of pro se litigants.
https://abovethelaw.com/2018/03/judge-posner-files-first-brief-since-lea...
10
This warms my heart to see this socialist (not liberal) realise he has failed to destroy America.
53
@RuttsterNow let's hope the Koch's learn the lesson you advocate as their damage has been so poignantly exhibited in the past week's actions by a president elected by a populace that has been poisoned by the rw groups, the press and pundits supported by their money.
4
@paul
Charles Koch opposed Trump's candidacy and does not support the TRUMP worldview.
Koch contributes to Cato Institute --difficult to attribute their studies (which are open for scholarly review) as some type rw "poisoning".
Cato is Libertarian and has issued many well-regarded empirical investigations as well as thought pieces that have received respect by disinterested readers and scholars.
No, Bush, Jr, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bezos, Trump, Buffett, Waltons, Mnuchin and their ilk, destroyed America.
3
Sooo, why doesn't Mr. Soros put his BILLIONS into Africa to stop the migration??? This man is nothing more than a radical left wing activist.
38
@tk Why don't the Koch Brothers? When did you ever hold right wing billionaires to account?
3
Soro’s “propensity to side with the oppressed” will keep him busy.
3
@Mark Yes, and others will wear their unconcern like some kind of Congressional Medal of Honor.
2
Anyone with a truly caring heart, casts shame on the republican power elite, and are always targeted for discredit.
Imagine what vicious lies they would say if Jesus were here.
They hate liberal Democrat humanity, so I'm sure they would find a way to crucify him.
7
Soros said it himself. He separates the practical, money-making George from the (as you put it) "caring" George. No society can function without both. The question is, which is given priority, when and why.
5
His legacy is not in jeopardy. Just the open borders, disarmed citizenry, One World Government that he aspired to erect and control behind the scenes. His legacy will always be there. His son will continue to run his "Open Society Foundation" pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into political organizations around to globe. God willing, freedom-loving people everywhere will continue to resist his interference in their politics and their lives.
30
He smothered the Democratic Party with his dirty money. Instead of listening to millions of voters, party leaders heard only the cha-ching of a cadre of billionaires, especially Soros. Against that elitism, Trump is a populist.
32
It's a cruel paradox, that Viktor Orban has better relations with Israel than George Soros
19
@imamn Not really; Netanyahu's as illiberal as Orban, Putin, Trump, the House of Saud, and Erdogan (with whom he also does fine beneath the fulminations for the rubes).
10
@imamn
Indeed, Mr. Orban has an excellent relationship with Israel.
A recent interview with Israel's ambassador to Hungary was just published. In it he glowingly talks about his country's excellent relationship with Hungary, their common interests, etc.
@G.S.
Yeah, just like Putin and Trump. Excellent!
Soros, represents the worst of limousine liberalism (socialism). His relationship with the Clintons was a fitting end ( hopefully), to his hypocrisies.
46
@Ear...You equate limousine liberalism with socialism. The two are galaxies apart.
1
democracy cannot survive under a progressive/socialist government! i can now see why he was indoctrinated into it at a college,the hot bed of the socialist dream of utopia! if lenin or mao were not the example of what happens. the adage power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is the ending of all progressive/socialist governments! just look at cuba and venezuella the modern day socialist utopia! poverty and hunger while the government gets fat! i can see why your home country charged you. be a man and face it and fight your cause in a court!
5
@carl6352 Have you not a map of Europe handy?
3
Soros is a Vulture Capitalist of the worst kind. His foray into Eastern Europe after the fall of te USSR was to strip them of their assets by crashng their economies under the Guise of all those lies he pushes. He has never officially managed money because he keeps his hands clean by consulting so he can't be touched for all the insider trading and fraud he he commits. This is the biggest crook working for the Biggest bankers who manage The Wealthy of Europe's money. Their all rotten.
26
@Truth Because right wing demogogues in Eastern Europe say it's so doesn't mean you have to believe them. (It's *your* choice.)
3
Soros is a hypocrite who did one thing and is now out to create a legacy. All is shows is he is driven by both greed and ego. His blatant hypocrisy probably did more harm than good - common denominator, it's always about him. Hey Soros, don't do us plebes any more favors, ok?
42
Wow,
Were this article not so sad, it would be funny. Odd how such a Villan, who is banned in many more countries than you mote because of his disruptiive tactics and belief that he "knows better than anyone what is in the best interest of the people," could be portrayed in the same light as Gates, Getty and others referred to on this page. It either shows ignorance or signals that the 1984-like brain control program is a huge success. But then I guess these people also thought the Homophobic Editorial Cartoon was "Really Neat" too... Pray for us...
25
@Cathy Bandy The only good thing we get from the Trump-Putin "affair" is right wingers denouncing homophobia (as long as it suits them to do so.)
2
I think Soros is Jewish, which would explain his aversion to nationalism. I am not Jewish, but I agree with him. Nationalism begets fascism, which kills people. It is disgusting to hear Soros vilified by Jew haters, all of whom should be ashamed of themselves.
10
Dear Mr. Soros,
Please consider purchasing Fox News Channel.
17
The fact that Hungary sided with Nazi Germany in the beginning of the war should have been mentioned. I assure this had an effect on Mr. Soros' evolution of thinking.
7
@Maxman yes snd the fact that the other alternative to Nazi Gernany was communist Russia! It was like choding between cancer and cholera!
9
Overtly biased article, but I don't expect legitimate journalism from the NY Times.
Soros is hardly the wonderful philanthropist that this article tries to paint him as. He's a scheming radical leftist with delusions of grandeur -- and he and thrives on creating chaos.
Hey, George -- why won't you pay your $7 billion dollar back tax bill??
32
In the Wash Post two days ago and I challenged a user named "USSLiberty" (symbol-name of a US/Israel military miscue 50 + years ago) to name some books he'd read. He/She responded "The Protocols." So I of course asked for the authors and got, "The Elders." Can you imagine anyone actually admitting to such dreck? Stories are impossible to eradicate without measures that enlightenment societies scrupulously avoid.
That society is marbled with lunatics and the disturbed is not a small thing, especially in a nation the size of the US. In the US there are probably more hardcore pseudo-fascists than there are citizens in all of many small European nations. However this sad fact is not something to be up in arms over, because big deviations happen naturally in large sample sets. It is simply something to be aware of. It is one of the reasons I remain satisfied with out big, dumb, unresponsive, infuriating two-party political system. This system dilutes extremism patently. In the process you can't a decent health care system, but you don't have a small minority party filibuster by Nazis in the Congress either.
2
Makes money as a currency speculator.
Capitalist parasite..
Why should we care what he thinks or does?
The liberal equivalent of the Koch brothers.
17
So Soros is left in his views and therefore despite the money he injects into politics it is fine.. The Koch family, written about with no shortage of vitrial by the NYT, is evil because they are right wing and inject their money into politics.
The equation shares a common variable here..
25
Soros, and American liberalism, economic and social liberalism championed by Soros and the NYT, is in its death throes. Call us fascists, totalitarians, racists--- understand clearly: we do not care. Europe is waking up. Liberalism is close to being dead. No spectres or phantoms are haunting Europe. Blood is standing up and answering our ancestors.We are not commodoties, consumers, meat for your wars. You have attacked us, belittled us, turned our queen of continents into latrines of filth. You, American liberalism, have destroyed us.Now, we take our nations back.
45
@Richard L. Wilson
Please define and explain you use of the term, "AMERICAN LIBERALISM." I am only asking for clarification. Until I understand what/who you refer to, I cannot understand your comment.
5
@Gerry Professor Dear Professor: Please read more closely- Wilson says "we do not care." He means it. And when he call for blood, he means that as well.
@Richard L. Wilson
If Russians stay out of our elections, we'll do just fine.
Enjoy your dictator. There is nothing you can do about him.
We will vote out Putin's puppet, the wanna-be dictator.
Then watch, as we fortify social services.
2
You have men like Putin and Koch who enrich themselves via fossil fuel extraction. Then you have the money manipulators like Soros. I’m not sure which is worse. Humans are doomed to extinction and the invention of money played a big part. Primitive savages is all we will ever be, and no amount of philanthropy by the rich can change our fate.
3
@hb...or we can, in understanding that some inevitably become wealthy, be encouraging of those few of them that respect democrary.
Mr. Soros needs to learn from Koch brothers. Or just hire the talent that operates Koch's propaganda machine! You need to be at ground level to make change.
4
Soros’ inability to even momentarily consider that his very liberal philosophy is a flawed overreaction to his personal experience with Nazis - whose heyday ended 75 years ago - is staggering.
