MSM is all over Sen. Frist for his selling of HCA stock, apparently at the top of the market. HCA is a publicly traded company, so sworn-to information is available; anyone who lies about it is open to SEC and regulatory sanctions.
But consider Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York. I will list three areas in which the local media has given the billionaire a pass, with the knowledge that Bloomberg LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) is not a publicly traded corporation, and thus freed from the sworn-to reports that publicly traded companies such as HCA must file.
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1. His net worth has sky-rocketed since he has been mayor. Forbes listed Bloomberg as having a personal net worth of $4 billion in 2001, and a Wall Street Journal (10/22/05) article prices him out (ex real estate and other investments) based on his Bloomberg LLC ownership at over $12 billion in 2005. How did this happen? Is this really a passive investment?
Scratch the surface of where his LLC gets its revenue: It's from the major brokerage houses and investment banks! Hundreds of thousands of Bloomberg LLC terminals are leased or rented to these corporations: pay on time or the LLC switches you off.
These are the same banks and investment houses to which the Mayor has been pounding the table to give them tax credits and tax free financing as a supposed incentive to stay in Manhattan. Goldman, Merrill, CitiCorp, Morgan Stanley, CSFB, pick a name of the richest banks in the world, and they are at the tit of Bloomberg-issued public sponsored largess.
Bloomberg's (and previous mayors) logic for the opening of the public trough to the richest of New Yorkers (Connecticut and New Jersey as well) is, that if we don't subsidize these banks they'll go across the river. Garbage! Envision an investment banker from Plandome, or one of the Five Towns, or Scarsdale or Westport, the same guys Bloomberg hob-nobs with: They're going to have to commute to New Jersey? Fantasy.
These dots are easily connected. But Bloomberg skates on.
http://www.forbes.com/...
2. Why doesn't he release his tax returns? Hillary had to. Ross Perot had to. Corzine did, didn't he? I would have to , or you would have to, if you ran in New York State or City. Why does Bloomberg get a pass?
I remember reading on the front page of the WSJ Perot's report of receiving $7.5 million annually in tax-free cash - from the airport set up for his kid! What nuggets lie hidden in Bloomberg's personal numbers. We'll never know.
3. Let's get specific about how Bloomberg's money distorts, or tries to distort, New York City politics. Consider Fred Newman, the leader of the Manhattan Independence Party. This is the line that Liberals can vote on and can say that they never voted Republican. The fact that this guy is different is of no concern.
But Bloomberg funded Newman's group All Stars, "which has moved into a massive new headquarters thanks to tax free bonds from the city, and its been awarded a three-year contract to operate after-school programs." Bloomberg funded these whackos with $8.5 million. And this is after the party purged Lenora Fullani!
http://ny1.com/...
So-called progressive supporters of Bloomberg give up their right to comment on the financial improprieties of Republicans in general. If said progressives back Bloomberg, they should send their kids to Newman's after school program.
Can't wait to see the first DailyKos posting for Schwarzenegger's re-election.
