Friday, July 27, 2012

Mandel Betting Against USA


***  It looks like Republican Josh Mandel, Ohio's absent Treasurer, has been against our country.  Mandel and his wife could make big money if the country went into default.  Think Progress has the details:

...According to personal financial disclosure documents examined by ThinkProgress, Josh Mandel’s wife owns an undisclosed amount of ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury exchange-traded fund (ETF). This ETF aggressively “shorts” U.S. Treasury bills, meaning that it bets against U.S. debt and spikes when Treasury bill values drop. If a default were to occur, the desirability of Treasury bills would plummet and Mandel’s ETF would skyrocket in value.

That precise scenario could become more likely if Mandel wins his race against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). One of the top issues Mandel lists on his website is to “Stop increasing the debt ceiling.” Similarly, when Congress was embroiled in the debt ceiling fight last year, he stated that he “would have voted against the debt deal” that narrowly staved off a default.....

....Though Mandel’s Treasury-shorting holdings may not be gigantic at the moment, their value would soar in the event of a debt default....

Don't you think it suspicious that Josh Mandel was against raising the debt ceiling???  I just don't know how people can sleep at night knowing that they make money when their country fails.

***  Republican Mitt Romney continues his foot-in-mouth tour.

YahooNews:

...The Daily Telegraph suggested Romney's "Olympic gaffe" had overshadowed his trip to London....

Romney's comments led newscasts on both Sky News and the BBC on Thursday night and early Friday morning, just hours ahead of the Olympic opening ceremonies here.

"Is this guy really prepared to be president?" one Sky News reporter asked in his Thursday night report about Romney's day in London. The reporter trashed the GOP candidate's comments as "just daft."

Mitt Romney was the governor of a small state, and when he left office he left the people in debt.  Romney might have made his wealth by buying companies, charging astronomical managing fees, and firing people, but that is not how to run the country. 

Of course, the British were quite upset about Romney had written in his book.
Time:

...The pounding continued on Thursday when reporters excavated a passage from his book No Apology that includes some unflattering remarks about the U.S.’s chief European ally. “England is just a small island,” he wrote. “Its roads and houses are small. With few exceptions, it doesn’t make things that the rest of the world wants to buy. And if it hadn’t been separated from the continent by water, it almost certainly would have been lost to Hitler’s ambitions.” (The context of the quote is a rumination on why nations rise and fall.)

At home, these flaps would quickly disappear into the maw of the news cycle. The standard is different on foreign soil. Romney’s blunders have undercut the entire purpose of the trip, which was to prove he could adequately represent U.S. interests with international leaders despite his scant foreign policy experience. He hasn’t met that standard so far.... 

In foreign diplomacy, Mitt Romney gets an "F" on his report card.