18
The author did a good job of cozying up to Soros with out once mentioning the billion dollar elephant in the room. How does a Jewish billionaire whose whole family miraculously survived the holocaust manage never to invest in Jewish charities and causes. He is not welcome in Israel nor at the local Hadasah meeting. Do i dog whistle, self hating or just a bad conscious.
I am particularly disturbed how the author seems to love to blend in to the French Hotel and Hampton mansion, this is hagiography by default
25
V mentions the Koch brothers (below). Imagine such a puff piece on the Koch brothers appearing in this paper and you should understand enough of the left and far-left views among readers of the NYTimes. You probably can't imagine such because supporters of Soros who make up the bulk of readership wouldn't cotton to obvious fairness -- many of whom call themselves Marxists and support "revolutionaries" and "militants" or anarchists who bomb, destroy and kill, all the while professing freedom -- only for their views. Soros called George Bush a Hitler-like puppet! If you believe that, you deserve every word of this critique.
25
The NY Times has had some pretty decent reads about the Koch brothers in the past.
2
@Alo Thanks! One million dead in Iraq from Bush's lie. Those anarchists have a lot of catching up to do....
3
@Alo
Just looked up NYmag articles on the Koch brothers. There were nine listed.
Actually George Bush was initially a puppet of the dark and devious Dick Cheney. I think that's what Soros meant to imply.
1
He barely acknowledged the audience, which included the president of Serbia and the prime minister of Albania, except to say, “I think this is the right place to discuss how to save Europe.” Maybe he is fed up with the puppet he put in charge in Albania, Edi Rama - who is a communist to the core and has turned the country into his fiefdom and filled the ranks of the parliament with retired thugs who made their money selling drugs in Europe and in some cases are sought by Interpol. What he has created in Albania, with funding the thugs that are in power now it's impressive for a 80 year old. He has let a monster out of it's cage. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-albania-crime-belgium-idUKKBN0MT1VO20... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-albania-crime-belgium-idUSKBN0MR25K20...
9
Soros is the world divider. Hope he crawls under a rock and the world forgets about him. What an BUM
24
We have a system where lots of people pay a lousy 200K to have access to the president as he eats dinner and crashes weddings and plays golf at his club. Entire Republican families pour their millions into campaigns to buy the government they want, and they're rewarded for it by being named cabinet members. If there are rich guys on the left who can manage to do something to counteract that, so be it. The day might come when big money is out of politics, but that day isn't now and it's not coming any time soon, considering the Supreme Court we're stuck with. Big money and politics will be around for a long, long time. It could even get to the point where we have to pay to vote. Think about that for a minute.
9
I agree with Soros' political views, but I have to echo his left-wing critics. If a billionaire spends something like $2 billion over three decades in an attempt to influence the political systems of dozens of countries, this is indicative of a big problem. It's the sort of world where lone billionaires have tremendous power to shape global public opinion at will, and who feel that this is their right.
Of course their political opponents worldwide are going to resent this and start using him as a boogeyman. If anything, he may have pushed too hard and ended up moving liberal democracy into negative territory in recent years. Certainly Orban uses Soros scaremongering for a reason. Maybe Orban would have risen to power and become autocratic anyway, but the $650 million that Soros pumped into the country plainly hasn't helped.
We may live in a world where we have to use "our" billionaires to fight their billionaires (Murdoch, Adelson, the Kochs, et al). At least domestically, it's likely the Dems need every penny Soros gives them, directly and through MoveOn, super PACs, etc. But that's still a gloomy situation, and it's important to remember the contributions of liberal billionaires like Soros in creating this toxic dynamic.
18
Interesting.
While I agree with almost all causes George Soros supported and supports, I still do not believe that big money has place in influencing politicians and politics, to the left or right.
Buying access to decision makers with money is wrong, and ultimately does not help people.
Spending it on education, health ala Bill Gates is preferred.
George Soros went waist deep into the mud of politics and should not be surprised that some is sticking on him.
12
@Steve
I fully agree with you but I still consider Mr.Soros a great man. His causes are not political ,or rather partisan,his aims are stenghthening liberal democracy.Anyone born in Europe before 1950 understands the vast importance of this.
8
@D.Constantinou I was born in Hungary in 1943, I understand where Soros is coming from. But I do believe liberal democracy will prevail everywhere in time on its own where/when the conditions are right and ready. Promoting it with money from abroad is not right.
Thank you for this article, a well-presented and rounded background on Mr. Soros and his accomplishments. It remains true, however, that we must concentrate on campaign finance reform as the only way we can keep democracy on an even keel is to periodically (and gently) paddle the canoe from each side. We cannot trust to the ideology of the few with power fed by wealth to maintain balance for long, and it is time to put the political finance genie back in the bottle and weld in the stopper.
14
@88mph
This would mean a reversal of the Citizens United case. How is that to be accomplished in light of the Kavanaugh nomination? I'm not holding my breath.
6
@anastasios sarikas, here's a thought remove CU and then remove all Union money too. Better yet do what the UK does, publicly funded campaigns and a limited campaign time. End of discussion. No PACS's no Koch's no Soros'.
Ego, vast wealth, intellectual snobbery, lack of transparency and moralistic pontification...
It is no wonder why the “plebs” demonize this man.
Has he done more harm than good to Europe?
Certainly his “open borders” initiatives have fanned the flames of nationalism in Europe. I personally think we would do a lot better off without him.
29
In the entirety of humanity, experiments with democracy are mere blips. While it is a good idea in theory, democracy doesn't work and is unsustainable.
4
To say that George Soros is funding liberal democracy is a misnomer. What Soros is funding is open borders. Where national interests are set aside, global interests prevail. This is precisely what George Soros is advocating. Tired of having to face multitude regulatory systems in his effort to build a global financial empire, Soros is quite right in discerning that a borderless, global regulatory system would increase his financial power exponentially. Nations are right to resist the encroachment of Soros because global interests, by definition, are not local interests. Nationalism, so loathed by Soros and his open border lackeys, serves as a check and balance on men like Soros who would be god and would dictate to the world from some point of central governance what their truth and value should be. George Soros and his globalist kin should be resisted. The true threat to global interests is not nationalism, it is globalism.
48
If governments around the world worked of the people, by the people and for the people (all the people, and not just all of one kind), then there would absolutely be no need for charity of any kind. (especially political)
Certainly, (especially in the U.S. with the unleashing of Citizen's United and 501c4s) with money now being free speech and corporations as people, there needs to be short. publicly financed elections with enhancements to voter protections. (mandatory voting and in what form is another matter)
Which brings my comment to the subject at hand. Having a billion dollars (or multiples there of) is obscene on so many levels. (regardless of how many donations he has made or causes he supports)
It is money for access, and if it is going to be a true Democracy, then access is based on the merits and the problems at hand. - not how rich you are (on the left or right)
Which brings me to another thing - there is NO extreme left (especially in the U.S.) There is only right and more extreme right.
Certainly demanding human rights and freedoms cannot be characterized as extreme, yet they are. because as long as people are divided, then they are easier to control. - hence the labels.
This what a very detailed expose, yet if 77k votes over 3 states had swung the other way, then we probably would not be having it.
If we took the measures from the above, then absolutely not.
1
If governments around the world worked of the people, by the people and for the people (all the people, and not just all of one kind), then there would absolutely be no need for charity of any kind. (especially political)
Certainly, (especially in the U.S. with the unleashing of Citizen's United and 501c4s) with money now being free speech and corporations as people, there needs to be short. publicly financed elections with enhancements to voter protections. (mandatory voting and in what form is another matter)
Which brings my comment to the subject at hand. Having a billion dollars (or multiples there of) is obscene on so many levels. (regardless of how many donations he has made or causes he supports)
It is money for access, and if it is going to be a true Democracy, then access is based on the merits and the problems at hand. - not how rich you are (on the left or right)
Which brings me to another thing - there is NO extreme left (especially in the U.S.) There is only right and more extreme right.
Certainly demanding human rights and freedoms cannot be characterized as extreme, yet they are. because as long as people are divided, then they are easier to control. - hence the labels.
This what a very detailed expose, yet if 77k votes over 3 states had swung the other way, then we probably would not be having it.
If we took the measures from the above, then absolutely not.
6
If Soros wanted a political legacy, he should have run for elections.
14
It cracks me up to read these type of article in the NYT and then read another story in the NYT about how if you can pay the money you can have yourself a private waiting area in a major airport to separate yourself from the chaos of the masses in the public waiting areas. Maybe democracy wouldn't be in trouble around the world if it worked as well for the "slobs" in the public waiting areas as it did for those in the exclusive waiting rooms. This is globalization in a nutshell. It works great for the rich, not so well for the rest of us slobs. This is a government of the rich people, by the rich people, for the rich people. The slobs realise their government doesn't really care that their jobs are disapearing and their standard of living is going down.
