Robin Hood attended or at least an approximation of him in the person of Stephen A. Schwartzman of the Blackstone Group who wore a Robin Hood hat. There were plenty of Merry Men. No doubt some of the women pictured themselves as Lady Marian. But there was a lack of sword play unless you count dueling with light sticks that resembled small versions of Star Wars light sabers. Those duels could get pretty serious, especially when egged on by Jon Stewart.
Celebrities were out in force including Martha Stewart, Michael Douglas, and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Tom Brokaw opened the evening. Ben Affleck put in an appearance along with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
They were all there to bid on fabulous prizes in the name of charity. Golf with Tiger Woods fetched $650,00. Two bidders paid $450,000 to sing with Aerosmith. Another package called Need for Speed included attending the Indianapolis 500, flying in a two-seat Navy trainer, and training with Brady. Attendees could also bid on a stay at Waddesdon Manor, which the Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild used to house his art. The winner could have full access to the wine cellar.
Ah, there’s that wine again. It seems to be a lure for the super rich, a pheromone that attracts their acquisitive instincts so they home in on it like moths to a flame. What ARE the rich doing with their money? Obviously judging by the light show and figuring folks like that don’t dine on church potlucks, just putting on the event had to cost more than any of us average Americans make in several years. And you have to figure the guests did not show up in some frock they bought at Sears or J.C. Penney, so add that to the “cost.”
The occasion was the annual Robin Hood Dinner, an event organized largely by and for hedge fund tycoons. So just what is a hedge fund anyway? A great article in New York Magazine stripped away part of the mystique:
Hedge funds can employ whatever investing tools they want, including leverage, the use of derivatives like options and futures, and short sales. The New York Times decided years ago to incessantly refer to hedge funds’ use of these instruments as “exotic and risky,” thereby adding to their aura of mystery.
For some people criticizing a charity is akin to saying nasty things about someone’s mother. After all, aren’t Liberal Americans supposed to support this sort of thing? Don’t events like the Robin Hood Dinner help to level the playing field?
Certainly without the funds raised by the Robin Hood Dinner the organizations they benefitted would be poorer–perhaps even unable to fulfill their missions. But the choices of organizations to support are based on the preferences of the Robin Hood organizers. It would be as if the original Robin Hood said,”I rob from the rich and give to the poor I like.”
The community itself has no say in how the funds are used. The very rich who live in their gated compounds are so far removed from real communities–especially those of the poor and people of color–they have little idea what goes on in them or what organizations might have the most impact
As one who ran a national nonprofit for decades, I can testify that funds tend to flow to “hot” causes and the most visible and “safe” advocates for those causes. In my area of school reform, Ted Sizer, whose experience in education was mostly in exclusive private schools, sucked up millions of dollars of education funds based on a series of high-profile books he wrote. The final verdict on Sizer’s efforts is at best a C-.
When a charity function has the hubris to use the name Robin Hood Dinner, you have to ask whether these people live in the same world as the rest of us? These people resemble Robin Hood about as much as they resemble Errol Flynn. The REAL Robin’s fight was with the INSTITUTIONS that oppressed people–you’ve all seen the movies enough to know the cast of villains, Prince John, Sir Guy and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Do these people remind you of anyone?
Our current administration? Now were the Robin Hood people doing anything about these modern princes and sheriffs? For example, what if one of the bid items had been to roll back the Bush tax cuts? No, they wouldn’t think of that.
The Robin Hood Dinner raised $71 million. Sounds like a lot until you learn more about hedge funds. According to The Trade News,
Total hedge fund industry assets increased by $215 billion in 2006 to $1.442 trillion [in March 2007], up 17.5% on a year earlier, according to hedge fund advisory group Hennessee.
If my math is right that is an increase of 1.227 billion. The $75 million raised by the Robin Hood folks not only looks like chump change it has the foul odor of a PR move designed to assuauge guilty consciences and turn attention away from some folks who are getting very rich off of the rest of us.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics:
From 1998 through 2006, 15 hedge funds spent $7.7 million lobbying Congress…The top spender on lobbying is Cerberus Capital Management, a hedge fund that is better known for its private equity investments. Cerberus spent $2.1 million from 2001 through 2006.
The Center goes on to say:
In 2006, individuals at hedge funds as well as their spouses, if the spouse does not list an independent source of income, contributed $6.2 million — 69 percent to Democrats and 27 percent to Republicans.
In other words, the folks at the Robin Hood Dinner probably spent as much on lobbying and campaign contributions as they did that night. Curiously, as I researched these statistics, up popped a window asking me to invest in–guess what–a hedge fund. Makes you feel kind of creepy.
The question is: Does it balance out? I’ll let you be the judge, but I have a feeling what Robin himself would say.
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