VITAL SIGNSrnGLOBALISMrna.rnGeorge Soros,rnMegalomaniacrnby Justin RaimondornIt is a sort of a disease when yournconsider yourself some kind of god,rnthe creator of everything,” confessedrnGeorge Soros to a British newspaper,rn”but I feel comfortable about it nowrnsince I began to live it out.” Recallingrnyouthful fantasies of omnipotence in hisrn1987 book The Alchemy of Finance, thernmultibillionaire speculator and globalrndo-gooder conceded that “I carried somernrather potent messianic fantasies withrnme from childhood, which I felt I had torncontrol, otherwise they might get me intorntrouble.” Now that he has the meansrnto live out the fantasy, it is the rest of usrnwho are in trouble.rnThis is no ordinary madman, butrnGeorge Soros, one of the richest men inrnthe world, and it is necessary to pay closernattention. In his recent book Soros onrnSoros, the author describes his financialrnholdings as “truly awesome,” a phrasernthat describes the scope of his ambitionrnas well. Though he claims to have outgrownrnhis delusions of divinity, his impulsernto remake the world in his ownrnimage is unabated, inflated beyond reasonrnby the absurd dimensions of his vastrnfortune. The result has been the rise of arnnew force in the wodd; Sorosism.rnSorosism is an international networkrnof tax-exempt foundations, quasi-politicalrnorganizations, and “independent”rnmedia churning out a great variety ofrnSoroscista propaganda: arcane studiesrnshowing the need for a world centralrnbank, a torrent of op-ed pieces calling forrn”peace” in Bosnia—but not before everyrnranking officer in the Bosnian Serb armyrnis hanged for “war crimes.” It is a coalitionrnof lobbying groups devoted to increasingrnthe immigrant population andrnmobilizing it as a political force. It is thernProject on Death, a Soros creation,rnwhich seeks to transform the Americanrn”culture of death.” The Soros philanthropicrnnetwork is, increasingly, thernbackbone and chief funder of the escalatingrncampaign to decriminalize somerndrugs.rnMost of all, it is Soros the philosopherking,rnsingular in the scale of his crackbrainedrngrandiosity, who, in expoundingrnhis theory of “reflexity,” compares himselfrnto Descartes. From deity incarnaternto philosopher-king is a demotion, butrnone that George Soros is willing to livernwith. Yet he still claims to rule by divinernright: when a journalist suggested thatrnhe should be elevated to the Holy See, hernasked: “Why? I’m the Pope’s boss now.”rnSoros is not kidding. The sheer scopernof his many projects—from shaping therndirection of American foreign policy inrnthe post-Cold War wodd to reformulatingrnthe American way of death—is anrnagenda that not many statesmen havernthe resources to undertake. But Sorosrnnot only has the money, he has thernwill—and a growing power base amongrnthe international elites.rnThe myth of George Soros is that hernrose from nothing to become a modernrnGroesus by the sweat of his brow and thernaudacity of his entrepreneurial spirit: arnpoor but brilliant Hungarian immigrantrnwho arrived in this country in 1956 practicallyrnpenniless and went on to build arnfinancial empire. An alternative view explainsrnhis rise in terms of his connections,rnespecially among the European super-rnrich whom he made even richerrnthrough his legendary ability to doublernand triple their investments in his QuantumrnFund. Far from being a nobodyrnwhen he first arrived in New York Gity,rnSoros carried with him the cachet of sophisticatedrnEuropean investors and exoticrnforeign markets. As Soros put it: “Nobodyrnknew anything about [Europeanrnsecurities] in the early 1960’s. So I couldrnimpute any earnings I wanted to the Europeanrncompanies I followed. It wasrnstrictly a case of the blind leading thernblind.”rnThe secret of his success is hinted at inrna biography by Robert Slater, who writes:rn”Soros’s most distinctive feature, therntrait that explained his investment talentsrnbest, was his ability to gain membershiprnin a very exclusive ‘club,’ a club thatrnincluded the leadership of the internationalrnfinancial community. No onerncould apply for membership in this club.rnMost of the participants were the politicalrnand economic leaders in rich countries:rnprime ministers, finance ministers,rnheads of central banks.”rnSoros was a success from the start, establishingrnan offshore tax haven for immenselyrnwealthy European, Arab, andrnSouth American investors. The rulernbook of this exclusive club, aside from requiringrna substantial minimum investment,rnalso contained another very specificrnclause: no Americans allowed.rnSoros, who had been naturalized in thernearly 60’s, was the only American citizenrnpermitted to own shares.rnBut in what sense can Soros be consideredrnan American, other than the strictlyrnformal? He is, in himself, a separate nation,rna transnational corporate and politicalrnentity that has no borders but onlyrntentacles. As such, he owes no loyalty tornany particular state, but only to the goodrnof mankind—which generally seems torncoincide with the good of George Soros.rnWhat Soros called “the killing of arnlifetime” came about on September 22,rn1985. Treasury Secretary James Bakerrnand the finance ministers of the majorrnindustrial countries were in secret andrnsolemn conclave at New York City’srnPlaza Hotel, and were about to devaluernthe dollar. Soros somehow got wind ofrnit. Working through the night, hernbought yen by the barrel. As morningrnbroke, he was $40 million richer. Centralrnbanks continued to depress the dollar,rnand Soros’s prohts on the deal eventuallyrnclimbed to $150 million. His greatestrncoups are due just as often to his friendsrnin Washington as to his much vauntedrnskill as an entrepreneur, such as when herngot wind of a secret government reportrnthat predicted the oil crisis. Once again,rnSoros’s private pipeline to inside informationrnswelled his coffers.rnIn the late 1970’s, Soros went throughrnwhat has been described as an “identityrncrisis.” He not only separated from hisrnAUGUST 1997/41rnrnrn