Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I was promised a recession.

He really is that stupid.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickle?”

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

No one could have predicted…

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Late Night Open Thread: 24-Carat Ingratitude

Late Night Open Thread: 24-Carat Ingratitude

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Much more of a symbolic protest than an actual boycott, of course; if not to the Repubs, where are a bunch of bloodthirsty economic parasites gonna go?

…As national Republicans scramble their resources for a high-stakes midterm election year, some of the party’s biggest and most reliable donors have quietly withheld their support for Senate and House Republican groups out of frustration with the new tax law, CNN has learned…

…[S]ome of the Republican Party’s powerhouse donors in fact feel deeply stung by the law and have made their displeasure known to party leaders by keeping their wallets shut, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, who spoke with CNN on condition of anonymity. Although some of the donors have not sworn off contributions to individual campaigns or even the Republican National Committee, all have so far withheld contributions to the House and Senate Republican campaign arms — which are key players in the 2018 midterm elections — as a way to send a message over the law.

The donors who have boycotted, all of whom are leaders of prominent hedge funds, include Paul Singer, of Elliott Management; Citadel’s Ken Griffin; Warren Stephens of Stephens Inc.; Cliff Asness of AQR; Bruce Kovner, formerly of Caxton; and Third Point’s Daniel Loeb. Combined, their donations accounted for more than $50 million to Republican groups during the 2016 election cycle; Singer ranked among the top 10 donors of either party, while Griffin and Stephens ranked in the top 20.

Collectively, they have bristled at what they view as favored treatment for corporations under the law. While the corporate tax rate was slashed from 35% to 21%, hedge funds are largely taxed at the top individual rate, which ticked down from 39.6% to 37%…

Although Singer has donated six figures to the Republican National Committee this year and has given directly to the campaigns of Reps. Martha Roby and Claudia Tenney, he has uncharacteristically not donated to groups supporting House and Senate Republicans. Stephens’ only engagement has been maxing out to a few congressional campaigns in Arkansas, his home state. Griffin has not donated to any federal campaigns or committees this year, according to FEC data, although a source familiar with his thinking said donations to congressional candidates and national Republicans are forthcoming.

Asness donated $250,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund last year, in addition to more than six figures to the NRCC — but has not given since Trump signed the tax law. Loeb has supported Mitt Romney’s Senate campaign in Utah and Roby’s reelection bid but has not opened his wallet for any national Republican groups. And Kovner has not donated this year to federal candidates or committees — after last year giving six-figure sums to the NRSC and Speaker Paul Ryan’s PAC…

Reader Interactions

28Comments

  2. 2.

    Chet Murthy

    I thought those carrion-birds were paying at long-term capital gains rate due to the carried-interest loophole? WTF is their damage?

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    The nation’s religious makeup has shifted dramatically in the past 15 years, with a sharp drop in the number of Americans who say they’re members of a Protestant denomination – still the nation’s most prevalent religious group – and a rise in the number who profess no religion.

    On average last year, 36 percent of Americans in ABC News/Washington Post polls identified themselves as members of a Protestant faith, extending a gradual trend down from 50 percent in 2003. That includes an 8-point drop in the number of evangelical white Protestants, an important political group.

    Reflecting the change among Protestants, the share of Christians overall has declined from 83 percent of the adult population in 2003 to 72 percent on average last year. In the same time, the number of Americans who say they have no religion has nearly doubled, to 21 percent.

    Catholic self-identification (22 percent) has held steady during this time. The share of adults who identify with another form of Christianity – including Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons and Greek or Russian Orthodox, for example – has risen modestly, from 11 to 14 percent.
    [snip]
    Evangelical white Protestants are of particular interest in political terms, since they’re a core group within the Republican coalition; 80 percent supported Donald Trump in 2016. Evangelical white Protestants’ share of the total adult population has gone from 21 percent in 2003 to 13 percent last year. Non-evangelical white Protestants have gone from 17 to 11 percent.

    Part of the decline in evangelical white Protestants reflects the fact that the change in Protestant self-identification overall has occurred disproportionately among whites. Thirty-nine percent of whites now identify themselves as members of a Protestant denomination, down 13 points since 2003. That compares with an 8-point decline among Hispanics (from 22 to 14 percent) and just 3 points among blacks (from 64 to 61 percent). An additional factor is the shrinking white non-Hispanic population, from 69 percent of all Americans in 2000 to an estimated 61 percent in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
    [snip]
    As the share of Protestants has declined, the number of adults expressing no religious affiliation has risen from 12 percent in 2003 to 21 percent of all adults in 2017. That includes 3 percent who say they’re atheists, 3 percent agnostic and 15 percent who say they have no religion. The proportions were similar 15 years ago.

    The largest shifts during this 15-year period include 16-point increases among young adults (age 18 to 29) and political liberals. The smallest changes have occurred among Republicans, conservatives and blacks (+4 points in each group) as well as older Americans, +5 points. Source

  4. 4.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    Much more of a symbolic protest than an actual boycott, of course; if not to the Repubs, where are a bunch of bloodthirsty economic parasites gonna go?

