The Elite’s Thoughtful and Erudite Response To Occupy

Well the elite in the USA have kindly responded with some well researched and thoughtful rebuffs to the issues of Occupy Wall Street in a Bloomberg article.  Mainly being about the enormous wealth disparity between the have’s and the have nots, the latter being the 99%ers.  So lets run through it.

Jamie Dimon, CEO JP Morgan Chase, says “Acting like everyone who’s been successful is bad and because you’re rich you’re bad, I don’t understand it,” is at least honest.  He clearly doesn’t get it.

Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot Inc, says “Who gives a crap about some imbecile?” Marcus said. “Are you kidding me?”  Again, another honest statement.  He doesn’t give a stuff, about the 99%ers, of which thousands upon thousands would be his own staff. This is clear in the company’s Chairman’s statement for fiscal 2010, where the staff are not mentioned once.  Not even a thankyou for the first year of profit growth in 4 years.

Stembourg (BB&T Corp) and Allison (Winston-Salem) said the new S.953 (b) of the Dodd-Frank Act – disclose ratio between CEO and employee median salary – said this was wasteful and also insane.  The first is false, as any management data is always useful,  and the second is clearly based on extensive research.  I wish he would publish it. 

Then there is Schwarzman (Blackstone Group) who says that “attacking the banking system is a mistake because it contributes to a healthier economy”. Err, I think that is clearly overwhelmingly false.  We have been in the middle of a global banking crisis for four years.

But my favourite is Golisano (Paychex Inc, and billionaire) who is going to “vomit” if he hears a pollie say “paying your fair share” one more time.  I don’t know why this was in the article, because clearly the poor chap has a medical condition.  After all I have listened to all their crap for decades and it doesn’t make me vomit.

Then another referred to the elite as job creators; err, no.  Consumers are and they are the 99%.

Last but not least there is Cooperman (Omega Advisors and ex Goldmans), who says “capitalists “are not the scourge that they are too often made out to be” and the wealthy aren’t “a monolithic, selfish and unfeeling lot,” Cooperman wrote. They make products that “fill store shelves at Christmas” and provide health care to millions.”

Truth antenna?  Partly true, clearly false, wrong point – see comment on consumers above, and finally absolutely true.  They do provide health care to millions – the 1% elite.  It is the 99%ers that Obama was trying to include in health care that got the elite all riled up earlier this year.

Honestly if this is the best they can do makes you wonder how they got where they did in the first place.

Thanks to Bloomberg:  http://www.bloomberg.com