The economy is not my strong suit, so correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the gist:
Quote:When Britain joined the ERM, the rate was set to 2.95 deutsche marks per pound sterling with a 6% permissible move in either direction. The problem was that the country's inflation rate was high, and interest rates were over 13%. The country's economic boom was far into a period of unsustainable growth. This set the stage for a bust period.34
Currency traders took note of these underlying problems and began shorting the pound. More specifically, they bought one currency, such as the mark, using the pound. This allowed them to profit as the pound fell in value by comparison to the other currency.5 George Soros was one of these bearish currency traders. He amassed a short position of more than $10 billion worth of pounds.
The UK's prime minister and cabinet members approved the spending of billions in pounds. This was an attempt to contain the short selling by speculators. Then, the British government announced that it would raise its interest rates from 10% to 15%. This was in order to try to attract currency traders looking for greater yield on their currency holdings.
But the currency speculators didn't believe the government would make good on these promises; they continued shorting the pound. After an emergency meeting among top officials, the country was ultimately forced to withdraw from the ERM to let the market revalue its currency to more appropriate, lower levels.2
The country was arguably thrown into a recession afterward. Many British citizens began referring to the ERM as the "Eternal Recession Machine." While the government lost a lot of money, some politicians are glad the ERM disaster occurred, since it paved the way for more conservative policies that would ultimately be credited for reviving the economy.
Soros is known as the man who broke the Bank of England. He made a billion dollars with this exploit (this was in 1992). Not only was he taking advantage of England's bad position, he and his fellow investors intentionally started trying to crash the pound when they started buying German Marks with it, leading to a depreciation of the pound. He amassed disproportionate wealth at the expense of the UK treasury, which affects who? The British taxpayers. The government doesn't have its own money. He essentially saw that England was vulnerable, then exploited that to make himself rich at the expense of the British citizens. Then he did the same thing to Mexico Peso in '95 and the Thailand Baht in '97 and a similar thing with the Japanese Yen.
It's been speculated that he's attempted to crash as many as 15 different nation's currencies, so much so that many Eastern European countries have laws against Soros groups. He finally stopped shorting markets in Asia after China backed Hong Kong and absorbed the blow when he tried to bankrupt Hong Kong. All the American talking heads came out against China's policy at the time, but you know who eventually admitted it was the right move? Soros. These people are just scumbags, man, but hey... their Quantum Group netted their investors a 30% yield, yay! China has special policies in place now to keep people like Soros from shorting their currency.
Once he moved to his "philanthropic" causes and started getting called out for being a douche (I miss real journalism), he said he regretted getting wealthy on shorting other nations' currencies. Why? Because he needed the PR. He just didn't realize that he could whitewash everything buy buying the media, which has now been rectified. In almost every MSM article, you will see Soros referred to as "The Philanthropist." It's all [BLEEP]. Almost all of his billions were transferred into non-profit "charities," which is essentially just a loophole that lets him hide his billions from taxation while freely allowing him to influence policy. Check out this article on Soros by CBS:
Who is George Soros and why is he blamed in so many right-wing conspiracy theories? - CBS News
What a joke. There is almost no mention of how he made his billions or what he does with that money. It just demagogues conservatives who dare attack "The Philanthropist." It's not remotely trying to dismantle any of the actual concerns. It just tells you to move on... don't examine anything about this man. This is exactly the kind of article the moderates on this board would post in defense of Soros. He's a self-identified globalist, who has said that the "biggest obstacle to a stable and just world is the United States." He's not for open borders, he wants a global government, and to do that, he needs to break down the structures that uphold the American identity, and I think that's why he is buying DAs now.
Imo, the dude is a sociopath. He may believe his own [BLEEP], I don't know. I just know he's a shining example of why we don't need billionaires.
Also, I misremembered earlier. He didn't turn in his fellow Jews. He helped confiscate their property, and he had zero remorse for it. There's nothing on record showing he turned someone in, but it wouldn't surprise me.