The Clinton Donors

The Clinton foundation has published on its Web site, the list of its 205,000 donors who have given nearly $500 mn :

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors

It could be an interesting read for many! 

Contributors greater than $25,000,000
The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
UNITAID
$10,000,001 to $25,000,000
AUSAID
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Stephen L. Bing
COPRESIDA-Secretariado Tecnico
Fred Eychaner
Frank Giustra, Chief Executive Officer, The Radcliffe Foundation
Tom Golisano
The Hunter Foundation
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The ELMA Foundation
Theodore W. Waitt
$5,000,001 to $10,000,000
Government of Norway
Nationale Postcode Loterij
Haim Saban and The Saban Family Foundation
Michael Schumacher
The Wasserman Foundation

Here are some more interesting names who are reported to have made contributions to the Clinton foundadtion:

AIG, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America Foundation, Freddie Mac, General Motors, Goldman Sachs,Credit Suisse,Charles Schwab Corp, Bloomberg LP

Blackwater Worldwide

Foundadtions of George Soros, Walton family, David Geffen and Alan Solomont

Celebrities and corporate barons like Barbara Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Paul Newman, Carly Simon, Chevy Chase, Rupert Murdoch, George Steinbrenner, Jerry Yang, Frank J. Biondi, Terry Semel, Nasser Al-Rashid, Denise Rich,  Tom Golisano, Richard Mellon Scaife, Frank Giustra, Theodore Waitt,Tom Golisano,  Eli Broad, Gilbert Chagoury, Victor Pinchuk.

State affiliates from Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Taiwan, Brunei, Jamaica, Tenerife in the Canary Islands

Friends of Saudi Arabia, Dubai Foundation, China Overseas Real Estate Development and the U.S. Islamic World Conference

Some Indians: Lakshmi Mittal, Politician Amar Singh, Suzlon Energy, Confederation of Indian Industry 

WOW!

The Madoff Pyramid

The “System Failure” has found another victim in the alleged $50 bn Madoff scandal.

People are now asking how such a high profile person , once a Nasdaq chairman, could manage to run, now labelled, illegal Ponzi schemes under the very eyes of  the regulators. But for the financial market collapse it would perhaps have carried on for ever!

Since early 90s, when Charles Ponzi was associated with originating the most innovative of  fraudulent investment schemes offering unusually high returns over a short period out of funds received from new investors, hundreds of such schemes have been exposed in many ways. But the sheer size and reach of the alleged Madoff Scheme seems to engulf the Who’s Who of global banking and investment sector. Banks after banks are coming out with amount of their exposures to Madoff ! (lists so far at FT and Reuters). New victims are still pouring in.

This also again shows that GREED has no limits.

If regulators failed to notice the alleged Ponzi schemes being run by Madoff, the high profile professionally run institutions, hedge funds and sophisticated wealthy investors also failed to notice any wrong doing at Madoff, in anticipation of more than normal returns being offered to them. What happened to all those due-diligence and ‘Know Your Client’ norms which are a nightmare for genuine investors when they go to open accounts with these very institutions?? 

The nature and scale of financial scandals that has been unfolding since the sub-prime crisis is a significant pointer that not only the systems in place in developed economies totally failed to protect the investors on one side, but also caused irreparable damage to their own financial mechanisms. 

This has now been spreading like a virus all across the world with no effective vaccine. This hole has become so big that something like this ($50bn) seems like a drop in the ocean!

Going Gets Tough…

Most of us woke up with following news headlines:

• US car bailout plan collapses. Markets plunge, dollar slums. Millions may lose jobs 
• US advisory firm headed by a former Nasdaq chairman, charged with $50 bn fraud, probably the largest fraud in the history.
• BankAm to cut 35k jobs

Its just not stopping.  All previous bailout and stimulus packages also seem to just disappear in thin air with each new crisis emerging by the day.  

A tough day ahead !

Good Money After Bad

With trillions of dollar already gone into bail out and stimulus packages, global economies are trying hard to fight back.

There is a basic principle of doing business which is to never throw good money after bad.  Move on. Put good money to better use. Does this same principle not apply in today’s crisis management?

Money being pumped into the system belongs to the tax payer.

