| Scaramucci: Not a piñata (Photograph: Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg |
Anthony Scaramucci, managing partner of fund-of-funds firm SkyBridge Capital, said during a panel discussion at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference last month that President Barack Obama “is a disaster.” Scaramucci, who asked Obama in 2010 to stop “whacking” Wall Street like a “piñata,” said the president has an unhealthy affection for socialism. “He believes in society with a bigger federal government,” said Scaramucci, contending Obama is putting America on a path to being a “state-controlled society” by redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor and continuing to run large deficits. The U.S. could be headed on a path similar to that of Greece if the national debt is not reduced, he added. Joshua Friedman, co-founder of $20.4 billion credit-focused hedge fund firm Canyon Capital Advisors, said at the same conference that many governmental financial reforms are counterproductive because they discourage banks from spurring economic growth. “If you were a Martian and you looked at these regulations, you’d think the purpose is to have much less liquid capital markets [and] less capital availability for growing companies,” said Friedman.
Bennett Goodman, a founder of the Blackstone Group’s $47 billion credit investment platform, GSO Capital Partners, said Washington’s ineptitude could lead to social unrest if high unemployment persists. Goodman said he considers social unrest the major underestimated risk in the marketplace. Friedman then noted that May Day Occupy protests were taking place that same day in the nearby downtown Los Angeles financial district, as well as in other major cities throughout the world. “These social fabric issues can cause terrific disruptions,” he said.
