CNN's Roberts Questions Treasury Secretary's Motives

     If a controversial left-wing billionaire that finances a number of liberal advocacy groups doesn’t fully trust a Republican cabinet member – well, CNN will probably echo his criticism.

     CNN “American Morning” host John Roberts discussed a CNN/Opinion Research Poll Oct. 22 that gave Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson low approval numbers. Roberts also cited America-criticizing liberal billionaire George Soros as someone who just doesn’t “trust” Henry Paulson.

     “You know, I was talking with George Soros the other day,” Roberts said. “And, he doesn’t trust Paulson. He thinks that he came from the culture that created this problem. So he believes somebody else needs to be at the helm of this.”

     Roberts’ co-host, Kiran Chetry, noted Paulson was the former CEO of the investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) – as if it somehow tainted Paulson’s judgment to act as an effective Treasury Secretary.

     “There are a lot of Goldman Sachs alums who are in the administration right now,” CNN business correspondent Christine Romans said. “The guy who is running the Treasury TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program], they call it – I can’t even remember what acronym is anymore.”

     “You know, it’s like everybody you meet these days worked for Goldman Sachs at one point in their lives,” Roberts added.

     And Chetry noted the former Goldman Sachs employees “took home millions in bonuses and salary” during their time in the private sector. Romans offered one small defense of Paulson, who is still a very wealthy man, saying that he gave up his high-paying Wall Street job and took the pay cut to serve in the public sector.

     Despite Roberts’ reliance on Soros, the Hungarian billionaire isn’t exactly a saint. Soros has been promoting a book about his “Theory of Reflexivity.” According to Business & Media Institute advisor Don Luskin, that theory could be better explained as an effort to manipulate economic and political events. He referred to Soros short-selling the British pound in 1992 after England was pressured to devalue its currency. Soros made $1 billion in one day, which caused the pound to suffer even more.

     “Simply, ‘reflexivity’ says that financial markets can have impacts on the real world,” Luskin wrote. “So if you want to move the world, just move the markets.”