Politicians were illegally involved in the operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thus they need scapegoats, and it seems that they have chosen some celebrities. Without pushing the lenders to lend people who can't afford to pay the loans back, GWB would never have been re-elected. Oh, GWB is now vaguely criticizing those lenders.

There are those too in the business who spread false rumors to boost their returns but somehow they are not being questioned. That would be like doing real work for Waxman.

he proceeded to tear into them over rules that have allowed them to pay a fraction of the tax an ordinary teacher, firefighter or plumber might pay.

But this might be a relevant question, even if totally irrelevant to subprime mess. But again, shouldn't the question be addressed to the politicians, who made the tax laws?

And there are plenty of other ways to circumvent American taxes, like "charity".

Big story around here is how the Center for Independent Media yanked all the funding for freelance writers at the site Minnesota Independent, Colorado Independent, etc. precisely a week after the election.

I am pretty cynical about Soros; he's thrown effort in some good places, but it ain't all cool, not at all. He's got some real things to answer for.

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Hongpong.com

Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Billionaires testifying before Congress on Thursday gave guarded support for proposals that would bring greater regulation of hedge funds, the investment funds for the ultra-wealthy being blamed in part for today's global financial turmoil.

Five powerful icons of investment told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that hedge funds should be subject to greater oversight. But they stopped short of supporting public reporting of hedge fund data.

It was just what Democrats in control of Congress wanted to hear. Lawmakers from both parties agree that greater financial regulation is needed amid a steep slump in global financial markets whose likes has not been seen since the Great Depression. But there has not been consensus on what kind of regulation should follow.

"Good regulation is good for every market participant," said Kenneth Griffin, chief executive of the Citadel Investment Group, a Chicago-based financial firm whose varied businesses include a top hedge fund.

Hedge funds invest large pools of capital on behalf of the very rich or big institutions such as charitable endowments, state and local pension plans and university endowments. They had almost $1.9 trillion in assets under management at the end of last year, compared to just $367 billion a decade earlier.

These funds for the mega-rich are at the center of controversy now because so little reporting is required of them. They are big players in the trading of contracts for future delivery of oil, they borrow heavily to bet for or against stocks, and they use their vast amounts of cash to capitalize on small movements in direction on a number of different financial markets.

The lack of reporting makes it difficult to determine with certainty whether they are a cause of today's financial turmoil, or have prevented it from becoming worse since they act as shock absorbers. They take the biggest losses when markets turn south — and enjoy the biggest gains during good times.

Hedge fund chiefs told lawmakers Thursday that they do not believe they are the source of today's financial turmoil.

"Not one dollar yet has been used (from Wall Street rescue programs) to support a hedge fund," said John Paulson, president of Paulson & Co. Inc., a big hedge fund that in January appointed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to its advisory board. "The problems have been with investment banks and other financial institutions."

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works harder than the average, non-unionized, working person in the US.