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Reverted edits by AnonFTW (Talk) to last version by Aschlafly
[[Image:George Soros HighRes.jpg|right|175px]]
'''George Soros''' (born August 12, 1930 in [[Hungary]]) is a [[leftist]] [[American]] businessman and one of the richest people in the world, current networth estimated to be at about $8.4 billion. The birth-name of George Soros is György Schwartz, he changed his family name in 1936 from Schwartz to Soros to avoid [[antisemitism]]. George Soros later said that he "grew up in a [[Jewish]], anti-semitic home," and that his parents were "uncomfortable with their religious roots."<ref>{{cite|author=Slater, R. |title="Soros: The Unauthorized Biography", page 30 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |date= 09-30-2007}}</ref> Soros is an [[atheist]]. <ref>[http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=1852 Atheist George Soros Funds MoveOn.org Traditional Values Coalition, August 27, 2004]</ref>
In 1947, George Soros emigrated from Hungary to England, where an event occurred that greatly influenced the development of George's personality and worldview. He broke his leg and was cared for by England's National Health Service, free of charge, while the Jewish relief agencies of that era did not offer him the help he believed they owed him. In that event was born Soros' favorable opinion of Democratic Socialism, and his negative view of many Jewish groups.
Soros' immediate family joined him in the West in the mid-Fifties.
== Early Years ==
In his autobiograpy, entitled ''Soros on Soros'', he described how as a teenager he helped to cart off the stolen possessions of Hungarian Jewish men, women and children after they were rounded up and transported to [[Concentration camp|death camps]]. He claims it never bothered him a bit, and still doesn't bother him today. He has no personal regrets about his actions. Soros, a reputed [[psychopath]]<ref>http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/soros_the_guiltless.html</ref><ref>http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/08042009/404/investment-greats-george-soros.html</ref><ref>http://www.softcom.net/users/greebo/psychopath.htm</ref>, told Steve Kroft of ''[[CBSNews]]'' in response to questions about his behavior in an interview with of ''60 Minutes'',
<blockquote>
KROFT: No feeling of guilt?<br>
Mr. SOROS: No.</blockquote>
== Political Influence ==
Soros uses his billions of dollars to influence government politics. In 1989, Soros financed [[Vaclav Havel]]'s rise to power in the [[Czech Republic]]'s "Velvet Revolution". He has acknowledged having orchestrated coups in Croatia, Georgia, Slovakia, and Yugoslavia. <ref name="Discover"></ref>
In late March of 2002 Soros announced he was giving three million dollars to Budapest Open Access Initiative to set up open-archiving systems. Soros was accused of "foolishly spending millions <nowiki>[to]</nowiki> undermining libraries, librarians, authors and referees".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1885931.stm |title=Critics attack net journal initiative |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref>
Soros personally has made campaign contributions to [[Democrat]] political candidates; [[Barack Obama]], [[Hillary Clinton]], [[Charles Rangel]], [[Al Franken]], Tom Udall, Joe Sestak, and [[Sherrod Brown]].
=== [[United States presidential election, 2004|2004 Presidential Elections]] in the United States ===
During the 2004 election, George Soros donated $23,581,000 to various [[liberal]] 527 Groups dedicated to defeating President [[George W. Bush]]. Soros contributed $3 million to the [[leftist]] [[propaganda|propagandist]] [[Center for American Progress]] and $5 million to [[radical leftist]] [[MoveOn.org]]. He was the founder of the [[Open Society Institute]].
