Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times' and CNBC's stealth apologist for Wall Street, Goldman Sachs et al slinks again --this time in a featured babble on the growing difficulties being encountered by the Wall Street folk to strike it big time.
Mr. Sorkin presents us with a laundry list of why the cascade of wealth that has been showered on Wall Street players is coming to an en end. That henceforward times are going to be tough with its implication that we should all be more charitable and understanding in our judgments of the errant behavior that has done so much to bring our economy close to its knees. He plaintively intones, "It is harder than ever to become one of the world's wealthiest individuals by working on Wall Street."
He then goes on to draw a distinction between the Wall Street Poobahs such as JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon, Goldman's Lloyd Blankfein being the poorer cousins of the hedge fund crowd, a bit like saying they all belly-up to the same bar, but one set is drinking scotch, the other ordering gin.
Then he continues, brimming with a subtext of the unfairness of it all, that the Wall Street types haven't reached the herculean heights of wealth such as the likes of a Bill Gates. Without any qualifier, he thereby implies Bill Gates' billions were achieved by the same razzle-dazzle as the Wall Street players and their speculative excesses. No mention that Bill Gates earned his billions by his exemplar of American meritocracy, thanks to his entrepreneurial vision and courage, through which we have all realized richer lives -- this, in stark contrast to the largely self-enriching crony capitalism of Wall Street laid bare by the events of 2008 and thereafter.
In the meanwhile, working in the trenches, getting their hands dirty on farms, on assembly lines, tending the sick in emergency rooms, driving the trucks or buses, getting splattered with oil working on a rig, or whatever day to day undertaking in which they were engaged, clearly those below were too busy to take heed of Mr. Sorkin's concerns. Last year alone these hard working souls pulled in the following paydays from their one year's sweat and labor:
- Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates,$3.9 Billion
- Carl Icahn, Icahn Capital Management,$2.5 Billion
- James H. Simmons, Renaissance Technologies Corp,$2.1 Billion
- Kenneth C. Griffin, Citadel,$700 million
- Steven A. Cohen, SAC Capital Partners,$585 million
If timing is everything, than the timing of Mr. Sorkin's article becomes ever so curious coming just one week after the publication of these humungous sums. There he was, as so often before, trying to steer our focus from the excesses of Wall Street's "Big Money" parade.
Follow Raymond J. Learsy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/raymondLearsy
These markets are open to all. Many have tried, but there are very few really good traders. Those who are really good can become fabulously rich.
I can only add to it that people should also read Paul Krugman's article discussing the insanity of the Cultists who seem to have lost their minds and are trending towards a Paul Ryan-like thinking
"..$4.6 trillion is the revenue cost over the next decade of the tax cuts embodied in the plan, as estimated by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. These cuts — which are, by the way, cuts over and above those involved in making the Bush tax cuts permanent — would disproportionately benefit the wealthy, with the average member of the top 1 percent receiving a tax break of $238,000 a year..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/09/paul-krugman-paul-ryan_n_1411643.html
Plutarch
The causes which destroyed the ancient republics were numerous; but in Rome, one principal cause was the vast inequality of fortunes.
Noah Webster
In the long run men inevitably become the victims of their wealth. They adapt their lives and habits to their money, not their money to their lives. It preoccupies their thoughts, creates artificial needs, and draws a curtain between them and the world.
Herbert Croly
http://napoleonlive.info/economics/the-rich-get-richer/
We all understand the shameless crooked undertakings of the money changers.
We all have been touched by the reckage of the aftermath of Washington's manipulation by Wall St.
We all will have to work together to take it back...
first the power
then the money.
The 99% demand
CLAWBACK