Posted on 06/06/2010 10:36:49 AM PDT by Pharmboy
I don't think I can recall ever being more disgusted in public... and certainly not at an investment conference. [Last] Wednesday, I attended the famed Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference in New York City, which benefits pediatric cancer. The conference was good and I'm glad I went... but one presentation made me want to vomit.
It was Steve Rattner – the New York financier turned OBAMA! "car czar." Listening to him tell one lie after another about the bankruptcy of General Motors was bad enough. (And believe me... I know a little bit about GM's balance sheet, having been the first analyst anywhere to predict the carmaker's bankruptcy as early as 2005.) But having to listen to this scumbag lecture me about the evils of "income inequality" was truly more than I could bear.
This man was personally implicated in bribing New York state pension officials (but hasn't been indicted yet). He made close to $500 million via his private-equity fund (Quadrangle), while his investors underperformed municipal bonds. This guy lives in a $15 million home on Martha's Vineyard and in the same Fifth Avenue apartment building as George Soros. This is a guy who flies his own plane... whose wife is the leading fundraiser for the Democratic Party. This is Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Michael Bloomberg's best friend. And Barry Diller's.
This guy spent his entire life in the rarified world of Ivy League colleges, investment banks, and New York City's most elite social circles. And yet... even with all of these advantages, he ended up accused of bribing New York State pension officials to get them to invest with his private-equity firm. (By the way... I have to hand it to OBAMA! on appointing Rattner as the "car czar." OBAMA! knew about the corruption charges, and he appointed Rattner to restructure General Motors anyway. After all, who better to steal from bondholders than a crook?)
And now, Rattner was going to lecture us, the great unwashed, about "income inequality." It was simply unbearable...
After spending about 20 minutes congratulating himself on the bailout of GM (which cost taxpayers roughly $80 billion and bondholders roughly $27 billion), Rattner put up a chart he seemed to believe indicated rich people in America were making far too much money. I let out a loud "Boooo...."
Really, it was more of a moan of agony. I just couldn't take anymore. How could such a person ever have been allowed to reach such levels of power and influence? How could an idea as obviously repelling as government-directed income redistribution ever be discussed at an investment conference filled with thousands of capitalists?
Rattner's response to my loud boo was remarkable. In his most condescending, the-government-knows-best tone he said: "I hope you're joking." As if to even question the role of government in redistributing the wealth of our society made me some kind of a mental invalid or moral outrage. I replied, in a much, much louder and more hostile tone: "YOU'RE THE JOKE."
When I write about not recognizing my fellow Americans... and feeling like I live in a country called Amerika, I'm talking about the Rattnerization of our country. This guy is the very embodiment of the term "limousine liberal." He wants to raise your taxes because his income is now all sheltered. And he thinks he knows how to use your money far better than you do. In his mind, he's doing you a big favor when he raises your taxes.
As the whole global warming thing falls apart (hard to believe it has lasted this long), guys like Rattner need a new slogan. They need a new calling – a new, better, and simpler reason to motivate voters. Their cry will be "income inequality."
The free market has failed, they say, because some people are getting very, very rich. And Rattner knows well the 50% or so of the people who no longer pay federal income taxes will believe income inequality is a problem (instead of the result of a wonderful technological revolution). And they will support every possible measure to correct "the problem." This will keep people like Rattner in power for a long, long time. Look for Al Gore's next movie to be about income inequality. You think I'm kidding. But I'm not. Rattner even has a hockey stick chart, just like Gore did, showing that income inequity is soaring... and threatening to destroy us all.
OK, so why are we doomed?
Porter Stansberry is a verbal terrorist.
Great rant! Thanks for posting it!
“income inequality” to Rattner and his kind mean he does not have enough of your income.
“income inequality” to Rattner and his kind mean he does not have enough of your income.
A limousine liberal is someone who wants to raise your taxes because his income is now all sheltered. And he thinks he knows how to use your money far better than you do. In his mind, he’s doing you a big favor when he raises your taxes.
|
An outstanding rant.
Of course, the headline is a bit hyperbolic.
We’re not doomed if we as a people will return to God and to the principles our free republic was premised upon.
I explained the gap between the rich and poor this way to a lib friend.
Suppose you go for two job interviews. The starting salary is $20,000 for both jobs.
You ask about advancement possibilities. The first company points out several employees in the same job making $40 million or more. Not everyone manages to make it this far, and many are content to stick with five figure salaries. The limit is up to the employee.
In the second company, everyone gets a 10% increase per year.
Which one would you want to work for, the one with the huge gap between top wage earners and bottom wage earners or would you prefer the one with minimal gap?
Interesting, I had an experience yesterday in which a somewhat well to do golfer espoused that the Bush “tax cuts for the rich” is what caused the recession. I let him have it verbally with both barrels. I am tired of being “polite” and turning my cheek to these ignorant thugs. I shamed him and he actually left the bar. How in the world can anyone believe that Americans keeping their own money can cause a recession is beyond me. I challenged him to name one economy that taxed itself into prosperity...and suggested he watch Europe as they suffer the death throes of their socialistic economies.
I blame government schools. They do not teach the necessary survival skills only complacency skills.
Alan Greenspan, in his book _The Age of Turbulence_ a couple of years ago blamed the US educational system for increasing income disparity in the US. Because the educational system produces fewer and fewer really well educated folks, he argues, the demand for them is higher. Since they’re in higher demand, they attract disproportionately higher wages and income disparity increases. Here’s a quote from page 399:
—-
What do we do to their learning process that requires business recruiters to dismiss vast numbers of “educated” applicants for modestly skilled jobs because they cannot write a coherent sentences or add a column of numbers accurately?
It is not surprising that, as a consequence, too many of our students languish at a too low level of skill upon graduation, adding to the supply of lesser-skilled labor in the fact of apparently declining demand.
Bookmarking...
...and I don’t bookmark many! :)
Don’t you just love it that the people that are screaming about some people having too much money are the ONES who are guilty, but they are pointing at us. They live in mansions and have multiple houses and vehicles. Most of the rest of us are just making do.
Leadership starts at the top. If they want everyone to do what they say, they need to do what they tell everyone else to do, and not just figuratively! Let’s see the Obamas, G (Clintons, gores, Rattners, etc.) eat TV dinners and cut out the lavish Wednesday parties, the hosting of outrageously expensive dinners for our sworn enemies and, leave Air Force one on the tarmac, put Nancy Pelosi on notice for fraudulent spending, etc. Maybe we might be willing to listen then! Talk about audacity! They have a lot of chutzpah.
In my opinion, the rich versus poor debate is improperly framed. I constantly rail that the real issue is producers vs consumers. Our society too frequently punishes producers while it rewards consumers who produce nothing (apart from illegitimate children, ahem). Any reasonable person who takes five minutes to consider the long term implications of such a policy, has to concede that it is not good for the overall economy.
Good for you!
I heard Bill Maher proclaim to PJ ORoarke that his money made others poor!
Since Obama has spent three times the amount on ‘wealth transfer’ than GW, where are the results?
The state — or, to make matters more concrete, the government — consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can’t get, and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting ‘A’ to satisfy ‘B’. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advanced auction on stolen goods.
— H.L. Mencken, On Politics [1996]
“We are doomed when crooks like Rattner are in the nomenklatura.”
Is conservative self-pity the new fad?
Go and work for the candidates of your choice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.