Hedge funders grouse over Obama speech
The toast of this suburban hedge fund hub four years ago, when Paul Tudor Jones II and George Soros opened their Rolodexes for him at a star-studded fundraiser in Greenwich, these days President Barack Obama is testing the loyalty of some of those very allies in the financial sector.
Insiders of the notoriously circumspect industry bristled Tuesday at the president's comments one night earlier during his televised speech to the nation on debt ceiling negotiations, when Obama questioned whether hedge fund executives are paying their fair share of taxes.
"How can we ask a student to pay more for college before we ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries?" Obama said.
Obama was reacting to a House Republican plan to pare back the nation's $14.3 trillion debt.
The president's comments came on the eve of a major hedge fund networking event at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club , the next promontory over from where Obama campaigned in 2007 at the palatial waterfront compound of Jones.
This year, the show's 40th, comes with the America's Cup 12 Metre Legends Reunion, and the New York Yacht Club brought Ted Turner and Australian rival
