Wall Street is getting tired of funding socially conservative Republicans running for president | ||
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The money men in New York City set aside their socially liberal views in order to support fiscally conservative candidates because that was the only way to get on the same page as the GOP base. The result has been a series of candidates Wall Street's big donors didn't really want. It seems those donors are getting tired of that outcome. Hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman recently vented his frustration with this arrangement on an episode of Wall Street Week. "I tend to be more Republican in my views, but socially very liberal. I'm going to have trouble with any Republican that does not disavow a fixation with social issues," he said. "Republicans have to understand that because young people in our country are not grabbed by those issues."
In fact, some social conservatives are actually hardening their stances before a new wave of younger voters has the mass to make a difference at the polls. A recent Pew Research poll found that Republican Conservatives are the only group in America who have become less accepting of homosexuality over the last two years. This is not what Wall Street wants to see. Wall Street's ideal candidate is Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman who's into environmental sustainability, urban development, infrastructure investment, and gay rights. These are all socially conservative no-nos. During the last presidential election, it looked like Wall Street might finally get the kind of Republican they were looking for — Mitt Romney. For most of his career, Romney was known as a moderate technocrat. But when he ran for president, Romney was forced to turn to entice the party base. He played up his conservative family values instead. Many on Wall Street loved his private equity/business background to be sure. They liked his ideas on foreign policy, even, but they weren't crazy about his sudden lurch to the right on issues like abortion. From the way Cooperman talks about it, some on Wall Street are tired of compromise. It would be one thing if the compromise was was leading to wins. But it's not. And in losing elections, Wall Street is also losing an investment. Each cycle bundlers collect millions of dollars from Wall Street in increments of $2,700, of $5,000, and $34,800. They give to SuperPacs and party coffers, they give because they like a candidate or (more likely) because their boss or colleague loves a candidate. This isn't a lot of money to Wall Street, but it is money wasted on candidates they sometimes only half want. Instead they're forced to wait for a candidate they'll never get. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
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For years, when it came to Presidential candidates, Wall Street made huge compromises in order to support the Republican Party.
Rebels push IS back in northern Syria: monitor | ||
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Beirut (AFP) - A Syrian rebel alliance has pushed Islamic State group jihadists further away from one of its key supply routes from neighbouring Turkey, a monitoring group said on Saturday. The Islamist rebels ousted IS from the village of Al-Bal, which it captured on Tuesday, threatening the Bab al-Salama border crossing, just 10 kilometres (six miles) away, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The village's recapture late on Friday came after heavy fighting which killed 14 rebels and 15 IS jihadists, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. Further south, the two sides battled for the town of Marea, which lies on the road between the crossing and the rebel-held eastern sector of the main northern city of Aleppo. "The ultimate goal for IS is to cut off this crossing," said Abdel Rahman. Activists said the rebels were fighting to defend Marea, while simultaneously launching their own attacks on IS positions in the area. "IS is trying to surround the town by occupying the villages all around it," said Mamun Abu Omar, head of a local pro-rebel press agency. The rebel alliance is fighting both IS and government forces in Aleppo province, which is one of the most complex battlegrounds of Syria's multi-front civil war. In some areas, it is supported by fighters of IS's jihadist rival, Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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'Outraged' mayors take charge of Madrid, Barcelona | ||
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Madrid (AFP) - Leftist activists from the Indignados (Outraged) protest movement that grew out of Spain's economic crisis took charge Saturday of city halls in Madrid and Barcelona, after thrashing the ruling conservatives in local elections. Former judge Manuela Carmena, a communist in her youth, was sworn in as mayor of the Spanish capital early on Saturday, while 41-year-old activist Ada Colau was set to become Barcelona's first female mayor later in the afternoon. In Madrid, Carmena ended 24 years of conservative Popular Party rule. "I promise to loyally respect the duties involved in being mayor of Madrid," Carmena said as she was sworn in, minutes after the city hall representatives officially voted her in as leader of the city of three million. "Here we are. Thank you very much. Now we are all mayors," she tweeted as