George Soros has personally expressed a strong disliking of [[President Bush]].<ref name="soros2">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/dsouza200410190831.asp |title=The World According to Soros |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> In 2004 he stated defeating Bush was "the central focus of my life," and "a matter of life and death."<ref name="soros3">{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24179-2003Nov10?language=printer|title=Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24179-2003Nov10?language=printer |title=Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush |accessdate=2007-09-30}}</ref> He also said "America, under Bush, is a danger to the world" and claimed "<nowiki>[Bush]</nowiki> is undermining American values". He says he "been demonized by the Bush campaign" and donated more than 15.5 million in a failed attempt to defeat Bush in 2004.<ref name="soros3">{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24179-2003Nov10?language=printer|title=Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0928-16.htm |title=Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5476317 |title=George Soros, Maintaining Political Interest |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref>
Soros likened Republicans generally, and the Bush administration in particular, to "the Nazi and communist regimes" in the sense that they are "all engaged in the politics of fear." <ref name="Discover"></ref>
[[File:SorosCartoonsmall.JPG|left|300px]]
=== [[United States presidential election, 2008|2008 Presidential Elections]] in the United States ===
{{cquote| In 2008, Soros' [[Shadow Party]] was again a major force in the movement that not only expanded the Democratic Party's congressional majorities, but also delivered the presidency to Barack Obama.}}
=== Obama and Soros Connection ===
In 2004, Soros held a [[Barack Obama]] fundraiser for his campaign in the U.S. Senate. Obama visited Soros office in New York, December 2006. January 2007, Obama started to campaign for the presidency. Within hours of announcing his candidacy, Soros had donated the maximum allowed by law to the Obama campaign. <ref name="Discover"></ref> Soros has visited the White House at least four times in 2009 and has influence with other frequent White House visitors.
In August 2009, Obama announced he was giving $2 billion in U.S. tax dollars to state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA of [[Brazil]] for offshore oil drilling. At the same time, George Soros increased his stake $811 million in the same oil company. According to Bloomberg Press, 22 percent of the $3.68 billion of stocks and American depositary receipts of Petroleo Brasileiro are held by Soros Fund Management LLC. <ref>[http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/277955 Obama commits to off-shore drilling, Digital Journal, August 20, 2009]</ref>
=== Socialist Agenda For America ===
Even though the free market has made Soros a multi-billionaire, he blames capitalism for the world's problems.
{{cquote| The entire edifice of global financial markets has been erected on the false premise that markets can be left to their own devices, we must find a new paradigm and rebuild from the ground up. I decided to sponsor INET to facilitate the process.}}
In a Der Spiegel interview in 2008, Soros advocates European-style socialism for America, "is exactly what we need now. I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful -- but also very harmful to our society."
Soros's answer to America's problems involve more regulation and more government intervention in the marketplace. Soros pours billions of dollars into the following anti-USA causes; <ref>[http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=589 GUIDE TO THE GEORGE SOROS NETWORK, Discover The Networks]</ref>
*Promoting the view that America is institutionally an oppressive nation
*Promoting the election of leftist political candidates throughout the United States
*Opposing virtually all post-9/11 national security measures enacted by U.S. government, particularly the Patriot Act
*Depicting American military actions as unjust, unwarranted, and immoral
*Promoting open borders, mass immigration, and a watering down of current immigration laws
*Promoting a dramatic expansion of social welfare programs funded by ever-escalating taxes
*Promoting social welfare benefits and amnesty for illegal aliens
*Defending suspected anti-American terrorists and their abetters
*Financing the recruitment and training of future activist leaders of the political Left
*Advocating America’s unilateral disarmament and/or a steep reduction in its military spending
*Opposing the death penalty in all circumstances
*Promoting socialized medicine in the United States
*Promoting the tenets of radical environmentalism, whose ultimate goal, as writer Michael Berliner has explained, is “not clean air and clean water, [but] rather ... the demolition of technological/industrial civilization”
*Bringing American foreign policy under the control of the United Nations
*Promoting racial and ethnic preferences in academia and the business world alike
== Robber Baron ==
[[File:Britishpound-crash-soros.jpg|right|400px|thumb| Chart showing the effects of Soros manipulating the British Pound in 1992.]]