61
(1) George Soros has done — or tried to do — incomparably more good than harm.
(2) The hatred fomented against him is not only undeserved, but unpardonably shameful and despicable.
It cannot be left unsaid, however, in response to “if he hadn’t gone after the British pound or the Thai baht, someone else would have” that not only can this be used as a justification for humanity’s worst sins, but he could have given the money back (as others would not have done).
As to “the difference between my engagement in the markets, where my only interest is to get it right and make money, and my political engagement, where I stand for what I really believe in” — this is a classical example of cognitive dissonance. Self-deprecating irony — “I was a confirmed egoist but I considered the pursuit of self-interest as too narrow a base for my rather inflated self” — does not resolve the profound contradiction. Neither does centrism; nor theorizing, whether by Karl Popper or by George Soros. Nor does enlightened plutocracy.
But (1) and (2) remain true. In the scheme of things, George Soros is squarely on the side of the angels, or has at least tried to be. The same cannot be said of most people with resources on the Hampton end of the human scale.
16
Is Soros a Statesman? If so, is he a registered agent? If not, he may be arrested in the US or several other countries.
13
Mr. Soros, I have said for many years that if you have money, go to the heartland of America. Buy up newspapers and television stations. Our red state controlled heartland knows nothing of progressive politics. Democrats are painted as demons by the right wing press. Most of the people in rural America who vote Republican, dont know why. They will tell you its because their parents or family voted that way. The very conservative Sinclair group bought up multiple media outlets across the country, something you and Mr. Bezos should have done.
38
Sounds like your answer to those who differ from your worldview is propaganda and indoctrination. Perhaps a better solution might be found if those ‘progressives’ in our leftist urban areas were exposed to conservative ideas through the media instead. You know, for diversity of thought.
10
@pb The only problem with fly-over country people is they live next door to a closed factory.
Tax loopholes for subversives. Taxpayers in the US and the “compassionate” elsewhere must quit financially supporting Soros‘s Open Society Foundations.
I wish the rest of the citizens of the United States were tax exempt too. In America, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations are tax-exempt organizations that are funded by other tax-exempt organizations. And therefore, funded by the American taxpayer. The Ford Foundation and other 501-type tax-exempt foundations give their tax-exempt dollars to George Soros to campaign against the un-globalized world.
Few tax-exempt foundations are charities any more. Most 501 tax-exempt organizations make plenty of money. They can afford to pay their taxes too. If Soro’s Open Society Foundations wants to take down America, let them do it with their own money.
27
I wish George well. But I'm happy he's losing this battle. He is fighting for values that are 180 degrees from the way this country was founded and built. America doesn't want to go backwards to the ways of the Euopeans. This is why our forefathers left them in the first place.
24
@J
How do you think this Country was build? The founding fathers created the most progressive government in humanity. One that said all people were equal, separated church and state and said no man was above the law.
I don't find anything created by George's efforts outside of that message and if you do please explain.
9
Soros is an enemy of the middle and working classes in America. Yes, a billion people around the world are better off because of the forces of "globalization" (this total most definitely includes Soros himself), but millions of Americans have suffered economically as a result. GATT, NAFTA and the entire alphabet soup of trade deals have lined the pockets of the globalists, while grinding the fortunes of U.S. working and middle class laborers into dust.
114
@c smith : well put.
8
@c smith Yes - somehow ever-expanding "human" rights of migrants have totally trumped workers' rights in First World countries.
We really need colleges and universities to focus on the labor movement here in the U.S. and how it came to be, and how the gains of labor are being dismantled and reversed today.
13
Someone who is as wealthy as Soros made their money by creating misery for others. Once folks like Soros have become obscenely rich, they create foundations to offset the damage of their actions or to pursue lofty ideals to stroke their narcissistic egos. Bloomberg is another one. His company aides and abets corporations that ravage the environment, but Bloomberg Philanthropies supports Sierra Club to retire coal fired power plants. You don't create change by making millions on the backs of others and then spending millions on causes. You create change by ensuring that everyone has a stake in government and society, and you do that by re-distributing income and wealth. If anything, Soros and Bloomberg should have fought for being taxed heavily, so the money could have gone into public coffers where we all would have had a say in how it's being spent. Instead of that, foundations are putting a pretty, hopeful picture (If you have ever seen their websites) on the deterioration of our institutions, systems, our population, and our environment.
31
First, Hungary is not xenophobic, they merely want to protect their culture. Second, George Soros wants plenty of wealth for him and his family, yet he wants those of us in the middle class to dive up our meager assets with the world's poorest. Third, his personal wealth has often been generated by destroying currencies and the middle class who owns those currencies. Fourth, he promotes open borders without consulting the citizenry of said borders as to their opinion regarding their own national sovereignty. Our world would be a much better place without George Soros.
99
@Ivory Tower Only 10% of Hungarians said they would feel comfortable having an immigrant as a friend. Of course that's the kind of world that feels itself better off without Soros!
4
@Ivory Tower Hungary does have a wide xenophobic streak. Many family names, rather than describing a job (Miller, Chandler, Schmidt, etc.), directly label one's ethnic background (Horvath=Croatian, Llengyel=Polish, Nemet/Nemeth=German, etc., some of them for very small ethnic groups that have lived in the country for generations). Or as a Hungarian friend told me, "It all means 'Not Us.'"
They are a tiny country with a tiny population, and their language is unrelated to the European languages surrounding them. To a certain extent, their defensiveness is understandable, but it has an unpleasant side, too.
1
Liberal Democracy?!! Is that the euphemism we're using for socialism today? Are we supposed to feel sorry for this guy? Soros is at best a meddler who spent millions to tip governments in his favor. There is nothing altruistic about this guy.
25
@pipeseller - He is not a socialist. Real socialists wouldn't be caught dead making billions by currency speculation, damaging the economies of several countries in the process, and then using tax loopholes to bankroll a multibillion dollar global influence campaign. He is a liberal, more precisely a neoliberal - a very different thing, despite his support for more public services like Medicare for all.
8
"...Karl Popper, had been wrong in one critical respect. In a democratic society, politics wasn’t ultimately a quest to arrive at the truth; it was about gaining and holding power and manipulating public sentiment in order to do that. “He was a philosopher of science, and science is a search for reality,” Soros said. “He did not understand politics. In politics, you are spinning the truth, not discovering it.” I asked what Popper, who died in 1994, had thought of his political philanthropy. “He was very supportive, which means he didn’t take me seriously,” Soros said, laughing."
the need for fresh perspectives and interpretations of the truth are why there are term limits, and legislative bodies and judicial branches to counter executive branches. besides, understanding how to make sausages and laws is not so pleasant anyway.
science can be more fun, especially when universal truths are discovered.
also remember that money is power, but you can not take it with you. sharing is caring, and legacies are for the vain.
2
And George Soros hoping to influence elections around the world is different from the accusations against Russia how?
36
@Georgi
In many ways, it is not different. Soros holds citizenship in Hungary and in the US. The article mentions him having "donated more than $500,000 to a group called Best for Britain, led by Malloch-Brown, that plans to push for a second referendum to undo Brexit."
While that $500k is a drop in the bucket for Soros, he is not a citizen of Britain. I also have to wonder, when columnists in the NYT and elsewhere have referred to Russian meddling in the election (originally referred to as "hacking") as a "attack" on the US, how they would characterize George Soros' speculation in Britain and Thailand and elsewhere. Were these currency manipulations also not attacks?
9
Reply to Georgi of NY —
Soros is open and legal with his efforts to persuade and influence.
Putin's criminal syndicate (called Russia) is secret and illegal in its methods.
See the difference?
2
Hi Mr. Soros,
This is just a blip on America's historical radar screen.
If I were a billionaire, I'd put my money into global family planning efforts and childhood literacy programs.
You certainly don't need my advice, since I'm a family-planning advocate and am involved in my own ad hoc childhood literacy efforts here in Florida who shows no signs of becoming a millionaire, much less a billion-with a B-aire, but democracy won't survive, here in the States or internationally, if a substantial portion of our population can't read.
We have numerous counties right here in Florida where 30% to 40% of the third-graders can't read at grade level. Too many households have no books at all. We're all obsessed with the superficial, one-note "entertainment" found in video, which almost always precludes vocabulary building or the development of complex thought.
I'm not waiting until I "have money." Since 2013, I've distributed 15,000 books to 9 nonprofits in my community that serve homeless and needy people. I'm actively supporting family planning efforts. And, my real goal is to put age-appropriate libraries of 20 specific books, 99% of which are gently used, in the homes of "disadvantaged" families. I am within months of starting that effort.