soon as the result was announced. The hall broke out in applause, as supporters cried out the rallying call of the Indignados movement: "Yes, it is possible!" Carmena became mayor after her leftist platform, Ahora Madrid, clinched a deal with the main opposition Socialists, some two weeks after after thrashing the ruling Popular Party in local and regional elections in May. Many of her supporters come from the Indignados protest movement against government spending cuts and corruption that occupied Spanish squares four years ago. Carmena's platform includes neighbourhood associations, environmentalist groups and Spain's new anti-austerity party, Podemos, whose strong gains made them kingmakers in what analysts have described as a historic vote. Podemos's pony-tailed leader Pablo Iglesias was present at the meeting, clapping for his ally Carmena when the result was read out. Ahora Madrid platform is without a doubt "a unique case in Europe" for a capital city, said Fernando Mendez, a researcher at the Centre for Research on Direct Democracy at the University of Geneva. People from diverse backgrounds joined the movement, united in their hunger for change as Spain reeled under high unemployment, corruption and government spending cuts to healthcare and education. Ideologically, Ahora Madrid has its roots in anarchist and libertarian movements and is inspired by the Paris Commune, a left-wing revolutionary government that briefly ruled Paris in 1871. - Two women at the helm - Ahora Madrid's bible, "The Municipal Bet", a pamphlet distributed to its activists, mentions Kabouters, a Dutch anarchist group of the 1970s that occupied buildings, European "green" movements and various resistance movements. It also reflects the vision of "libertarian municipalism" advocated by the late New York ecologist Murray Bookchin and the struggles by Madrid neighbourhood associations against the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. In her youth, Carmena herself was a communist and dissident against Franco's rule, using her skills as a lawyer to defend detainees' rights. In Saturday's plenary, she won 29 votes of 59 representatives -- among them nine from the Socialists and 20 from the new Ahora Madrid councillors. In Barcelona, Colau, a member of the anti-eviction movement, was elected mayor in the May vote. The anti-eviction activist is expected to be sworn in later on Saturday afternoon. She has pledged to fight inequalities in the city of 1.6 million by putting an end to evictions from housing, lowering energy prices and bringing in a minimum monthly income of 600 euros ($675). Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Australian navy accused of something 'tantamount to people smuggling' | ||
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Reports that the Australian navy paid off the crew of a boat full of asylum-seekers to turn back to Indonesian waters have surfaced, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is not denying them, the BBC reports. Australian immigration and foreign ministers have denied the allegations, but Abbott's refusal to do so has left Indonesia's foreign ministry "very concerned." The Prime Minister also mentioned that Australia was getting "very creative" when it comes to keeping migrants from reaching the country. "We have used a whole range of measures to stop the boats, because that's what the Australian people elected us to do," Abbott said. He continued to say that the government would stop the boats "by hook or by crook". Indonesia's police said this week that they detained the crew of a boat that told them an Australian navy ship intercepted them and paid them each $3,900 to turn back. "I saw the money with my own eyes," the local police chief told AFP. "This is the first time I'd heard [of] Australian authorities making payments to boat crew." Passengers had similar accounts.
"This is endangering life. They were in the middle of the sea, but were pushed back," foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said. Over the last year, Abbott introduced hard-line policies to stop immigrants from reaching Australia. The measures have been critiqued by the UN and other international organizations. Rights groups have also accused Australia of violating international law "by returning possible refugees to the country where they were being persecuted." Professor of International Law at the Australian National University Don Rothwellm, said that if Australian navy actually handed money to the boat crew, they could be accused of people smuggling. "If a state such as Australia is making that payment that would be seen as tantamount to people smuggling," Rothwellm told ABC. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions  | ||
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Indonesia foreign ministry is taking the matter very seriously and are now investigating the claims. Man in armored van fired shots at Dallas Police headquarters and explosives were found nearby | ||
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(Reuters) - Shots were fired from an armored van in an attack on Dallas Police headquarters early on Saturday, police said, and an explosive device was later found outside the building. Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters that witnesses said as many as four suspects were involved in the incident, which began around 12:30 a.m. He said that a motive was not yet known.
