A primeira de uma série de dois textos, publicada pelo The New York Review of Books penetra no universo dos super milionários norte-americanos a partir da análise de sites especializados em economia , como o DealBook, publicado pelo jornal The New York Times .
Reprodução
O artigo da The New York Review of Books parte do principio de que há necessidade de uma maior visibilidade em torno das atividades desenvolvidas pelos super milionários e foca na preocupação das grandes fundações como a patrocinada pelo casal Bill e Melinda Gates em investir em -projetos educacionais.
O texto, intitulado “Reimagining Journalism, the Story of the 1%” (Reimaginando o jornalismo, a história do 1%) analisa também outros sites voltados para a cobertura das grandes fortunas e afirma que uma maior transparência nos negócios dos super milionários passou a ser essencial na economia contemporânea graças à influência que eles detém sobre a economia mundial.
O texto destaca que a educação passou a ser uma estratégia comum entre a maioria dos mega investidores que constituem a base do noticiario do Dealbook e outros sites como Opensecrets, Muckety, LittleSis, SourceWatch e RightWeb.
Reproduzimos a seguir três parágrafos do longo texto publicado produzido por Michale Massing:
…What’s needed, I think, is a more broadly based site dedicated to covering the power elite. Muckety, along with three other eye-on-the-elite groups, LittleSis, SourceWatch, and RightWeb, are all useful, but they are underfunded, overmatched, and (at times) ideologically oriented. A new site with an experienced staff of reporters, editors, and digital whizzes could burrow deep into the world of the one percent and document the remarkable impact they are having on so many areas of American life. As information on them is gathered, it could be incorporated into a database that could become the go-to site for information about the nation’s elite and their power.
To return to Paul Singer, such a website would offer a full accounting of his far-reaching influence. It would, for instance, delve into his work in the field of education, using it as a springboard into an examination of the close but opaque ties between hedge funds, charter schools, and New York politics. Whichever side one takes in the great debate over charter schools, the movement to promote them has become a potent political force whose activities and backers often remain in the shadows.
A website could document how, in the fall of 2014, Singer gave $500,000 to a hastily assembled PAC called New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, the goal of which was to elect Republicans to the New York State Senate and keep that body in their hands. The PAC was organized by StudentsFirstNY, an advocacy group that supports charter schools, the expanded use of standardized testing, the linking of teachers’ pay to test results, and other elements of the so-called education reform movement. StudentsFirstNY was founded by Joel Klein, the schools chancellor under Michael Bloomberg; Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor; and the billionaire hedge fund managers Daniel Loeb and Paul Tudor Jones.