I admire your efforts, Mr. Soros. Don't be discouraged! Read up on Julius Rosenwald, who was a true American hero.
And, everyone else, know this: You don't have to be a billionaire to make a difference. Identify a need, and get to work.
11
@sarasotaliz I'm very impressed! Thanks for your efforts. I'd love to see the funding of libraries be taken up by the taxpayer. It feels good to know that people have confidence in society, such as when vital public good is contributed to by all.
1
Sucking money out of the world's economies so that he can direct it as HE sees fit does not make a man great. Rather, I would argue that such actions contributed to the rise of both Brexiteers and Trumpsters.
If Soros really wants to contribute to society, he would lobby for financial industry reform - less favorable tax treatment for hedge funds (what value do they really provide to society) and a transaction tax on trades to reduce speculation. Then fight for minimum wage increases.
84
@Rose: right! [as in 'correct!']
a global minimum wage would be
a very good thing to begin with.
>
“Those who struggle to change the world see themselves as noble, even tragic figures. Yet most of those who work for world betterment are not rebels against the scheme of things. They seek consolation for a truth they are too weak to bear. At bottom, their faith that the world can be transformed by human will is a denial of their own mortality.”
John Gray
1
"the reaction was a real-time display of his continued ability to move markets."
Among people who know, that's called market manipulation and in the USA has been a crime ever since government reacted in 1933 to the methods of stock market movements fostered by the late very crooked Joseph P. Kennedy.
17
Ultimately the main difference between Soros and the Koch Brothers is their political party affiliation.
Otherwise all 3 use their money to disproportionately affect political outcomes.
While some people would claim that Soros does it for “good”, there are those who would make the same claim for the Koches.
Then there’s Jeffrey Bezos, another good supporter of the Democratic party, who has been guilty of union-busting at his Amazon conglomerate. And being a full-service kind-of-a-guy, we can buy our trinkets from Amazon, and also get our news from Bezos’ *Washington Post*.
These people are all part of the “oligarchy” or the “plutocracy”, that many liberals decry. They are part of the same group that have ensured American wages have stagnated for decades, and that more and more of the wealth in the world concentrates into their own hands.
But here, one of the “oligarchs” is celebrated for his liberal views, and his “good” works. Yet he’s a version of Andrew Carnegie building Carnegie Hall. He’s the Rockefellers founding the Rockefeller Foundation. He’s Henry Ford and family founding the Ford Foundation. Hypocrisy.
24
@DaveG Wages have stagnated for decades because voters have been selling out the unions, workers' rights, pension plans, class actions, etc., etc. Conservatism has sold people of bill of goods. At least, no matter how far they fall, they will have the assurance that they are better (if not better off than) those who don't look like them.
1
You guys are kidding, right?
I expect next week's magazine to lead with the flattering feature, "Koch Brothers Bet Big on Free-Market Liberty. Now They Fear They're Losing."
(Their enemies paint them as all-powerful, but...)
22
Message to George Soros ... money can't buy you love. And, it doesn't buy you freedom or democracy either.
18
He bet big on democracy. But he underestimated the power right wing anonymous trolls would be able to access on the platforms so thoughtfully provided them by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube.
5
A wonderful portrait of a thoughtful person.
Also, a good input from other thoughtful persons on this whole philanthrpolitcs of this man.
For such a good article to be adulterated by this Ms. Barr was mystifying.
For heaven's sake, she is just a Hollywood person attempting to outlive her 15 minute fame - news and her musings belong to a trash can of Hollywood Rporter and other assorted grocery store publications.
Except for that, thanks for an informative article.
I am pushing 70 and having done well financially - I agree that "having money is freedom."
6
Paint Soros however you want - it doesn't change the fact he is a devil with the desire to destroy for the sake of Socialism and "one country" with him at the helm. He cannot enter his country of birth because of his evil, and other world leaders realize his plots of destruction - using the pound disaster for UK almost bankrupting the country. He is the opposite of anything good - because what he masks as "good" is for his own purposes.
34
George Soros' advocacy has been greatly enabled by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.
4
He's not losing. But his preferred types of people aren't winning elections. The embodiment of the Soros ideal leader was Obama, a brilliant, idealistic community organizer turned politician, who favored world harmony over national self-interest. The Soros model was at its zenith during the Obama years. Instead, in recent truly democratic elections, extremists and tyrants are enjoying support from a majority of voters like never before. Nationalists in Europe. Hamas in the Gaza/West Bank. Duterte in the Philippines. Putin in Russia. Even Xi is popular with his people, and he would claim (with some factual support) that he is as "democratically" elected as anyone in the West, where, instead of Communist Party credentials, money buys access to the ballot. The Strong Man Leader sells with the voters. This is the enduring paradox of democracy since Aristotle's time - when voters don't behave in accord with the wishes of the educated elites, such as when they elect a flamboyantly self-promoting local real estate player turned fading reality TV star to the US presidency. Letting all those common, uninformed people who don't read the Times or listen to NPR vote for their leaders is a messy business. But that's how it works.
18
@Beantownah
Right on
@Beantownah So is ending welfare for farmers.
Georgie Porgie bet AGAINST democracy and he is losing. He has used his billions to corrupt American politics and support his leftist, socialist agenda. Like all lefties he wants everyone in lock step about what they say, do and believe. Fortunately for us, Trump was elected as the true voice of freedom and has defeated Soros in spite of Georgie's pot of gold. There are plenty of other billionaires and millionaires on the left so don't feed us the nonsense that all the rich are on the right!
24
@Strongbow2009 From the article: "After the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, he poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the former Soviet-bloc countries to promote civil society and liberal democracy. It was a one-man Marshall Plan for Eastern Europe, a private initiative without historical precedent."
There is no doubt the Right opposes such initiatives, be they here, there or anywhere. Right wing views can only be implemented when the game is rigged.
3
“I generally have a bias to see the darkest potential,”. No wonder Obama wanted nothing to do with him. "Hope and Change", the slogan that he rode on into office, turned out to be the same dubiously "exceptional","morning in America" claptrap that is the stock-in-trade of politicians. The darkest potential is what needs to be examined and I am disappointed that the author didn't explore that with Soros. Skepticism and pessimism are the Voldemorts of our political discussions. Trump cracked that egg with his "American carnage". It got him elected. Obama's wooing of his adversaries got us watered down health-care from the Heritage Foundation. Hillary lost because: triangulation. Watching the world burn is becoming the number-one spectator sport in the country as people sit out elections in droves. The "Shining City on the Hill" is coming to resemble an ash-heap. Now, back to my knitting.
8
Article is too long. I was skimming through looking for the part about how Soros bets that a hard working company will fall short of financial expectations and then how Soros will take steps to ensure that the company will struggle and fall short. And then he goes wee, wee,wee...all the way home. uh...Where is home now?
16
So George Soros may not be able to buy the future he wants? What a shame!
20
Soros is a real hero using his wealth for the common good and he has been vilified for it. Mention his name on a far right website and see the hate. I am grateful for him.
Buffet, Gates, Bezos, and Zuckerberg have all let us down and allowed republicans to sell out our country using a Russian coup.
8
Mr. Soros, please don’t lose hope, and please don’t leave the field of battle. We need you now more than ever.
19
George Soros has a poor Reputation, he is a wanted man in Hungry for his adverse deeds in the political arena. George now wants to paint himself as a Victim and judging by the Comments below he has succeeded in convincing many liberals, but no gain in Popularity with the rest of the World.......
23
@Richard Frey if you had people saying false things about you how would you feel?
If people were to accuse you of things you hadn't done would you feel positive or would you want to correct the record?
If people that didn't even know you started saying horrible things about you would you be happy?
Mr. Frey, I'm quite sure you'd feel violated and victimized also. Let's all commit to preventing anyone from being exposed to having false statements made about them.
Truth should reign over false witness.
5
His ultra-liberal, socialist policies, have been rejected by all but socialists such as Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and the ultra-left radical wings of Italian, French, and Greek politics.
Soros should be losing.
30
I believe in liberal democracy and I am thankful that George Soros is doing his utmost to defend it but I am a Canadian and I am not enthusiastic about Europe being able to provide the leadership going forward to save liberal democracy.
I am Canadian and the husband and wife team of John Ralston Saul and the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson paint a picture of liberal democracy that is decidedly Canadian and non Eurocentric.
John Ralston Saul is a writer, historian, philosopher, two term head of Pen International and public intellectual who has stated the USA is the most European country on the planet, a statement with which I agree. Adrienne Clarkson a writer, journalist and public intellectual first became a part of Canada in 1965 with a daily stint on Canadian television and later became Governor General despite being less than committed to the Monarchy.
