This is what happens when people have TOO MUCH money

[CatWoman]

Father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Buys $91 Million Sculpture



The father of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has completed the most expensive purchase of a living artist’s work in U.S. history. Robert Mnuchin purchased Jeff Koons’s three-foot-tall metallic sculpture titled “Rabbit” with an $80-million bid Wednesday, though he paid over $91 million after Christie’s auction house fees and taxes were added in.

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/17/headlines/father_of_treasury_secretary_steven_mnuchin_buys_91_million_sculpture?fbclid=IwAR1NwrLkI8f1gADdoU3ytzMum3O4Y6FpuIJa44Vpt3PEyYiYte3gFFruKBg

got this off Facebook and have to include this comment:

Lisa Bottalico This issue isn’t about the value of art or the style of a particular artist.

This is about the ability of people to acquire astronomical wealth while the minimum wage remained stagnant for decades. This is about tax loopholes for the rich while everyone else is expected to pay their “fair share”.

This is about greed.

[hlthe2b]

1. Seems like great evidence against him...

for any "mental incompetency" hearing...

[DemocracyMouse]

97. If you're feeling a little snide.... let me add this to the tea:

It's not that Jeff Koons created a high-priced spoof of a balloon rabbit and passed it off as "postmodern"...

...It's that he was LATE to the postmodern game. He was TWO DECADES LATE. Basically he was doing just a variation on pop artists like Warhol (repeated Brillo boxes, repeated Marilyn, repeated Mao), The Christos (wrapping things like a wheelbarrow, the actual Reichstag and a cluster of Islands as if they were commercial products), or Roy Lichtenstein (blowing up cartoons to single out odd moments). Postmodernism was radical in the 1960s and was reinforced by important popular bands (see "I can't get no Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones, which commented on commercialization).

By the time Koons was doing the postmodern thing the aesthetic was souring on the vine. The only way to do it with any self-respect was to go all out working class punk rebellion. Koons, as it turns out, couldn't do working class punk rebellion – he was too rich, and intellectually lazy, from the start.

In other words, Koons and his shiny steel rabbits and porcelain Michael Jacksons was EXTENDING postmodernism (tongue-in-cheek commentary about the limits to a signal ripped from its context) way past its due date.

Like Trump, Koons was able to launch this cheezy late postmodernism with THE HELP OF HIS RICH PARENTS. They launched simultaneous shows of his first work in 3 major cities and hired a spendy ad agency to send out press releases and passed it off as galleries genuinely in love with his work.

Jeff Koons' money-leveraged career even managed to upstage more critically important art movements that were moving BEYOND postmodernism: SUBmodernist movements that made the context, the ecosystem, part of the work (such as the Immersionists in Brooklyn in the 1990s).

This ain't just your granddad's pet peeve about over-priced art. Jeff Koons is just a slightly smarter version of Trump (he actually made a profit).

[Kid Berwyn]

2. Have his son wire the money from the Bank of Cyprus.

They know people who know how to do such modern transactions.

[Downtown Hound]

3. That thing looks like it should cost $30.

And even then, it's ugly as hell.

[IndyOp]

6. I think it is actually stainless steel, so maybe up to a few hundred dollars

But that’s all.

[Midnight Writer]

46. Ya gotta factor in the steel tarrif. Has Energizer sued over this sculpture?

[IndyOp]

64. "Has Energizer sued yet?" Sharp with the wit, eh?

[Maeve]

8. Well, if you are willing to have it in plastic, probably less than that

To be fair, it IS a "vintage" design!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/98797785552124924/

[Initech]

27. It looks like something you'd buy for the kids for $5 at the Flying J.

Ain't worth it!

[Captain Zero]

92. LOL, but

It would keep them quiet in the back seat until the next rest stop. Nah, they just wanted to see if they could get anything at the Flying J.

[Initech]

102. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?

[mbusby]

54. Stainless Steel huh?

Could melt it down and make a lot of nice kitchen knives.

[gldstwmn]

71. Koons specializes in sculptures that look like balloon animals.

I'm not kidding.

[Downtown Hound]

84. There's people starving all over the world, but hey, let's buy and $81 million balloon animal.

I mean, why not?

