Why there will never be “real” financial reform

Politico, May 3, 2010
Hedge funds get 'free ride'
by Chris Frates

Wall Street has taken its lumps in Washington recently and Goldman Sachs has become everyone’s whipping boy, but hedge funds and private equity firms have escaped relatively unscathed.

“There’s no question they’ve gotten a free ride,” said Robert Weissman, president of the consumer group Public Citizen.

And one reason for that, according to Weissman, is a particularly well-connected group of lobbyists. More than half the 83 lobbyists registered last year to work for the industries’ two trade groups, the Private Equity Council and the Managed Funds Association, have served in government — from Capitol Hill to the Treasury Department.

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