Nothing much to add to this. I’m just passing it along to see that it gets maximum circulation: Eric Cantor is betting that the country will self destruct.
Last year the Wall Street Journal reported that Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, had between $1,000 and $15,000 invested in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury EFT. The fund aggressively “shorts” long-term U.S. Treasury bonds, meaning that it performs well when U.S. debt is undesirable. (A short is when the trader hopes to profit from the decline in the value of an asset.)
According to his latest financial disclosure statement, which covers the year 2010 and has been publicly available since this spring, Cantor still has up to $15,000 in the same fund. Contacted by Salon this week, Cantor’s office gave no indication that the Virginia Republican, who has played a leading role in the debt ceiling negotiations, has divested himself of these holdings since his last filing. Unless an agreement can be reached, the U.S. could begin defaulting on its debt payments on Aug. 2. If that happens and Cantor is still invested in the fund, the value of his holdings would skyrocket.
My my.
What’s both fascinating and sickening (outrage is out of the question, fatigue set in so long ago) about this is that we all know that this story will go nowhere. It will get the IOKYAR pass and we will go on to discussing whether Mark Halperin’s basic point was right and that Obama really did break the rules by pointing out that the Republicans are not bargaining in good faith. In Washington almost all truth is inconvenient, or at least not something fit for polite conversation, much like discussion of rampant Republican corruption.
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