Soros was given the title, ''"the man who broke the Bank of England."'' <ref>[http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=79010 Stocks Soros And Druckenmiller Have In Common, Gurufocus.com, December 14, 2009]</ref> In 1992, he made $1 billion profit by devaluing the [[British]] Pound under a $10 billion deal. Soros is credited with collapsing the Malaysia financial market. <ref name="ASpectator">[http://spectator.org/archives/2009/11/04/killing-capitalism-soros-style/ Killing Capitalism Soros-Style, American Spectator November 4, 2009]</ref>
== 2008 Financial Crisis ==
While the rest of the world financial markets were losing billions of dollars, Soros made billions of dollars for which he said, [he's] "having a very good crisis." <ref>[http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/03/26/having-good-crisis-will-soros-be-attacked-his-profits 'I'm Having A Good Crisis': Will Soros Be Attacked For HIS Profits? NewsBusters.org, March 26, 2009]</ref> Some people speculate that Soros was responsible for the crisis by removing his large sums of money from institutions and betting against currency valuations.
== Liberal Infrastructure ==
Soros and his foundations have had a hand in funding noteworthy leftist organizations. Since 1999, Soros's Open Society Institute (OSI) has given grants to Center for American Progress ($1.8 million), Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ($3.7 million), Economic Policy Institute ($3 million), Institute for America's Future ($965,000), and the Center for Policy Alternatives ($1.4 million), the Tides Foundation ($20 million). <ref name="ASpectator"></ref>
Other leftist groups Soros funds includes the following; <ref name="Discover"></ref> the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, the Tides Center; the [[National Organization for Women]]; Feminist Majority; the [[American Civil Liberties Union]]; People for the American Way; Alliance for Justice; [[NARAL]] Pro-Choice America; America Coming Together; Campaign for America's Future; [[Amnesty International]]; the Sentencing Project; the Center for Community Change; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Human Rights Watch; the Prison Moratorium Project; the [[Malcolm X]] Grassroots Movement; the National Lawyers Guild; the Center for Constitutional Rights; the Coalition for an International Criminal Court; The American Prospect; MoveOn.org; [[Planned Parenthood]]; the Nation Institute; the Brennan Center for Justice; the Ms. Foundation for Women; the National Security Archive Fund; the Pacifica Foundation; Physicians for Human Rights; the Proteus Fund; the Public Citizen Foundation; the Urban Institute; the American Friends Service Committee; Catholics for a Free Choice; Human Rights First; the Independent Media Institute; MADRE; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Immigrant Legal Resource Center; the National Immigration Law Center; the National Immigration Forum; the National Council of [[La Raza]]; the American Immigration Law Foundation; the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee; and the Peace and Security Funders Group.
== Criticism ==
Billionaire George Soros has been criticized by a number of different commentators on many issues, ranging from his financial support of various controversial organizations, his reported tax evasions and his views on Israel, the United States, and [[anti-Semitism]].
=== Anti-Semitism of Soros ===
[[File:G. Soros.jpg|right]]
According to Connie Bruck of The New Yorker, George Soros told her that "I don't deny the Jews their right to a national existence — but I don't want to be part of it." According to [[Joshua Muravchik]], Soros has publicly likened Israel to the Nazis. According to the Jerusalem Post, "Soros and his wealthy Jewish American friends have now decided to aim their fire directly at Israel . . . to form a political lobby that will weaken the influence of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC."