Are the key beneficiaries and CEOs going to put back their bonuses back into the company in its testing times? After all the policies that benefited them till a few months ago have backfired. Some one out there has to own up the responsibility in each of these companies.

The governments should also spell out what conditions and accountabilities are being attached to these bailouts and rescue packages.  This good money needs to be protected well.

Sports Marketing

At a time when US car makers are aggressively lobbying for car industry bailout package comes the news that Honda has pulled out of Formula 1 racing. Honda was one of the biggest sports spenders during 2008. The F1 team is up for sale.

Not too long ago Tiger Woods lost General Motors endorsement deal – sudden end to a decade old relationship.

Despite the general belief that entertainment bucks the trends of recession, its obvious that sports marketing is facing the heat and sports’ sponsors are cutting down on these costs in desperate attempts to save their businesses.

There is mixed feeling that media spending declines during recessions or it grows at a slower pace than in boom times. And sports marketing spend, in particular, is generally linked to the state of an economy.

Most sports spenders have claimed that they are passionate about sports they sponsor or endorse. Passion doesn’t mix with profits or losses of business. Sports and entertainment go hand in hand. You don’t stop making and watching movies in times of recession. You don’t stop playing and watching sports in times of recession either.

The Clintons

What is it about the Clinton family that keeps them on the scene?

Eight glorious and controversial years in the White House,
The Clinton Foundation which has had over 200,000 donors,
NY Senator,
1st American woman who had a great run at the Primaries,
nominated as Secretary of State,
And now talks of Bill Clinton seeking NY senate seat being vacated by Hillary…
and possibly Hillary as US Presidential candidate in 2016…
Not to forget the Arkansas governorship before Bill Clinton became US President…

And to top it, both are best selling authors!

Bill Clinton is a man of great intelligence, that is an acknowledged fact. He is a man who has a grip over every aspect of global politics, economy and social issues. No one doubts his ‘political genius’ and, he was only the second US President to face impeachment proceedings.

Bill Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas on August 19, 1946 (Leo). Hillary was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 26, 1947 (Scorpio). I leave it to the believers of star sign compatibility to find any similarities and answers here!

Both studied and practiced law.

I recollect having read what Jay Leno is reported to have said about the popularity of Hillary Clinton, “Women admire her because she’s strong and successful. Men admire her because she allows her husband to cheat and get away with it”.

Well…. in 2001, at the end of his presidency Clinton reported a historic surplus of $559 billion… and in fiscal 2008 the U.S. budget deficit hit a record $455 billion.

I am trying to find some answers here…

Latest Obama Quotes

“If we serve as well as they do [soldiers, diplomats, inteligence officers...], we will protect our country and promote our values”

“I am a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions…”

“There is no monopoly of power or wisdom in either party. Together, as one nation, as one people, we can shape our times instead of being shaped by them. Together, we will meet the challenges of the 21st century not with fear, but with hope.”

And here is the latest quote from Bush!!!

“Presidents — one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen.”

The Foreign Hand

I can not talk about anything but India. The terror that lasted about 60 hours and took nearly 200 precious lives including police officers and foreign nationals has left all shocked and seeking lots of answers. Many have lost their loved ones and are still trying to accept that reality but they all are very very angry and frustrated. 

India’s Prime Minister said in his address to nation that those behind these coordinated attacks in Mumbai were based “outside the country”, so did the Indian Foreign Minister. The press reports about interrogation of the sole surviving terrorist who is being interrogated in Mumbai point fingers to terror networks operating in Pakistan who are believed to have planned this attack and trained these militants. 

Indians have short memory and are used to forgiveness but the fact is that India has never acted with enough force and conviction to fight this terror. Here we can indeed blame the system. Whether it was the 1999 proxy war in Kargil or the 2001 attack on Indian parliament things die down after an initial hoopla. 

Let’s hope its different this time !! 

Indian public should stand up and demand implementation of a series of drastic measures to eliminate terror networks operating out of Pakistan. Its no more a question of ‘providing evidence’ to the government in Pakistan but time for a severe action. This attack on India’s pride, dignity and sovereignty can not go unpunished. This is the least we can do for those who lost their lives during this Mumbai siege.