{"id":4400,"date":"2011-12-23T07:21:24","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T14:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=4400"},"modified":"2011-12-23T10:39:35","modified_gmt":"2011-12-23T17:39:35","slug":"lament-of-the-wealthy-in-america-absent-sober-reflection-on-the-squares-running-red-with-blood-of-arragoant-capitialists-in-china-not-so-long-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=4400","title":{"rendered":"Lament of the Wealthy in America, absent sober reflection on the Squares running red with blood of arrogant Capitalists, in China not so long ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Christmas Message From America’s Rich<\/strong>
\nFrom Matt Taibbi – 23 December <\/p>\n

It seems America\u2019s bankers are tired of all the abuse. They\u2019ve decided to speak out.<\/p>\n

True, they\u2019re doing it from behind the ropeline, in front of friendly crowds at industry conferences and country clubs, meaning they don\u2019t have to look the rest of America in the eye when they call us all imbeciles and complain that they shouldn\u2019t have to apologize for being so successful.<\/p>\n

But while they haven\u2019t yet deigned to talk to protesting America face to face, they are willing to scribble out some complaints on notes and send them downstairs on silver trays. Courtesy of a remarkable story by Max Abelson at Bloomberg, we now get to hear some of those choice comments.<\/p>\n

Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, for instance, is not worried about OWS:<\/p>\n

\u201cWho gives a crap about some imbecile?\u201d Marcus said. \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Former New York gurbernatorial candidate Tom Golisano, the billionaire owner of the billing firm Paychex, offered his wisdom while his half-his-age tennis champion girlfriend hung on his arm:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I hear a politician use the term \u2018paying your fair share\u2019 one more time, I\u2019m going to vomit,\u201d said Golisano, who turned 70 last month, celebrating the birthday with girlfriend Monica Seles, the former tennis star who won nine Grand Slam singles titles.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Leon Cooperman, the former chief of Goldman Sachs\u2019s money-management unit, who said he was urged to speak out by his fellow golfers. His message was a version of Wall Street\u2019s increasingly popular If-you-people-want-a-job, then-you\u2019ll-shut-the-fuck-up rhetorical line:<\/p>\n

Cooperman, 68, said in an interview that he can\u2019t walk through the dining room of St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida, without being thanked for speaking up. At least four people expressed their gratitude on Dec. 5 while he was eating an egg-white omelet, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll get more out of me,\u201d the billionaire said, \u201cif you treat me with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, there is this from Blackstone CEO Steven Schwartzman:<\/p>\n

Asked if he were willing to pay more taxes in a Nov. 30 interview with Bloomberg Television, Blackstone Group LP CEO Stephen Schwarzman spoke about lower-income U.S. families who pay no income tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have skin in the game,\u201d said Schwarzman, 64. \u201cI\u2019m not saying how much people should do. But we should all be part of the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are obviously a great many things that one could say about this remarkable collection of quotes. One could even, if one wanted, simply savor them alone, without commentary, like lumps of fresh caviar, or raw oysters.<\/p>\n

But out of Abelson\u2019s collection of doleful woe-is-us complaints from the offended rich, the one that deserves the most attention is Schwarzman\u2019s line about lower-income folks lacking \u201cskin in the game.\u201d This incredible statement gets right to the heart of why these people suck. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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A Christmas Message From America’s Rich From Matt Taibbi – 23 December It seems America\u2019s bankers are tired of all the abuse. They\u2019ve decided to speak out. True, they\u2019re doing it from behind the ropeline, in front of friendly crowds at industry conferences and country clubs, meaning they don\u2019t have to look the rest of more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[2240],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4400"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4404,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions\/4404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}