[Drahthaardogs]

91. He doesn't sculpt anything

His studio in Italy is full of students who "create" his vision. He also tossed a basketball in an aquarium and told people it was art. They all agreed it was. Talk about emperor has no clothes.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

95. Geez

Back in college freshman Art, the professor was orgasmic over the brilliance of a modern work of art.

It was a white canvas in a black frame.

“High” Art.

[Drahthaardogs]

96. I had the same thing with the basketball in an aquarium

Professor was telling us about the "brilliance" of it. Good old biochem major me said, "No, it's a stupid basketball in a stupid aquarium and it depicts nothing. A three year could have, and just maybe did, do it".

He looked at me in stunned silence.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

98. Good for you!

I was a terror stricken little kid from a ton of abuse so I was too wrecked back then to speak up.

[Drahthaardogs]

100. I was the son of a no nonsense first generation

Italian rancher. I had no time for such nonsense.

[delisen]

4. and he can count on the Art Products Industry to re-appraise higher in few years

and sell to another investor.

Kind of a cute fertility symbol though with its ovum-shaped parts and that other-shape carrot about to be incorporated.

[Scarsdale]

57. Well, easy to see

where Steven got his "good looks" eh??

[gldstwmn]

72. It's a good way to launder money.

[2naSalit]

90. +1

[3catwoman3]

5. That looks like a helium balloon...

...from Party City. Really fugly. $80 MILLION????

WTF!

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. No, that's Mnuchin's father, silly.

[Honeycombe8]

22. LOL! nt

[Prof. P.E. Name]

7. Help! Need crowdfunding for a haircut 'n beardtrim

I just wasted $91 mil on some art junk.

[CatWoman]

12. is that thing holding a carrot???

[Arkansas Granny]

16. Yup. "What's up, Doc?"

[Downtown Hound]

19. That makes it an $81 million Bugs Bunny statue. n/t

[Kurt V.]

58. i thought it was a blunt. ha!

[forgotmylogin]

67. I thought it was a spliff. (n/t)

[erronis]

30. I'm sure he paid several 100's for that "unkempt" look. Probablly a pretty hair technician

of some sexual persuasion.

Or androgynous robot - doesn't matter as long as he gets serviced.

[Leghorn21]

9. I hear tell mattress stores and art are a tried and true way to safely launder money

Yup

[ThoughtCriminal]

56. ++

I aws about to post the same thing. Overpaying for art can be a convenient payoff. Not that there's anything to see here.

[happybird]

78. Mattress stores? How does that work?

Just curious.

[Leghorn21]

81. I'm referencing a little conspiracy theory, bird...true or not?? (I haven't a clue!!'

https://www.businessinsider.com/mattress-firm-conspiracy-grows-after-accounting-problems-2018-1

[happybird]

86. Oh!

Thanks for the link, it was interesting.

At first I was thinking of money laundering similar to art and real estate, so was all "Man, mattresses are bulky. Or are they "purchasing" tons of imaginary mattresses marked on paper at absurd, jacked-up prices? That's a lot of paperwork, there's got to be an easier way."


I'm sleep deprived so a little loopy today.

Don't know if it's true, but I gotta say I've always wondered why there are so many mattress stores everywhere. Don't know how they all stay in businesses.

[CatMor]

10. He's as creepy looking as his son ...

and after that purchase obviously just as stupid.

[onethatcares]

11. he must work really hard

to get a paycheck that allows for that kind of spending.

[Snarkoleptic]

13. Here's an article about one of the Koch brothers whining about counterfeit wine.

https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/makes-billionaire-cry-bill-koch-duped-wine-fakes/story?id=24111774

He gets choked up at around 6:15 in the video.

[DFW]

88. There were two interesting books written about the subject of big money for vintage wine

One was a very entertaining factual account of one of the biggest wine con jobs ever:
https://www.amazon.de/Billionaires-Vinegar-Mystery-Worlds-Expensive/dp/0307338789

The other was a fictional story about one of the greatest NON-con jobs ever with vintage wine:
https://www.amazon.de/Time-Cellar-Marc-Emory/dp/159967971X/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=the+time+cellar&qid=1558251442&s=books-intl-de&sr=1-1

Bill Koch should have read the first one before investing in questinable vintage wine.

Then he can WISH he was a character in the second one!

[smirkymonkey]

15. That's obscene!

What an incredible waste of money. Just think of all the good that money could do for people who really need help.