George Soros is a Hungarian-born Jew who escaped the [[Holocaust]] by going to [[London]] as a child. Soros has blamed Europe's anti-Semitism as a result of policies created by the United States and Israel, saying "There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the [[Bush administration]] and the [[Ariel Sharon|Sharon administration]] contribute to that."<ref name="fpp">{{cite web|url=http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/03/11/JTA071103.html |title=In rare Jewish appearance, George Soros says Jews and Israel cause anti-Semitism |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref><ref name="judaism">{{cite web|url=http://judaism.about.com/library/2_americanjewry/bl_soros.htm |title=George Soros Blames Jews for Anti-Semitism |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> Abraham Foxman, national director of the [[Anti-Defamation League]], called Soros's comments “absolutely obscene". <ref name="judaism">{{cite web|url=http://judaism.about.com/library/2_americanjewry/bl_soros.htm |title=George Soros Blames Jews for Anti-Semitism |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> Soros has called for a "regime change" in the United States has spoken of funding projects in Palestine.<ref name="fpp">{{cite web|url=http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/03/11/JTA071103.html |title=In rare Jewish appearance, George Soros says Jews and Israel cause anti-Semitism |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref> He is often criticized by the Jewish community for failing to give funding to their causes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/1245/edition_id/12/format/html/displaystory.html |title=28th richest man in America, George Soros, needs a Jewish connection |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref>
=== Criticism of funding ===
George Soros has been accused of helping to fund 'smear sites' like [[Moveon.org]] and [[Media Matters]], according to [[Bill O'Reilly]], [[National Review]], and other groups.<ref name="soros1">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html |title=Buying Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref name="soros2">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/dsouza200410190831.asp |title=The World According to Soros |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> Soros has donated millions to [[Moveon.org|Moveon.org]].<ref name="soros1">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html |title=Buying Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> That foundation has donated money to [[Media Matters for America]], a group highly critical of O'Reilly.
O'Reilly has claimed that Soros's goal "is to buy a presidential election... find and fund a candidate who will tacitly do what he or she is told to do."<ref name="soros1">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html |title=Buying Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref>
=== Financing Halliburton ===
Foreign Policy magazine editor Mike Boyer reports that SEC documents reveal that George Soros's Soros Fund Management LLC bought 1.9 million shares of [[Halliburton]] stock in the fourth quarter of 2006.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/3776 |title=Soros buys Halliburton |accessdate=2007-09-30}}</ref>
Boyer wrote:
{{Cquote|
Normally, I'm willing to overlook the hypocrisy of the liberal elite. If Al Gore and his Hollywood cronies want to fly around on gas-guzzling, atmosphere-polluting private jets while railing against global climate change, I'm willing to overlook it.
But the latest move by globe trotting, hyper-liberal billionaire George Soros borders on being too much.... Soros, of course, is the dean of Democratic money giving. And Halliburton, of course, is the company that embodies everything the Democrats see as evil. Dick Cheney is its former chief, for goodness' sake.
}}
This would be of even greater significance had Soros not given up day-to-day management of the fund.
=== Criticism of 'tax evading' and finances ===
George Soros has heavily been criticized for avoiding to pay taxes in the United States.<ref name="soros1">{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html |title=Buying Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> Soros moved his headquarters to the tax free Caribbean country of Curacao, which is outside of the supervision of the United States Government. The Netherlands Antilles has repeatedly been cited by the Task Force on Money Laundering of the [[Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development|Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development]] (OECD) as one of the world's most important centers for laundering illegal proceeds of the Latin American cocaine and other drug traffic. It is a possession of the Netherlands. <ref name="taxes">{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomdomain.com/soros01.html |title=George Soros and the Rothschilds Connection |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref name="jewishreview">{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1203/mason_soros.php3 |title=The sorry tale of George Soros |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref name="questions">{{Cite web|url=http://www.questionsquestions.net/docs04/engdahl-soros.html |title=The Secret Financial Network Behind "Wizard" George Soros |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/6/23/35240603.pdf |title=OECD Investment Policy Reviews, Netherland Antilles |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref>
