Karl Denninger

Karl Denninger is an American technology businessman, finance blogger, and political activist, sometimes referred to as a founding member of the Tea Party movement.

Career
Denninger was the founder and CEO of MCSNet in Chicago. Opened as Macro Computer Solutions, Incorporated in 1987, it expanded its service offerings in 1993 to become one of the area's first commercial internet service providers. Among its customers was the Chicago Public Library, which relied on MCSNet as both an ISP and for web hosting. In 1997 he was also involved with setting up the "Enhanced Domain Name System", an alternative DNS root which allowed registrants to add their own generic top-level domains. Denninger continued to run MCSNet until August 1998, when he sold it to Winstar Communications for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock. For his efforts, the Chicago Sun-Times dubbed him as one of "the movers and shakers who brought Chicago into the Internet Age". After the sale of MCSNet, he moved to Florida, where he began to devote more time to stock trading and political activism.

Denninger is a founding contributor to the libertarian-oriented finance blog market-ticker.org, and has used the internet to bring attention to his concerns with the financial system. In the aftermath of the March 2008 collapse of Bear Stearns, he founded the website Fed Up USA. He came to national attention for the criticisms of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which he posted on Fed Up USA in September that year. Of special concern to Denninger was the over-the-counter trading of credit default swaps, as well as the high leverage of financial institutions; his objections to the bailout plan stemmed from the fact that it did not address either of these issues. He has also spoken out against high-frequency trading, particularly in the aftermath of the 2010 Flash Crash.

Denninger was also one of the early members of the Tea Party movement, sometimes referred to as a founder. On January 20, 2009, the day of President Obama's first inauguration, he published a blog post calling on readers to mail tea bags to the White House and Congress. He stated, "I cannot take credit for the idea floated on the forum, but I do like it". By February 1, the idea had spread to various conservative and libertarian-oriented blogs, forums, websites and through a viral email campaign. However, Denninger later expressed concern with the Tea Party movement, stating in an October 20, 2010 blog post that Republicans had hijacked the movement and perverted its original goals to the standard Republican concerns of "guns, gays and God".

Denninger has been a guest on MSNBC, the Glenn Beck show, and CNBC Reports. In an October 2011 interview on Russia Today, he voiced his support for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Books

 * Leverage: How Cheap Money Will Destroy the World, Wiley, November 2011, ISBN 978-1-118-12284-6.