Brown said when police responded to reports of automatic gunfire, the van rammed a squad car and at least one person opened fire. The van drove off when the police returned fire and the police gave chase, Brown said. The van stopped in a fast food restaurant parking lot in the city of Hutchins, some 10 miles (16 km) south of Dallas, where there was another exchange of gunfire. Brown said police negotiators had since been in contact with one of the suspects inside the van, who identified himself as James Boulware. Brown said that the suspect had said that police had taken his son and had accused him of being a terrorist. Brown said that the man then threatened to "blow us up." Four bags were found scattered around police headquarters, one of which had explosives inside, Brown said. Nearby residents were being evacuated from the area, he said. No officers have been injured, but the suspect speaking with police said he had been hurt, Brown said. A video of the incident on social media showed a police officer approaching a black van with a flashlight as two other police cruisers pulled up behind the vehicle. The officer then abruptly turned and ran away and then a volley of gunshots could be heard. In another video, the van could be seen ramming a police cruiser before gunfire rang out and the vehicle drove off. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco. Editing by Jane Merriman) Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Two models in Russia just posed with a 1,400-pound bear  | ||
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This clothing company whose CEO is richer than Warren Buffett is blowing the competition out of the water | ||
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Zara's business is on fire. Inditex, the fast fashion retailer's parent company based in Spain, recently said profits in the first quarter jumped by a whopping 28%. Sales were up by an impressive 14%. Zara's mysterious founder, Amancio Ortega, is now the world's second-richest man — surpassing even Warren Buffet. The retailer, which sells trendy men and women's clothing, is also opening hundreds of new stores, most notably in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The brand is also expanding in the US. Fast fashion brands like Zara are seeing sales explode, while other specialty retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch, J. Crew, and Urban Outfitters struggle to get customers in stores. A report by Goldman Sachs perfectly sums up why fast fashion retailers are challenging traditional ones. "Unlike fast fashion retailers which have buying teams sourcing current trending fashion from third-party vendors, traditional specialty retailers have design teams creating product they believe is going to be trending 12-months out," the researchers write. The risk of trying to predict fashion trends a year in advance is weighing on the success of retailers like Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ann Taylor, American Eagle, and others, according to Goldman Sachs. If these retailers have a "fashion miss," it means markdowns, which hurts profits. Zara's unconventional business model eliminates this risk. The company's strategy involves stocking very little and updating collections often. Instead of other brands that only update once a season, Zara restocks with new designs twice a week, reports Suzy Hansen at The New York Times. That strategy works two ways, according to Hansen. First, it encourages customers to come back to the store often. It also means that if the shopper wants to buy something, he or she feels that they have to buy it in order to guarantee it won't sell out.
Zara has already changed the fashion industry. “They broke up a century-old biannual cycle of fashion,” an analyst told Hansen. “Now, pretty much half of the high-end fashion companies” — Prada and Louis Vuitton, for example — “make four to six collections instead of two each year. That’s absolutely because of Zara." Specialty retailers will need to follow suit in order to succeed, according to Goldman. SEE ALSO: A mysterious retail guru most people have never heard of just became richer than Warren Buffett Follow Us: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: It's official: Michael Kors isn't cool anymore  | ||
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Migrants in hunger strike at France-Italy border | ||
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Ventimiglia (Italy) (AFP) - Dozens of migrants refused entry into France went on hunger strike Saturday at the border crossing in Ventimiglia in Italy, where they organised a sit-in and threatened to block traffic. French border police told AFP they had been ordered not to let through the migrants, many of whom came from Somalia, Eritrea, the Ivory Coast and Sudan, and hoped to travel onwards to Germany, Britain or Sweden to request asylum. "We are not going back, we need to pass," read a large banner held aloft by one group of protesters, while another read: "We need freedom." Curled up on pieces of cardboard, sheltering where possible under trees and bushes, men, women and children who had made the journey from Libya by boat to Italy said they would block traffic if they were not allowed to pass. While the women and children ate food provided by the Red Cross, the men refused. "We won't eat," said 20 year-old Mustapha Ali. "We spent all of yesterday in the heat, and last night in the rain and cold. If we must die here, no need to eat." A record number of 1,439 migrants were intercepted this week by French police in the Alpes-Maritimes area of southeast France, with 1,097 returned to Italy. Mohamed from Sudan told AFP he had arrived in Sicily with his brother and travelled by car and train as far as Menton in France -- just across the border -- where he had been arrested at the train station and escorted back to Italy. "In Darfur there is a lot of war and violence, they massacre people, we want peace," he said. The Schengen open borders accord means migrants landing in Italy can usually easily travel through neighbouring France, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia as they seek to make it to Britain, Germany and Scandinavia. But border controls have been temporarily reintroduced due to a recent summit of G7 leaders in Germany. The mayor of Ventimiglia, Enrico Ioculano, told Sky TG 24 television that some of the migrants appeared to be getting through to France anyway by train. "There are currently around 50 migrants at Ventimiglia's train station, the same number as there were a few days ago, though the faces have changed," he said. "At least 200 have come and gone, I would guess they got into France by train," he said. The suspension of Schengen has increasing the pressure on Italy, where reception centres are at breaking point with about 76,000 people accommodated nationwide. The build-up has seen hundreds of migrants including three-month-old infants bedding down in Milan Central and Rome's Tiburtina train stations. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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