Why Is George Soros Famous?

Why Is George Soros Famous? The answer to that question depends on who you ask. At nearly 90 years old, this Hungarian-born individual owns the epitome of the ‘rags-to-riches’ story.

Soros Grew Up Poor but Got Very Rich

Born to Jewish parents in Budapest in 1930, George Soros’ last name at birth was Schwartz. Due to the persecution of the Jewish faith, George’s father changed the family surname to Soros when George was six years old to avoid discovery of their Jewish heritage.

Hungarian Jews faced growing oppression during Hitler’s reign of evil. George experienced this first-hand and, with his father, forged uncountable documents in an effort to save their family and others like them so they could escape the Holocaust.

George’s family regularly went into hiding, and sometimes they weren’t all together. It was during these periods of separation that George learned how to truly survive. In fact, when he was 13 or 14, he posed as a relative of someone working at Hungary’s Ministry of Agriculture.

In 1947, when he was 17, he finally escaped Hungary and made it to relatives in London where he enrolled in the city’s School of Economics. He paid his own way through school with various jobs, such as a waiter and a porter.

His mentor and friend at the school, Karl Popper, coined the phrase open society. George admired Popper’s vision, which was so different from the chaos of oppression George had grown up in. It was during these years that George’s worldly philosophical views began to take shape.

After he graduated from the School of Economics, he worked in a London souvenir shop until about four years later, when he scored a position at a prestigious London bank. Later, he’d go on to work at other banks, including one in New York City.

He was astute financially, and alert. Always paying attention on a micro and macro level. This paid off big time in 1992 when he made over a billion dollars betting against an entire country’s currency. Not too many people can say they’ve literally broke the bank, but…

George Soros Broke The Bank of England

In fact, this day in history actually has a name – Black Wednesday. It was the day that Soros and a group of investors actually forced Britain’s pound out of existence from the Exchange Rate Mechanism, or ERM. Britain had joined the ERM in hopes of jumpstarting Europe’s economic unification.

The whole group made money hand over fist that day – from $250 million to $300 million. But George was the clear “winner” when he cleared over $1.5 billion that month.

This score earned him legendary status and boosted his firm from $3.3 billion to $7 billion by that October, and by December 1993, his coffers had grown to $11 billion.

Soros Fund Management Was Enormously Successful

George founded Soros Fund Management in 1969. A few years later, it was thought there were some conflicts of interest which subsequently caused him to resign from managing the Double Eagle Fund.

As a result he created a new fund, the Soros Fund in 1973, and he invited the investors who’d been investing in Double Eagle to invest with him instead.

The Soros Fund has since been renamed the Quantum Fund.

In 2011, at the height of changes in the SEC’s rules of disclosure, Soros felt the heat – he didn’t want to feel pressured to breach the confidentiality of his investors, so promptly returned investment funds.

He then invested his own money in the Quantum Fund, which, at time of press, is still one of history’s most successful fund.

Soros Is Actively Involved in Politics Globally

On the face of things, yes, Soros is a political activist – in fact, it appears his reach is far larger than even that of the famous Koch brothers.

He’s been quoted as stating that the United States is the only thing blocking the world’s stability and just order. In other words, some might think he’d like to weaken the US constitution and degrade American allies.

Open borders, global governance, and anything else that flies in the face of the United State’s ideals seems to be what Soros strives toward.

His infamous funding of the campaign of Hillary Clinton for President in 2016 met with criticism and ultimately backfired, but don’t think that’s the only item in his political portfolio. He enjoys backing organizations that seek to shake up the status quo – both in the United States and across the globe.

Perhaps one of the most detrimental findings regarding Soros’ political agenda pertains to his Open Society Foundation, the one named for his mentor during his early years, Popper.

While the Open Society Foundation certainly has lofty ideals, at the very base of its existence is the eradication of a nation’s sovereignty.

The OCF seeks to eliminate borders, make old “institutions” unnecessary, and build a world that’s liberated from what it considers restraining, outdated ideas, such as constitutionalism and capitalism.

George Soros Is Highly Controversial

When you hear George Soros’ name, it likely conjures thoughts of the last conspiracy theory you heard. His connection to these theories first began in the early 90s, but it wasn’t until 2004 when he publicly donated to various groups in an effort to hinder George W. Bush’s reelection.

More recently, when it comes to movements after Trump’s election, some right-leaning outlets claim Soros was behind protestors at various marches that year. But in reality, George Soros had been funding progressive groups for much longer – it’s just coincidence that some of those groups were part of the protests related to Trump’s election.

Bottom line, some theories are outright far-fetched, while others are at least somewhat rooted in truth. Far-fetched: Soros wants to bomb the world economy. Closer to the truth: he simply uses his power, influence, and yes, his money – to sway politics.

Controversial? Sure. Out to collapse the world and swoop in like the knight in shining armor? Probably not.

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