He also did a very forward interview with 60 minutes. This [2] is a transcript of the video [3]. A couple of quotes from him there,
- "I think I’ve been blamed for everything. I am basically there to make money. I cannot and do not look at the social consequences of what I do."
- "Whether I or somebody else does whatever is happening in the markets really doesn’t make any difference to the outcome. I don’t feel guilty because I’m engaged in an amoral activity which is not meant to have anything to do with guilt."
And you can find countless similar quotes and discussions from him. I respect him since he is honest about his motivations and beliefs which is something that cannot be said about the vast majority of people, let alone billionaires. At the same time he is undoubtedly a textbook narcissistic megalomaniac whose sole interest in the world is George Soros. And he will happily and openly share his willingness to engage in awful actions if he thinks it would benefit himself. Consequently, I can understand why many - particularly when we put on these charades of virtue - would find him a less than desirable person.
[1] - http://articles.latimes.com/2004/oct/04/opinion/oe-ehrenfeld...
I've never gotten this hate for Mr. Soros
I think my critique is very similar to Anand Giridharadas http://www.anand.ly/winners-take-all/ and I believe many people who hate him intuitively feel the same way (although perhaps do not understand why).
In particular the Soros-sponsored Open Society Foundation has had many dozens of meetings with the EU Commission and a hand in forming multicultural-based policies.
My own thought is that this political agenda is naive and may result in a backlash that ends up achieving the opposite of what he intends. There are already signs of this happening.
Also, what would be the mechanisms you would employ if you were a person with lots of money and desiring to shape the world into a better place? One approach is the one taken by Bill Gates, where he focuses on technological and social ones, but steers away from the political issues. But lots and lots of evil from this world stems from political reasons. Surely there should be a way to improve that, besides just focusing on the technical and hoping the politics would sort itself out.
I don't have any specific thoughts on what policies should be followed, just a sense that a slower and more organic course is preferable. Even then, reactionary forces will always exist.