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Journalist Nicholas D. Kristoff in his column in The New York times posed a question that I’m sure a lot of Americans are itching to ask themselves: are Republicans protecting ordinary Americans or are they protecting billionaire fund managers?...   >>>

Journalist Nicholas D. Kristoff in his column in The New York times posed a question that I’m sure a lot of Americans are itching to ask themselves: are Republicans protecting ordinary Americans or are they protecting billionaire fund managers?



In his column he mentions that what’s “at stake is the ‘carried interest’ loophole, and President Obama is pushing to close it. The White House estimates that this would raise $20 billion over a decade. But Congressional Republicans walked out of budget talks rather than discuss raising revenues from measures such as this one.”



Kristoff continues: “This carried interest loophole benefits managers of financial partnerships such as hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds and real estate funds — who are among the highest-paid people in the world. John Paulson, a hedge fund manager in New York City, made $4.9 billion last year, top of the chart for hedge fund managers, according to AR Magazine, which follows hedge funds. That’s equivalent to the average per capita income of 184,000 Americans, according to my back-of-envelope calculations based on Census Bureau figures.”



So even as Republicans keep mouthing their concern for the ordinary American and the need to protect American business, it’s starting to look like what they may be protection are billionaire fund managers. In short, that our tax system is designed to benefit the rich to the detriment of the average working American.