Ted Cruz and Wall Street - Talking Out of Both Sides of One's Mouth

In this posting, I want to take a look at Ted Cruz and how he really feels about Wall Street when he's not talking down to America.

Here is a video of Ted Cruz showing his alleged feelings about people in New York City, particularly those who live in Manhattan:

...and, here he is, talking to those of us who sweat while we work about what he would do to Wall Street at the 4 minute mark:

Note his comments on how the big banks are getting bigger and bigger.  As you will see, it's those big banks otherwise known as the investment industry that are actually playing an important role in Mr. Cruz's campaign.  A non-thinker would almost believe that the Harvard-educated, second-place candidate in the GOP fight for presidential actually believed that he is rabidly anti-Wall Street, an oddity given that his wife, Heidi, was in the executive ranks at Goldman Sachs.

Well, it looks like Mr. Cruz is begging for the right kind of attention from Wall Street; the green kind of attention that has the pictures of presidents on it.  Here is a screen capture showing an invitation to a fundraiser to be held at the Harvard Club of New York City on April 18th, 2016 pictured here:

Here is a screen capture showing the more interesting part of the invitation:

Note that to attend the "general reception", you'll get to fork over a measly $1,000 per person.  If you want to attend the VIP reception where you might actually get to shake the hand of the presidential hopeful, it will cost you $2,700 per person.  If you take the easy way out and just donate or raise $10,800 or $25,000, you will be considered a real Cruz campaign insider!  Actually, given that we're talking about a Manhattan-based crowd, the cost of admission is remarkably low.

Here is a screen capture from the website of the Harvard Club of New York City:

Go ahead, take a couple of minutes and take a tour of the place so that you can get a sense of the demographic that comprises its membership.  I'll wait.

Now, let's look at how much Mr. Cruz's campaign committee and Leadership PAC has received from Wall Street so far in this campaign cycle:

The securities and investment industry has donated a total of $917,947, the miscellaneous finance industry has donated another $591,584, the commercial banking industry has donated $308,680 and the insurance industry has donated $142,880.  While all of these sectors are not necessarily Wall Street dwellers, they are part of the financial business sector that is closely associated with Manhattan.

Let's look at the biggest contributors to the Super PACs that are backing him:

Let's look at his number two donor, Renaissance Technologies, which has donated a total of $11 million so far in this cycle.  This company, co-chaired by Robert Mercer, is an "investment management firm" (aka hedge fund) founded back 1982 by mathematician James Simons.  It has about $44 billion in assets under management.  Interestingly, Robert Mercer and James Simons both come up in the top ten list of individual contributors to the conservative cause in the 2012 election cycle as shown here:

Here is a listing of Robert Mercer's donations in this cycle:

Here is a more detailed look at Keep the Promise I, the Super PAC backing Ted Cruz:

There's also a Wall Street connection with New Vernon Capital, another asset management firm, JW Childs Associates is a private equity firm that specializes in recapitalizations and leveraged buyouts and PRIMECAP Management Company is an independent investment management company headquartered in California.

So much for Mr. Cruz and his populist views on Wall Street.  I guess one can speak out of both sides of one's mouth when it comes to money and politics.  Surprise, surprise.

Enjoy your evening out at the Harvard Club of New York City.  I'm sure that you'l receive a warm welcome.  Let me know how it went.