Former [[Speaker of the House]] for the Republican Party [[Dennis Hastert]] stated that Soros money "could be drug money" and "we don't know where it comes from".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://slate.com/id/2106077/ |title=Dennis Hastert on Dope |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> Soros accused Hastert of trying to smear him and demanded an apology.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pekingduck.org/archives/001691.php |title=George Soros demands apology from Dennis Hastert |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref>
=== Support for [[Illegal drug]]s ===
George Soros has donated millions of dollars towards organizations advocating the legalization of drugs in the United States and has been called the "Daddy Warbucks of drug legalization" by Joseph Califano Jr. of Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.russbaker.com/The Nation - George Soro's Long Strange Trip.htm |title=George Soros's Long Strange Trip |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> He calls the legalization a "harms reduction" and criminal activity associated with the use of drugs will supposedly be reduced if the US government takes over the [[drug trade|trading of drugs]] and provides drugs and drug paraphernalia to addicts.<ref name="acc">{{cite web|url=http://www.aim.org/special_report/A2089_0_8_0_C/ |title=The Hidden Soros Agenda: Drugs, Money, the Media, and Political Power |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> Soros has contributed to the passing of thirteen drug legalization laws in nine different states,<ref name="states">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalfamilies.org/guide/gsoros.html |title=George Soros - Drug Legalization |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref> including the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in California and Arizona.<ref>{{Cite news |first = Judith |last= Miller |title=With Big Money and Brash Ideas, A Billionaire Redefines Charity |url=http://www.druglibrary.org/olsen/dpf/soros.html |date=1996-12-17 |accessdate=2007-10-05}}</ref>
In 1998, Soros was a signatory of a letter addressed to the United nation and Kofi Annan. He stated "the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself." <ref name="Discover">[http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977 George Soros, Discover The Networks]</ref>
=== Support for terrorists ===
[[Linda Evans]],<ref>[http://foia.fbi.gov/filelink.html?file=/weather/weath2b.pdf FBI fil Weather Underground Organization (Weatherman)], Part 2b pp. 22-25 pdf</ref> a member of the [[Weather Underground]] and [[John Brown Anti-Klan Committee]] terrorist organizations which bombed the [[U.S. Capitol]],<ref>[http://nobsopus.blogspot.com/search?q=Tonight+we+bombed+the+U.+S.+Capitol+building Armed Resistance Unit Bombs US Capitol], ''Death to the Klan'', Winter, 1984, No.3. Retrieved from Press Reports, September 13, 2007.</ref> recieved a grant for her All of Us or None of Us program<ref>http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache%3Ae4sxqRFjFX0J%3Awww.soros.org%2Finitiatives%2Fusprograms%2Ffocus%2Fjustice%2Fevents%2Ffellows_20080615%2Ffellows_agenda_20080615.pdf+soros%2Blinda+evans&hl=en&gl=us</ref> after being pardoned by [[President William Jefferson Clinton]] and released from prison.
In September 2002 Soros's Open Society Institute gave $20,000 to the Defense Committee of lawyer Lynne Stewart who defended terrorists in court and was sentenced to 28 months in prison for "providing material support for a terrorist conspiracy".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200502170843.asp |title=Soros Funded Stewarts Defense |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2006/10/16/terrorist-supporting-lawyer-lynne-stewart-gets-slap-on-the-wrist/ |title=Terrorist Supporting Lawyer, Lynne Stewart, Gets Slap On The Wrist |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_4_57/ai_n13487687 |title=A New York jury found Lynne Stewart guilty on all of the counts against her |accessdate=2007-10-04}}</ref>
== See also ==
*[[Richard Goldstone]]
*[[Michael Moore]]
==External Links==
*[http://www.georgesoros.com/ George Soros' personal site]
*[http://www.shadowparty.com/ The Shadow Party], David Horowitz's blog and book reporting George Soro's influence over the Democratic Party.
*[http://www.earstohear.net/soros.html EarsToHear.net]
*[http://www.soroswatch.com/ SorosWatch]
== References ==
<div class="references-small"><div class="references-2column"><references /></div></div>
{{DEFAULTSORT: Soros, George}}
[[Category: Socialists]]
[[Category:Liberal Activists]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Atheism]]
{{Liberalism}}