Clarkson's book Belonging is about citizenship in the 21st century and paints a picture of our global village where what we look like, where we worship, and where our ancestors came from is not nearly as important as BELONGING.
Canada is far from perfect but a look at Trudeau's cabinet makes me rather proud that in Canada being Canadian is much more than how you look and lets one understand why most new Canadians become citizens in five years.
Any reasonable country would be proud to call George Soros their own but in Hungary he will always be the other, quelle domage.
5
Almost all the negative comments about Soros mis-characterize what he is supporting. He is NOT supporting particular policy outcomes, he is supporting society's ability to make their own decisions in a democratic manner. The discussion of how much and how he got his money are all attempts to distract attention from the truth of the good he is attempting to do.
24
@shardon55 But those who criticize him *do* want a particular outcome. And democratic, it isn't.
1
And, when a society democratically votes for something Soros doesn’t like (Brexit) he uses his vast fortune to undermine that decision.
6
Thanks very much for this well done article...broadly written
and explanatory. In the past the conflicting reports/rumors
of George Soros that have flown about, were at the least
confusing. This piece is shines a good light on the man who has been so focused on opening the dark spaces.
If Soros had been more circumspect with his activites, what then? Who has the ability to see the full result of such generous and grand gestures ?
Would that the statements made that Soros now regrets, had been changed earlier, though each of us continues to learn if we want to. I hope this article brings him more friends.
11
I have a problem with too much wealth being concentrated in the hands of so few.
I don't care what their belief system is because for every one George Soros, there are two Koch brothers.
This is capitalism run amuck and dangerous for all of us. That is, this continued, expanding gulf between the 1% and everyone else will not end well for the majority and will end with increasing tension and discord, worldwide.
28
Funding causes and objectives which can be termed as political and that too in foreign countries is a tricky proposition. It can be viewed with suspicion as being an extension of foreign policy of the funder's country. Imagine a foreign billionaire funding a liberal or conservative civic organization in the US. I am curious how it will be viewed from either side of the political spectrum. I guess the mankind is better served if more money is spent on providing clean drinking water, food, housing and other basic necessities which so many lack throughout the world.
20
I have the sense Mr. Soros considers himself a citizen of the world and is interested in an ‘open society’ for the entire world. The politics of a nation and the world affect the availability of ‘drinking water, food, housing, and other basic necessities’. In my opinion Mr. Soros is one of the greatest citizens of the world today if one believes in liberal democracy.
7
Great article. Aside from the personal story my takeaway is that there has been a long battle for hearts and minds. People feel as though liberal Democracy has let them down. I do not feel that way. Democracy is the best form of government one can hope for. Our politicians and and the new uneducated elite are the culprits now. These characters that pop up (Trump, Orban etc...) are merely conduits that have tuned into what people think will make their lives better. A basic education in history tells us how these types of characters ruin great countries and cause wars.
53
Democracy had a good run, but we need to work harder to keep it against the oligarchs who want to end it. It is great that Mr Soros has been working for it. Turns out he cannot retire and hand it off, the next generation (or at least the baby boomers) has fumbled it.
13
@APS
So you believe that George Soros is not an oligarch? That is really strange!
14
Only a billionaire many times over can afford to support his views. That’s the problem.
17
Thank you for this illuminating article on Mr. Soros. We should all be thankful for his intellect, shaped by his rich experiences including surviving Nazism, and his philanthropy. He is a sharp contrast to the Koch Brothers and the Mercers.
169
@LWK Koch Brothers provide jobs for about 105,000 people. Mercers21,200 people.
3
How many people have the Koch brothers killed due to the pollution their companies produce? How many more will they kill as EPA regulations are slashed so they can pollute even more?
5
@LWK Putting aside their political views how are they different? They're all billionaires that are vilified by people on the other side of the aisle. They all use their money to try and steer politics. They all donate vast sums to charity.
1
Interesting article. I had never heard of Soros until I started to read about him from right-wing Obama haters who had created another one of their "monster under the bed" characters. Apparently Russia has been playing this came of misinformation for quite a while. Unfortunately, they've been very successful.
14
Democracy cannot possibly be seen clearly through the eyes of a billionaire. What Soros may consider to be the proper direction of politics has no apparent bearing on us thousandaires.
32
If he wants to invest in losing propositions, well, it is his money!
10
To learn humility and prudence late is better than never. Good for him. There is much out there harming trust in each other, justice and solidarity, so go for it.
2
Soros didn't bet on Democracy, he bet on his version of it which he tried to buy through individual politicians on the take and the Democratic Party. Better he quit manipulating pols and gave his money to charity.
100
l just have to say this about charity: It helps some, but doesn't extend to all in need. The value of a national social safety net is that everyone who needs it has access to it, no matter their religious beliefs, friend & family connections (small town fund raisers), or race, ethnicity, sexual identity, or political beliefs. Being public, not private, prevents picking & choosing who qualifies based on personal characteristics. All developed economies have this, and all need this.
20
@Samuel Spade The other version isn't worth a plug nickel.
Mr. Soros isn’t the only one to bet big on democracy. Half of the United States bet on democracy. Those lying at Arlington and other cemeteries bet their lives.
240
Wrong as many did not vote at all. And you can’t say Republicans support democracy while they do their best to make sure only the “right” people can vote.
2
@David J
The kind of democracy where one billionaire can bus thousands of protestors around the country and create organizations that greatly exaggerate his influence? The kind of democracy where media is owned outright be a group of billionaires that all share the same opinion?
5
@Rich Sure, Soros was bussing people all over the country to protest the racist-in-chief. That's entirely more believable than most people in this country not being racist, hence why Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
Mr. Soros a foreign billionaire thinks he knows what is good for the American people. And, he will do so with his money. Now that is democracy.
17
George Soros is an American citizen.
8
Thank you Mr Steinberger for such an in depth look at George Soros; it was an excellent article.
I've followed Mr Soros for over 30 years with great admiration. The world would be a better place with more individuals like him.
Thank you Mr Soros for all you've done and continue doing for mankind.
45
Acceptance and tolerance are victims of political tribalism(nationalism, party first, ethnographic-centrism). Liberty and Justice for All is the basic goal of an open, tolerant society. It is somewhat baked into the U.S. Constitution's 1st and 14th Amendent. Unfortunately Power Politics as practiced by Putin, Orban, Trump etc. manipulates the majority to suppress and attack the minority. Who can understand this better than Jews, Roma, LGBTQ and African Americans? I like George Soros. His cause is just. Sadly how he made his money was not just. But how Trump made his money and gained power is not just to the Nth degreee.
18
Like the war on Hilary, the War on Soros, originates from PUTIN and PUTIN'S comrades in the GOP lap it up and spit it back out to their electorate, further stoking the far-right wing conspiracy fires here in the US and advancing PUTINS plan of dividing the west for himself and his oligarchs. The problem here is not and never has been liberal Democracy, but illiberal far-right wing politics pushed 24/7, on news channels who lie and are caught telling lies to their audience.
36
@John You must be young not to recall Hillary touting a "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" decades ago. That was before she made overtures to Russia and then changed her mind.
10
Why should a billionaire philanthropist have a political legacy? Are we so blatantly accepting of the rich having such influence in our political life that we are expected to mourn when their money cannot pull us in their chosen direction? Oh right, --- we only mourn when the political direction is the same as our own. When the rich of the other side fail to exert their sway we are gleefully triumphant.
75
My reading was he wanted to leave a social legacy not political one.
His money finances people and organizations that philosophically support open government. His objective is to expose tribalism and the propaganda that stirs it up.
His most admirable trait is his introspection. He reevaluates his strategies while staying true to his beliefs. He acknowledges his mistakes, questions his motives and understands his contradictions. Those are rare abilities particularly from a person of such wealth.
The president of the US could benefit from some self reflection.
116
The rich have an obligation to use their money to benefit the society that made them rich. I went to a FREE public library thanks to philanthropy, as do people all over the country. There is no reason to disparage private philanthropy, especially if it reduces what republicans think of as death by taxes...But you do have to look at who benefits from the dollars. If a rich person gives to causes that only enrich them more (Koch Industries), I can see your contempt. I respect George Soros because he uses his resources for the public good. Can you not distinguish this difference? Do you hate Benjamin Franklin because he exerted influence and power AND used his money for stuff he believed in? Follow the money and there's no need for gleeful triumph or whatever.
