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Minyanville: Rep. Eric Cantor: Covering His Bases With an Ultrashort Treasury Fund?

Larry

By Larry
in The Tailgate

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Larry

Larry

Posted
Posted

Link.

"ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to twice (200%) the inverse (opposite) of the daily performance of the Barclays Capital U.S. 20+ Year Treasury Bond Index."

Someone bearish on the US economy would be well-served by an investment such as this, which "aggressively shorts" long-term Treasuries. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said last month, “Failure to avert this crisis would have dire consequences” and "would result in the most serious financial crisis this country has ever faced.”

In other words, had a debt limit deal not been reached, the value of the ProShares UltraShort fund would have gone through the roof as the bottom fell out of the bond market -- and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) made absolutely, positively sure to cover his ass, just in case.

I don't think this is some dark conspiracy. (But I could see people trying to spin it onto one.)

But it does kind of seem at least a little interesting.

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Tulane Skins Fan

Tulane Skins Fan

Posted
Posted

Hmm... if this is a "normal" investment, then I'd say its nothing, and he has every right to diversify himself. However, if someone tells me this would have netted, not grossed, him huge gains, I would be a little concerned actually. I mean, he can probably be pointed to as THE guy who nearly caused a default, on purpose.

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Predicto

Predicto

Posted
Posted

Seems like a weird thing for the Majority Whip to be investing in, due to the obvious conflict of interest problem.

I'm not going to jump to conclusions, but I hope someone looks into this other than an obscure blogger.

---------- Post added August-2nd-2011 at 12:52 PM ----------

So the real story here is that Cantor is a terrible investor.

Probably.

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Predicto

Predicto

Posted
Posted
If so he would be different than the average congresscritter...amazing how well they weathered the recession.

http://www.google.com/search?q=congress+net+worth+increases&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Well, they are mostly millionaires. Pretty much all millionaires are weathering economic downturns very well under the current tax and investment rules. And on the upturns they do even better.

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Hubbs

Hubbs

Posted
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This is so dumb. I actually looked into this myself when I heard about it a few days ago. Cantor's financial disclosure forms are at Opensecrets.org. From what I saw, he has this one investment in a Treasury-short ETF, and at least a half-dozen other investments—many of them larger—in various funds that are long Treasury bonds. One of them's even called something like the American Bond Fund. Plus, a big chunk of his pension is in Treasuries. This is a hedge. Complete non-story.

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Prosperity

Prosperity

Posted
Posted
This is so dumb. I actually looked into this myself when I heard about it a few days ago. Cantor's financial disclosure forms are at Opensecrets.org. From what I saw, he has this one investment in a Treasury-short ETF, and at least a half-dozen other investments—many of them larger—in various funds that are long Treasury bonds. One of them's even called something like the American Bond Fund. Plus, a big chunk of his pension is in Treasuries. This is a hedge. Complete non-story.

Thanks. My original reaction was somewhat misguided, though I think largely true otherwise.

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JimboDaMan

JimboDaMan

Posted
Posted
This is so dumb. I actually looked into this myself when I heard about it a few days ago. Cantor's financial disclosure forms are at Opensecrets.org. From what I saw, he has this one investment in a Treasury-short ETF, and at least a half-dozen other investments—many of them larger—in various funds that are long Treasury bonds. One of them's even called something like the American Bond Fund. Plus, a big chunk of his pension is in Treasuries. This is a hedge. Complete non-story.
If it's dumb, why did you look into it?

It isn't dumb, it's something worth looking into. You did, and found nothing nefarious. Kudos.

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JimboDaMan

JimboDaMan

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Probably same thought process Donald Trump used when getting to the bottom of birth certificate-gate
That's a pretty good comparison. Oh, except for:

1) Trump already had access to the birth certificate.

2) Trump in fact claimed his investigation was bearing fruit, saying "you wouldn't believe" the things his "investigator" was uncovering.

3) When the long form certificate was made public, Trump immediately moved onto another topic (Obama's college admission) where there was even less reason to suspect chicanery.

An apt comparison would be the person who wondered about this Obama fella, located a copy of his birth certificate on Factcheck, and considered the matter closed. Which is pretty much what was done in this thread.

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Predicto

Predicto

Posted
Posted
This is so dumb. I actually looked into this myself when I heard about it a few days ago. Cantor's financial disclosure forms are at Opensecrets.org. From what I saw, he has this one investment in a Treasury-short ETF, and at least a half-dozen other investments—many of them larger—in various funds that are long Treasury bonds. One of them's even called something like the American Bond Fund. Plus, a big chunk of his pension is in Treasuries. This is a hedge. Complete non-story.

Glad to hear it.

Another blogger blowing smoke. Color me shocked.

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Hubbs

Hubbs

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Posted
If it's dumb, why did you look into it?

It isn't dumb, it's something worth looking into. You did, and found nothing nefarious. Kudos.

I meant that it was dumb, given the fact that anyone can check out Cantor's financial disclosure form and find out that he's invested in a bunch of Treasury-long funds. It's irresponsible reporting. A high schooler who took a one-semester journalism class would know that if he's going to accuse the Majority Leader of the House of a conflict of interest because of an investment, he'd better at least check out the other investments first.

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