Let’s face it. President Barack Obama does not exactly enjoy great support these days from the business community, which thinks he is out to make their lives harder. This is especially true when it comes to Wall Street.
This notion did not change at a town hall meeting hosted by CNBC on Monday, when hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci told Obama: “We have felt like a piñata,” adding, “we certainly feel like we’ve been whacked with a stick.”
Obama, however, responded that a big chunk of the country thinks he has been too soft on Wall Street. He then alluded to the AR ranking of the highest earning hedge fund managers (put together by yours truly) when he pointed out that the top 25 hedge fund managers took home $1 billion in profits last year.
“If you’re making $1 billion a year after a very bad financial crisis where 8 million people lost their jobs and small businesses can’t get loans,” Obama said, “then I think that you shouldn’t be feeling put upon.” Next time, Mr. President, please cite the name of your source material. I wouldn’t complain if you named the author too.
Stephen Taub, who has covered the hedge fund industry for 30 years, is a contributing editor to Institutional Investor and Absolute Return-Alpha magazines.
