This deserves to be preserved.

Billionaires like Warren Stephens stung that Trump tax cut was insufficiently generous to hedge funds
May 14, 2018

CNN reports that some of the Republican Party’s biggest donors have declined to provide campaign cash in this dicey midterm election year because they’re bummed that the Trump tax cut plan didn’t do quite enough to lavish a windfall on certain billionaires.

One of these bummed billionaires is Warren Stephens, according to the report:

Democrats have accused Republicans of catering to the wealthiest Americans with the law: In a news conference earlier this year, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned that the Republican tax plan is “padding the pockets of GOP donors, executives, and big corporations at the expense of everyone else.”

But some of the Republican Party’s powerhouse donors in fact feel deeply stung by the law and have made their displeasure known to party leaders by keeping their wallets shut, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, who spoke with CNN on condition of anonymity. Although some of the donors have not sworn off contributions to individual campaigns or even the Republican National Committee, all have so far withheld contributions to the House and Senate Republican campaign arms — which are key players in the 2018 midterm elections — as a way to send a message over the law.

The donors who have boycotted, all of whom are leaders of prominent hedge funds, include Paul Singer, of Elliott Management; Citadel’s Ken Griffin; Warren Stephens of Stephens Inc.; Cliff Asness of AQR; Bruce Kovner, formerly of Caxton; and Third Point’s Daniel Loeb. Combined, their donations accounted for more than $50 million to Republican groups during the 2016 election cycle; Singer ranked among the top 10 donors of either party, while Griffin and Stephens ranked in the top 20.

Collectively, they have bristled at what they view as favored treatment for corporations under the law. While the corporate tax rate was slashed from 35% to 21%, hedge funds are largely taxed at the top individual rate, which ticked down from 39.6% to 37%.

Stephens has taken revenge on Congressional Republicans who stuffed only marginally more millions into his pockets: His typical generosity to national Republicans has dried up this election cycle. However, he’s still bankrolling the boys back home:

Stephens’ only engagement has been maxing out to a few congressional campaigns in Arkansas, his home state.

This is like a Liam Neeson revenge movie, only with the slightly less exciting plot of plutocrats haughtily refusing to send checks to their legislative minions.

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William R. Stephens started the bond business in 1933.
Question: what to call currency substitutes like stocks and bonds and debentures and bitcoin……..
figments of the imagination once or twice removed from the original fig? Or is it better to distinguish between the fig and the vig