Hillary Clinton: Midas touch at work

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/MutualFunds/HillaryClintonMidasTouchAtWork.aspx

After eight years as first lady and six as a New York senator, this presidential candidate is very rich -- but looking at a big tax bill next year.

Hillary Clinton caused a stir in the early 1990s, when it was revealed that the first lady, in 1978, had turned $1,000 into $100,000 in 10 months by trading cattle futures as the wife of Arkansas' attorney general.

These days, that gain would barely register in her portfolio, which has grown as large as $50 million, according to a campaign-disclosure filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Clinton has never lost her Midas touch. As much as $25 million of the current total was contained in a blind trust that the Democratic presidential candidate and her husband established in 1993, when Bill Clinton became president. The trust was valued at just $1 million when it was established.

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The vanishing portfolio

The trust was dissolved earlier this year after its holdings were disclosed and immediately drew fire from activists because of numerous holdings in corporations unpopular among left-wing Democrats, including pharmaceutical, oil and defense companies, as well as Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, news, msgs) -- where Hillary Clinton served on the board from 1986 to 1992 -- and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS, news, msgs).

There's no way that neo-lib DLC stool pigeon's going to come even close to representing us. She sold out to big business, that's who she'll represent.

that would explain her IWR vote. Disgusting.

this is awful. Not.

Couldn't help but notice your post did not mention the tax hit they took - even though they didn't need to.

Earlier today all of the Edward's supporters were claiming that the Susan E. column was a high piece placed by Hillary's supporters. I guess, therefore, it would be accurate to say this is a hit piece placed by John Edwards with his hedge fund buddies.

After eight years as first lady and six as a New York senator, this presidential candidate is very rich -- but looking at a big tax bill next year.

from the same article:

Clinton has, however, taken public positions at odds with her investments. Most famously, early in her husband's presidency she proposed a national health insurance program that was intended, in part, to limit profits of pharmaceutical companies.

She outlined a plan last year to impose $50 billion in new taxes on oil companies, including an "excess profits" tax. Also last year, she returned a $5,000 contribution from Wal-Mart's political-action committee, criticizing the company's limited employee benefits.

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And, in case anyone has any objective interest in what a blind trust entails:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_trust

A blind trust is a trust in which the executors or those who have been given power of attorney have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust. Blind trusts are generally used when a trustor wishes to keep the beneficiary unaware of the specific assets in the trust, such as to avoid conflict of interest between the beneficiary and the investments. Politicians often place their personal assets (including investment income) into blind trusts, to avoid public scrutiny and accusations of conflicts of interest when they direct government funds to the private sector.