6
If governments around the world worked of the people, by the people and for the people (all the people, and not just all of one kind), then there would absolutely be no need for charity of any kind. (especially political)
Certainly, (especially in the U.S. with the unleashing of Citizen's United and 501c4s) with money now being free speech and corporations as people, there needs to be short. publicly financed elections with enhancements to voter protections. (mandatory voting and in what form is another matter)
Which brings my comment to the subject at hand. Having a billion dollars (or multiples there of) is obscene on so many levels. (regardless of how many donations he has made or causes he supports) It is money for access, and if it is going to be a true Democracy, then access is based on the merits and the problems at hand. - not how rich you are (on the left or right)
Which brings me to another thing - there is NO extreme left (especially in the U.S.) There is only right and more extreme right.
Certainly demanding human rights and freedoms cannot be characterized as extreme, yet they are. because as long as people are divided, then they are easier to control. - hence the labels.
This what a very detailed expose, yet if 77k votes over 3 states had swung the other way, then we probably would not be having it.
If we took the measures from the above, then absolutely not.
10
@FunkyIrishman. I love it whenever "government of the people, by the people and for the people" is invoked. I also would add that if every government had "Liberty and Justice for All" in their mission statement, the world would be a better place. And All means All, not just Republicans or Citizens or Christians or those of European ancestry.
4
@FunkyIrishman "Which brings me to another thing - there is NO extreme left (especially in the U.S.) There is only right and more extreme right." ...Can you say "Mental Midget?" How about ANTIFA, which use violent Fascist techniques to accomplish their ends? Oh, wait! they are directly supported?financed by Soros' wealth through his various "philanthropic" organizations. What a man!
11
I do not know the whole extent of Soros freedom enterprise but I know how it played out with one of his projects in Russia. Find an American of Russian extraction whose ranting can pass for liberalism. Give him several millions of good old US $ and annoit him as the freedom fighter. Few proxies get recruited to repackage dirt on Russia rulers from questionable sources like kompromat website and feed it to Soros disguised as investigations. In the mean time even the website for new freedom fighters doesn't get finished, unlike food and drinks in the restaurants in Russia and abroad. Few Soviet-era dissidents get dusted off and put in a show playing out for US donors. Once moneys got spent on travel and fine dining the hunt for new rich sponsor begins. The end. Scratch that - the beginning of the new spend and spit cycle.
3
Geore Soros, don't give up now in trusting that doing the right thing is good. We need that spirit more than ever. In a world dominated by smear and lies (led by the person who occupies the presidency), we need all efforts and all funds that direct attention to what matters in people's lives.
The spin of reactions is in a cycle of counter reaction. But let's not let that be defining.
24
Even in this admiring portrait, Orban really comes across as the villain. A guy with a self-admitted messias complex, made his money by wrecking economies and then giving back a portion of his plunder so he can feel as the great philantropist. When apparently he never built a real business in his life other than the necessary bureaucracy to dispense his 'charity'. I never put much stock in the right-wing Soros conspiracies, but the facts don't make him look so much better.
He is like the robber baron taking a family's home and then turning up at the homeless shelter bringing them some hot soup to relieve their suffering.
And then, worst of all, he uses his ill-gotten gains to infiltrate and undermine the societies he stole the money from in the first place. Let's do a poll how many ordinary Britons support his open-borders ideology that he is funding so lavishly with their tax money.
36
@GS
In your first sentence I think you meant "Soros" where you said "Orban".
All the money in the world can't buy freedom. Americans are free because of the Bill of Rights. It's free.
12
@CBH
Article five of the Bill of Rights also known as the second Amendment exempts conscientious objectors such as Quakers from military service. The Bill of Rights is just a piece of paper when sophists and anti-American zealots like Scalia and Thomas are associates of the Supreme Court.
2
"His enemies paint him..." is exactly right; and the basic problem he must address is: his enemies hire, and pay, every day- thousands of painters.
He does not. And his enemies (and ours) have been painting all our democratic institutions this way, for many years. The National Inquirer- for instance - paints our government as slime, over and over. At your checkout counter now. Proving once again, the very well known marketing law- repetition convinces.
Mr Soros - you have the cash. You need to launch some competition for the check-out rags. Maybe The National Beacon. Same audience. Paid to slant it all the other way (just as they are paid to slant it towards we-all-know-who.)
Time to abandon logic - we have proof it is useless. Repetition of message however- works.
37
Ooh, that's a great idea! I can't tell you how often I walk the current copy of the National Inquirer to the customer service desk at Publix (far-right owners) to complain about salacious headlines that always seem to—surprise!—target progressive politicians. I call Publix's corporate offices, which are right up the street in Lakeland to complain. We must push back.
But a progressive newspaper or magazine chain...brilliant! Oh, wait, we have one. It's called The New York Times. Oh, we have another. It's called The Washington Post.
Democracy stands or falls with literacy.
2
RE: "It is an embattled cause these days. Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has reverted to autocracy, and Poland and Hungary are moving in the same direction... Nationalism and tribalism are resurgent, barriers are being raised and borders reinforced
Growing up in the '60's and '70's I believed we were growing more enlightened. Space exploration and Roddenberry gave us hope that we would get beyond the strife that was present in those days. We had education, the modern age, growing prosperity. Monarchies were of another age that we had outgrown. Barbarians were something we read about in history books. Yes, there was the USSR to worry about. But that too eventually came to pass.
What I didn't count on was the visceral reaction of discomfort of freedom and self-governing for those who prefer to be led. The reemergence of nationalism demonstrates that many people have a need for the alpha leader, the need to be part of the pack and to submit to the leader, the ruler. These forces, which seem to be innate and instinctual, are aligned against liberal democracy which is nothing more than a thought and a concept that is rare in history where brute force power has often held sway.
People have fought for their freedom. They have worked hard to make it happen. Yet people will willingly give it up for the security they feel with a strong leader in charge.
47
The Open Society Foundation's vision is admirable. But once in the political environment the devil is always in the details. And I'm not so sure George Soros is a moderate as he suggests.
But in this he and I agree; "In a democratic society, politics wasn’t ultimately a quest to arrive at the truth; it was about gaining and holding power and manipulating public sentiment in order to do that." That is precisely what is going on in America right now, and the further to the right or the left you go the more true that statement becomes and the more partisan and less compromising we will find ourselves.
15
@Charlie
I agree - great admiration for funding the Open Society. I was inspired to read Popper's book and found this interesting as it seems we are repeating history:
"...Aristotle wrote his Politics, more than a century later. We hear there about an oligarchic oath, which, Aristotle said, ‘is now in vogue’. This is how it runs: ‘I promise to be an enemy of the people, and to do my best to give them bad advice!’ It is clear that we cannot understand the period without remembering this attitude."
Popper, Karl R.. The Open Society and Its Enemies (p. 171). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
1
In the late 1970's or early 1980's I read an article in the Newspaper with a title something like, "Free Markets Do Not Necessarily Mean Free People". It was some economist or social historian that warned that the push to "Free Trade" could end up with a world that had trade flowing all around but that people would not be free. China and Russia are prime examples of this. Eastern Europe is heading there as it Turkey and a bunch of other places.
Mr. Soros did not see that article as he was no doubt looking at the financial pages in 1979.
It would be a good thing for people like Mr. Soros to seek out the common man or woman out there and have lunch with them in their little residences rather than at his impressive digs around the world. I suspect that his world view these days is too influenced by the bubble that all wealthy people create around them.
Every Friday a bunch of us here in San Francisco go to lunch. It is quite a mix of people of various ages and back grounds. A man like Mr. Soros would do well to have a couple of long lunches with the "common people" like us. Even here in liberal San Francisco, he would be suppressed at the width and depth of thoughts about what is going on in the world and why.
Philanthropy is great.People drawn to work for such institutions have a way of thinking in one step and that is never a good thing. Mr.Soros learned this when he was a young boy, but apparently he has forgotten that lesson as he worries about other things.
16
In terms of philanthropy, he seemed to do everything right. The former Soviet Union and It's satellites had long lacked civic organizations independent of the state. I thought at the time that helping create a civil society structure was a brilliant way to assist these countries on the road to liberal democracy and away from reverting to strongman states.
It is tragic to see the failure of much of these efforts. The decline of liberal democracy in Eastern Europe fits well with my assumptions that there is something in their national character that makes them susceptible to autocracy. I was wrong. It turns out, America is susceptible too.
26
For a man that purportedly promotes democracy, Mr. Soros conveniently overlooked public opinion when it came to promoting open borders.
In its essence, democracy is all about the wisdom and will of those governed, and not about what a billionaire thinks is best for them.
206
There is no such thing as a “ conservative” anymore. They are more properly called “ corporatists” since they now believe in the superiority of corporations over man.
