Subject: I was fascinated by the details on Kenneth Griffin, the CE

Comment:

See Original Content on OpEdNews in article titled "Reimagining Journalism: The Story of the One Percent: by Michael Massing"

I was fascinated by the details on Kenneth Griffin, the CEO of the Chicago-based Citadel, whose income for the year came to a whopping $1.3 billion and who started by trading convertible bonds out of his dormitory at Harvard. His firm, Citadel, posted returns of 18 percent to investors in its flagship Kensington and Wellington funds." The Massing piece offers links that describe, among others, Griffin's contribution of more than $1 million to Rahm Emanuel's campaign for his second term as mayor of Chicag.

This information barely scratched the surface of Griffin's influence, but Massing went online, to piece together a fuller picture. "According to the Chicago Business Journal, Griffin is considered the richest person in Illinois. A post on CNBC's website said that Citadel's recent success "has arguably made Griffin the most powerful figure in hedge funds." Unfortunately, it did not say what forms that power takes. At OpenSecrets.org--the excellent database of the Center for Responsive Politics--Griffin and his then wife are listed as the thirteenth-largest contributor to Super PACs in 2014, with large sums going to both American Crossroads (cofounded by Karl Rove) and America Rising, which does opposition research on Democratic candidates."

All of the above, by the way, traces the decline and utter destruction Chicago's public education.

Diane Ravitch says: "That's pretty interesting that the same billionaire funded Rahm Emanuel, Bruce Rauner, and Republican super-PACs."