    I have got no problem with them picking up their balls and going home. Less GOP slush more GOP flush.

  5. 5.

    Gin & Tonic

    Late night open thread is mid-morning open thread from Yurp as I slowly finish my coffee here in Stavanger. Another completely uncharacteristic glorious sunny day, which I enjoy, while it unfortunately exacerbates major flooding issues in southern Norway due to the too-rapid snowmelt.

  8. 8.

    WereBear

    It will never dawn on the average RepubliFascist that there shouldn’t be a need of millions of dollars to get elected; they like to think their $50 is their POWAH.

  9. 9.

    TenguPhule

    @John Revolta:

    What is the big tax loophole that the assholes already enjoyed?

    Most of their income gets taxed as investment income, not earned income.

    So max tax rate capped at 20% instead of 39%

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    Since shortly after a deranged kleptocratic racist took control of the government of the republic, retirement professionals no longer owe you a fiduciary duty

    I don’t think this gets mentioned enough.

    News that isn’t required to be news, investment brokers who have no duty of care, yeah this story doesn’t have a happy ending.

  13. 13.

    Shalimar

    Strange that Martha Roby, who represents a mostly rural district that includes a lot of the Alabama capitol, would be a hedge fund darling. There is nothing I see in a quick reading of her public positions that explains this. She is a bog-standard, 98% Trump-voting Congresswoman despite unendorsing him after the pussy-grabbing tape came out.

  14. 14.

    TenguPhule

    @WereBear: Tell me about it. Its essentially making theft of the investor’s money legal.

    People are going to be left with no legal recourse against these bad actors.

  15. 15.

    TenguPhule

    @Shalimar:

    She is a bog-standard, 98% Trump-voting Congresswoman

    She must be getting dirty money from somewhere obviously.

  16. 16.

    Sab

    @Chet Murthy: There is never enough for these folks. Normal people have jobs, and do stuff, and accomplish goals and create things.

    For these people a normal job is amassing wealth.That is all they do. They have no other values. That is how they judge everyone and each other.

  17. 17.

    Chet Murthy

    @Sab: Look on the bright side. Compared to HFT (High Frequency Trading) guys, these hedgies are practically SAINTS!

  18. 18.

    mark

    Most companies doing business overseas are American companies exploiting cheap labor. Trump tries to portray China as being the main beneficiary of this relationship and portraying China as the villain. The reality is, the biggest winners are the stockholders of companies like Apple, Carrier, etc. The profits all flow to the owners of these companies.
    The question I have is, will the Buffoon slap tariffs on these companies and kill their profits? I say it won’t happen. The stock market seems to agree with me, stock prices are higher than ever, earnings are better than ever. Further evidence is the owners of these companies were also the biggest winners in the recent tax cuts. The benefits of the tax cuts were aimed at the top 1%.

  19. 19.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Sab:

    For these people a normal job is amassing wealth.That is all they do

    I think you mean interposing themselves in financial transactions in order to skim from the top.

  20. 20.

    WereBear

    @Viva BrisVegas: Yep, we’ve moved from “empire building” to “flat out piracy.”

    They don’t know how to generate money. All they do is spot big piles of it, and plot about how to make it legal to steal it.

  22. 22.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: This is probably late, but as Mose says, you better bring some cash. This place is eye-wateringly expensive. I mean Norway in general, and Stavanger more so.

  25. 25.

    Spaniel

    @NotMax:

    The numbers you show are correct as overall membership goes down when it comes to Protestant, but there are a couple of caveats to consider. The Barna Group has been following the religious groups and their trends for over 30-years now.

    The overall membership numbers do show a decline, but the harder hit churches are more the mainstream denominations. Some of those members are moving to more consevative churches — more fundamentalists (in the definition tendencies, but also more in the social aspect too). The Barna Group also tracks people as they move to a more common group where they parrot certain moral and basic Christian tendencies but are lax when it comes to church attendance and holding more stringent Evangelical/Fundamentalist beliefs. These are what I call the modern Jonathan Edwards’ Galway-covenant group: they get some benefits as being identified as Christians but they get it own their own terms.

    According to Barna’s numbers after the presidential election, Trump swept up most of these voters. A very wishy-wasn’t group that is not very grounded when it comes to its beliefs, as community, and very individualistic in not caring beyond their own and unique group (family and friends).

  27. 27.

    Zinsky

    Modern conservative orthodoxy, as promulgated by Randian disciples like Paul Ryan, holds that wealthy people are virtuous as a result of their wealth. We must therefore shower them with tax breaks, regulatory dispensations and all manner of lucre to growth this wealth and virtue. Poor people, on the other hand, lack virtues as evidenced by their demeanor and achievements in life and therefore must be punished for this lack of virtue by withholding even the most basic sustenance like food stamps, to teach them how utterly unworthy they really are. It is cruel, nonsensical and medieval, but that’s where the Republican Party is these days.

  28. 28.

    Collie Dad

    I’m beginning to understand why French peasants cheered every time “la guillotine” lopped off the head of an aristocrat

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