4
@Conservative Democrat ...Except when that Billionaire is one of the Koch Brothers, amirite?? The Wisdom and will you mention of, gave 3 million more votes to Hilary? (unless she does not count in your mind)
4
@Conservative Democrat
Wrong. Political environment heavily depends on lobbying, super PACs and other forms of big money influencing democratic process which is not Soros’ fault. Like psychology and tragic history teaches as, “wisdom and will” can be easily influenced and bought.
2
Reading this article (and many others) pointing towards the apparent decline of Democracy in Europe I fail to read the underlying analysis and reasons. Labeling current problems towards the political left or right is easily done and matter of perspective but understanding the deeper human reasons/motivations towards these changes in Europe are in my view still not well described. Let’s try to understand why people have shifted their perspective and beliefs and their democratic engagement.
24
Great article. Now, more than ever, American politics is defined by money, so it's important to understand how it is used in that context by those who have it. At this juncture, I think the American people deserve to see an expose of all those millionaires and billionaires who have and continue to support Trump. It's only fair, to lay the money trail on the table, on all sides, for everyone to see.
105
@Karekin Soros does not support Trump in any way. He feels that Europe and the US should import millions of military aged-Muslim men. I prefer to help the people on our Southern border and a few Canadians seeking better weather.
3
Why stop with Trump supporters? Shine the flashlight of transparency in all the dark areas whether they be Republican or Democrat.
2
Fact is the belief -- that the American model was the universal, perfect, eternal model that would unify humanity -- was wrong.
The USA ultimately failed to put the whole humanity under its power. The post war period, when the country was able to demolish the old colonial systems of the UK and France, albeit laudable, did not represent a progressive stance in the period that followed.
10
Those are just ideals. The reality is that the US was founded by rich white tax evading slaveholders, and that they've been willing to put the rest of the world in slavery to support their elitist financial interests. Our "liberty" was only ever liberty for rich white men. There were a few exceptions, progressives, FDR, LBJ, but those great societies did not last long. We are merely going back to the slave state founded by the founding fathers, and the international trade wars going as far back as the Tripolitan wars.
7
It's really all the in the headline.
When a billionaire decides to put greed to the side and concentrate on philanthropy the aim is rarely to help anyone. What's of interest to the aging masters of the universe is the legacy.
So, we have Carnegie Hall, The Frick Collection, The Getty, and countless other 'legacies', which are wonderful to have, but let's not forget that if these oligarchs had help create a more equable society to begin with these things might have been paid for by the people, without having to genuflect to the piles of gold accumulated at their expense.
As you sow, Mr. Soros.
243
@Sera don't forget the Sacklers - science and art philanthropy built on Oxy.
4
Excellent post, Sera. I agree 1000%.
The same breed of Robber Barons destroyed OUR financial world in 1929. Their insatiable greed is always destructive.
99% tax on BIG inherited/market wealth holders. 99% tax around the world so they can't "hide" it in tax-friendly countries and crypto currency.
@Sera: Nonsense. There will always be rich people. Many will invest only in making themselves richer and in autocratic government, which is what serves them best. That there are rich people who want to help fight against the trend towards autocracy is a godsend, and we should welcome their support. Purism is a luxury we cannot afford in the real world.
4
Soros--a "European at heart." Must have brought some much-needed smiles to the UK following the recent Trump Tour of Destruction. How soon we forget--in the 90s, Soros broke the pound as the Brits were trying to unify European currencies--with unfortunate conditions that weakened the effort and Soros smartly exploited.
Who can blame a globalist from crashing a poorly devised govt scheme and walking away with a cool $1B--back when a billion dollars was a lot of money? I am not the person to say whether Soros may qualify as an honest proponent of democracy, but I strongly suspect that he is a poster boy of the ultra-nationalists as they battle globalization.
In a way, Soros epitomizes the failure of globalization, which may or may not benefit the classic, labor-intensive industries of manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and mining, but always benefits, sometimes wildly, the financial "industry."
As far as I'm concerned, Soros is merely making reparations. And, sorry to say, George, it's prob too little, too late.
189
@Maqroll, "but I strongly suspect that he is a poster boy of the ultra-nationalists as they battle globalization."
Might be, in the context of "this is what a Plutocrat looks like. Soros talks a good "progressive" game... but he's still just another .001%-er trying to influence policy that effects "the peasant class" and push society towards HIS ideals of enlightened society.
What is an enlightened society?
You can read the textbook definition, the defacto model for enlightened society by reading Chapter 1 of Edward Bernays most important book, "Propaganda" published in 1928. A simple search for: "bernays propaganda .pdf" will get you there, and you can read the gist of the most impactful book of the entire 20th century. It will take a only a few minutes, literally.
Reading Chapter 1 will take about 4 minutes. Prepare to have your mind blown... but it will make a LOT of things make sudden weird sense.
4
@Maqroll If you think that globalization has failed, just wait 30 years to see the result of authoritarian rule. You will wish Soros had been more successful betting against the pound. Read about the effects of politics in the 30s, if you think the current 'strong man' trend is the answer. Authoritarian rule only benefits those in power, who will say and do anything to keep it. Societies are like minds, they both work better when open.
3
@Maqroll Soros bet against GBP because he and others understood that the UK had entered the ERM at an unrealistic and unsustainable rate.
We should not forget that it was John Major's Conservative government that took the decision to enter the ERM in 1990 and it was criticized at the time. There is simply too much background to the events leading up to Black Wednesday to scapegoat Soros.
Soros is not simply making 'reparations', as the facts going back decades and touched upon in the article belie that assertion. Rather, Soros acutely understands the great dangers we face today from chauvinistic nationalism and an increasing tolerance for racism something he barely escaped from in 1944.
3
Interesting article. Yes, I'd prefer a Soros regime to an Orban regime, and I was also, like Soros, disillusioned by Obama, but for different reasons; Obama, like Bush Jr., cost me a lot of money. I can't speak for Europe, I can only speak as an American and say that a free society helped create Soros, but also ultimately crushed the rest of us. I like and admire Soros, but he's a luxury that I can no longer afford. The simple fact is, people don't want largesse, charity and philanthropy, they want a living wage that they work for, a fair tax system, elections and candidates and a financial system that isn't bought and paid for by billionaires. Our "free society" is free for the rich who buy one and get one free, but it's a very expensive bauble that is out of the reach of the rest of us.
392
@Stephanie Wood
George Soros also wants people to have a living wage, a fair tax system and is one of the few plutocrats who would happily put a limit on political contributions.
Spurning the resources offered by wealthy allies who want to empower "the rest of us" will not empower "the rest of us," but only empower those who want to see a tiny elite rule over "the rest of us."
1
@Stephanie Wood. A free and open society is all about having a living wage for honest work, a fair tax system, fair elections, and a regulated financial system. These are the things Soros stands for and financially supports through access to education, good health care systems , and basic infrastructure.. Explain exactly how an open society crushed you and 'the rest of us'. Would you have been better off in a closed society like say East Germany under Soviet occupation?
2
@Stephanie Wood
The Hungarians respectfully disagree. Oh, and it's their country. Neither you nor Mr Soros live there
1
The cynicism of many comments here is disturbing. In an imperfect world with flawed human beings, is it still not better to have more societies that are open than more that are authoritarian and insular? Obviously, there will always be a need for still more reforms and more just environments but to simply acquiesce when it comes to the re-emergence of tyranny is unconscionable.
423
@arp
What you call cynicism others might term critical thinking - especially with regard to facile labels like "Liberal Democracy". Upon examination, you might find it's neither as liberal and certainly not as democratic as some would like us to believe.
8
@arp
"Better to have more societies that are open..?"
What does that mean, "open?" What a nice sounding word...until you get "Asians" who "openly" create grooming gangs that rape 12-year olds...or Somalis who come to Maine, or to Minnesota and engage in child care fraud.
People like Soros THINK they are enlightened, but they are not. Nations exist -- they need to be free to order their societies to the preferences of their people...according to fundamental moral principles. Those nations should never impose their will on other nations.
Progressives HATE the idea of a nation state -- it's why they hate the Constitution when it doesn's serve their ends. But the constitution is for the UNITED STATES, not Europe.
And Europe? Thinking that Greece and Spain are just like France and Germany? What delusion!!
Soros and his fellow Davos travelers and co-religionists, wants a "stateless" world. That's what "open" society really means.
They are the worst sort of globalists.
But nations that are true nations should instinctively shun anyone like George or Alex Soros, and do everything they can to expose their organizations that operate inside it because those organizations attempt to undermine that very nation. Viktor Orban and Donald Trump clearly understand this.
I am thrilled to see George Soros giving up, surrendering, and seeing in his twilight years that all his money, and all his efforts, will end in failure.
Our founders are smiling now.
10
What is better an what is worse is up to the people themselves to decide via democratic process. There is one important difference between Soros and Orban, Putin and Trump – nobody elected George Soros.
2
As Mr. Soros said of himself, "I am a confirmed egoist." He has used his money to make the world as he thinks is best. But having money does not give you a better moral view of how the world should be governed nor make you a god to decide for the rest of us.
I think this kind of undue influence (money in politics) is what is driving some of the back-lash against liberal democracy. So many of the "liberal" proponents of an open society, like George Soros and Bill Gates, seem to have an inordinate power to effect political outcomes because of their money.
The making of such huge amounts of money is not done with any charitable purpose. Only later, does charity come to mind.
139
@gpickard Please see: Koch brothers. Also, please do some research about the proportional amount of money spent advocating for entrenched business interests versus social democratic interests. Come back and report.
1
@gpickard said "I think this kind of undue influence (money in politics) is what is driving some of the back-lash against liberal democracy. So many of the "liberal" proponents of an open society, like George Soros and Bill Gates, seem to have an inordinate power to effect political outcomes because of their money."
Why not include the Koch Bros & so many like them? The Conservative movement appears to me better financed and far more dangerous & self-serving -and ruthless.
3
Odd that you would cite billionaires who spend their wealth to improve the lives of those in need, through education, health care, and freedom.
Tell me, what "charitable purpose" has money from the Mercers, the Kochs, the Trumps, and their ilk, served? Nothing but extreme self-indulgence, greed, hatred, and ignorant rants, from what I've seen.
In any age but that of Trump, Soros's philanthropic efforts would be admired and praised instead of viewed with suspicion.
(In the 1990s I worked briefly for OSF in Ukraine and Albania. I saw the enormous amount of OSF money spent to build schools, organize high school debate competitions, fund newspapers and scholarships and publishing houses).
265
@NotKafka: How does tyranny begin? In school, with ideas taught covertly, not by reasoned argument. Public schools indoctrinate. If they do it well, the graduates will not even know they have been programed, not to think, but to obey. This is how violence wins over reason, fraud over truth. This is our present worldwide political paradigm. This explains the continuation of war and domestic strife.
Tyranny has not re-emerged, it never left. Perhaps it is now more acknowledged, thanks to the internet. We see on YouTube what was hidden by the propagandist mainstream press.
The answer is not democracy. Majority rule is still rule. I don't need to be ruled, I need to have my sovereignty respected, my rights put first, just as you do. Either each us it protected from the mob, or no one is safe. Politics doesn't do that. It sacrifices us to violence, in the name of "the common good" or "national security". That's because we worship the use of violence before reason and obedience before independence. When people reject this political paradigm, then we can live together in peace and prosper.
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George Soros and his family are courageous and sincere in their quest to bring human rights, freedom and a better quality of life to millions of world citizens. In return, they are demonized by political leaders and their followers, who fear their power and dedication to freeing people from the bonds of tyrants, dictators and others threatened by freedom of speech, movement, gender and culture. By continuing, they place themselves and their loved ones at risk.
Don’t listen to their detractors. Instead, read about what the Open Society Foundation, established by George Soros, does (see link below). If only we had more such “capitalists.” Such a philanthropist could only emerge from America. #Proud #ThankYou
https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/
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@Concerned in NYC
Amen!
What about the devastating effects that free trade and globalization have had on the spread of inequality throughout the world... Huge corporations consistently use "free trade" or globalization as an excuse to offer the lowest possible wages, and move manufacturing to places with the least environmental protections and human rights. Immigration policies are also sometimes used in ways to suppress wages, and even more worse, enacted with very little thought given to assimilation. Most of the poorer areas, or ghettoes surrounding Paris for example are populated with huge numbers of Muslim immigrants that face extremely daunting odds of fully assimilating into French culture. While the wealthier (sometimes elite liberals) Parisians almost certainly live in gated or posh neighborhoods with hardly any immigrants as their neighbors. Despite the generous financial support Soros (and some other elites) gives to human rights causes, he rarely outright discusses some of these problems associated with free trade, globalization and mass immigration. These seeming hypocrisies and inconsistencies then become much easier fodder for those of Orban's ilk to manipulate and ultimately consolidate power.
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Capitalism is a system that is a-moral. It operates to produce efficient production however it must. If you want moral and ethical outcomes with respect to money and society then you need to elect representatives who will redistribute the profits that have been going from those who produce the goods to those who control the organization. Without some form of social rebalancing capitalism always rewards the top before the worker. Government is the only way to recoup any of that value for the benefit of the entire society. It needn't be done solely by wage increases. Health insurance from everyone to everyone is also a form of compensation. Those who can should pay the most precisely because as Willy Sutton said: "That's where the money is." A person making millions a year is not worth many many times what any other person is worth. It may be possible to address at least in part things like healthcare and education that wealth can buy.
The capitalist system doesn't allow us to pay everyone the same amount but a society for which justice is to be more than lip service can equalize the inequality inherent in vast differences of compensation. Not to do this is the definition of injustice no matter how you elect your officials. Remember that this is really nothing more than applying human values of morality and ethics to the collection and distribution of taxes ("Treat others as you would be treated," remember?).
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@Tim
Free trade doesn't exist. Controlled trade is dictated worldwide. Capitalism doesn't exist. Government regulates every economy for their benefit, not for the people. No govt. anywhere is "of the people" except in the sense that the people let an elite pretend to protect them by using violence, threats (law), and fraud. When they get exploited they blame the exploiters, not the political system that empowers them. This is a profound mistake that keeps the world in turmoil.
A new political paradigm based on reason and voluntary interactions would stop the dog-eat-dog polarity that infects all societies. All we need is a respect for individual rights above all else. No govt. will allow that. Law & violence is the paradigm. Why do we allow that paradigm? Why don't we stop voting, stop paying for that paradigm? We empower it. We suffer from it. Why do we victimize ourselves?
@Tim
The immigration in France from its former colonies is due to colonization policies that destroyed the colonized countries' economies.
Soros's foundation is trying to help immigrants. Read again and do some research. That's exactly what the extreme Right (aka Fascists) are accusing him of. There is now a law in Hungary penalizing anyone helping an immigrant in any way, even giving her a piece of bread or a glass of milk to her child... Remember those immigrants were only passing through Hungary but Orban and his ilk are keeping them there in camps... why?
Mass migration is NOT associated with globalization but is deeply connected with war and with global warming (I guess you averted your eyes from pictures of bombed out towns?)
There are no gated communities in Paris, although there are posh neighborhoods but the streets are opened to anyone to walk on.
Many many immigrants from former colonies have distinguished themselves in literature, science, the medical professions, business and, yes, politics. Look it up.
PS: How do you know Soros """rarely"" (your words) discusses certain topics? I would suggest that instead of imagining what any individual is discussing, you read any economic history book on what brought about the Great Depression (since we seem to be in the process of repeating the 1930s with trade wars and the rise of Nazism/Fascism and scapegoating)
I always thought George Soros was a dangerous liberal but after reading this article and seeing the damage he has created around the world it has been confirmed. Nigel Farage, the British politician, recently said on television that Mr. Soros is out to destroy the world. It certainly appears to be the case when you see what he did to the British and Thai economies. He was so concerned with helping immigrants and refugees that he had little regard for the citizens that actually lived in those countries that are being affected. People lost their livelihoods but that did not matter to him.
Mr. Soros fights for all the liberal causes no matter the consequences. He is very left wing and does not care who he hurts as long as he promotes his progressive agenda. He wants to allow as many immigrants to enter a nation as possible even if it adversely affects that country while he lives in luxury and is not inconvenienced by this invasion. He has billions and will probably never be touched by massive immigration.
I am glad that the conservatives and others are finally seeing his true colors and are trying to subdue him the best they can. He must be called out on this negative behavior before it is too late. It is reassuring that many of the European nations are implementing policies that are favorable to their countries and looking out for their people. Europeans must be protected and George Soros stopped. I am glad they see him for what he truly is which is frightening.
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@WPLMMT,
and to the Kochs et al: et tu Bruti.
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Well, if Nigel Farage said it, we should all sit down and listen. NOT. He's a right wing loon who wants to distance the UK from the EU. We'll see how that works out. The Conservative Party was too liberal for him. That says as much as I need to know about him.
Conservatives just have a Pavlovian response to the name George Soros. Nothing to see here.
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@WPLMMT
Would you please cite the reference article on which you based your comment. I just finished reading the NYT article accompanying this comment section and found nothing remotely relevant to your statements.
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