[moondust]

17. Greed is God.

At least in Republistan since Reagan opened the flood gates.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

18. This event and many, many others should be a fair warning to us....

that if rich right-wingers spend amounts like this for fad art pieces, just think what they're willing to pour into Rethug election coffers.

Nothing new for us to see here from the millionaire class, but good to again shock us into reality. I think 2020 will be brutal regarding campaign spending and it's going to hurt us on tight budgets to stem the right-wing tide.

Just IMO....KY........

[Chalco]

20. More importantly, the artist gets none of the 91 million. nt

[Honeycombe8]

21. Disgusting, isn't it? Paying that much.

I think it's a nice sculpture. Cute. And it's large, although you can't tell from the picture.

This man has money to burn, if he spent that. Think of what $91M would do for scientific or medical research, or invested in new inventions of the future, or invested in developing green methods of energy....things that would benefit mankind and the earth as a whole.

Selfish, selfish people. It's never enough.

[MichMan]

42. Whomever he bought it from should donate all the money

I agree with your statement

"This man has money to burn, if he spent that. Think of what $91M would do for scientific or medical research, or invested in new inventions of the future, or invested in developing green methods of energy....things that would benefit mankind and the earth as a whole." The seller should have the same mindset

[Lucky Luciano]

62. I believe he purchased it for an unnamed investor. nt

[Cryptoad]

23. A Wasicu can not have too much,,,,,,,,

[StarfishSaver]

24. When poor and middle class people do this, they call them hoarders and say they have a personality

disorder.

(He looks like Steve Mnuchin in bad movie makeup ...)

[colorado_ufo]

25. Stupid is as stupid does

[Hulk]

26. Sick mf'r.

This is just so sick. I know it's "an investment", but I hope he either drops it or has to eat it. I'd like to shove it up his backside.

[JDC]

28. He should watch Buzzsaw on Netflix

[Nuggets]

29. There really ought to be a cap on

the amount of money/wealth one person can have. Concentrating money in the hands of a few never ends well.

[dlk]

31. When 25% of American Children Face Food Insecurity Every Day...

Mnuchin’s conspicuous display of wealth is beyond obscene. What value does he add to our nation?

[PatrickforO]

32. As AOC says (wisely, I believe), every billionaire is a

FAILURE IN POLICY.

I agree with that with every fiber of my being - when I see people who are really sick and don't go to the doctor because they cannot afford it, when I see 25,000 people a day starving to death on this planet, when I realize there are at least 25 million Americans who are 'food insecure' (that is - they go hungry at least once a month), when I contemplate the 11 years we still have to aggressively address carbon emissions so we don't put this planet on an irreversible track to uninhabitability - well I weep with pain, mourning for the fate of our very species.

When I then contemplate billionaires, I see them for what they truly are: parasites. Tapeworms in the intestines of humanity, gorging on the bounty of the earth so they have more and the rest of us have less. Their host is the human species and we are weakening with each Fox News broadcast, with each hate-filled hour of AM talk radio, with each Trump rally, and with each tax cut the Republicans force down our throats.



We are not managing ourselves well. We do not know ourselves well. We have no collective vision of a world at peace and a world of plenty.

One last thought: Don't think me a utopian. I am stating fact here. Unless we begin to organize ourselves around human need instead of human greed, we WILL end up extinct, and the beautiful green/blue Earth will end up a smoking cinder upon which nothing can live. As John Lennon - great poet, not so great human being - said, "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one!"

[mr_lebowski]

52. "As John Lennon - great poet, not so great human being"

John had his flaws and weaknesses, like all of us do ... as such, I'd certainly question the latter part of this statement.

At least, I'd question making a point of it.

I mean, was he any less a 'good guy' than Bob Marley, or perhaps more pointedly, Bob Dylan?

I'd put him on par with Marley, or George Harrison, and well above Bob Dylan in the 'good human being' pantheon.

He's not Ghandi or anything, but 'not so great human being' is overly derogatory. S'all I'm sayin.

YMMV

[Chin music]

33. Looks like it came from Hobby Lobby.

80 fucking million dollars. Son...of a...bitch.
And some LIBERAL probably had the skill and desire to create it. Liberals make the world go around. Especially for the gop who haven't had an original, or kind, thought in decades.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

34. I can see where Steve gets his good looks.

[yonder]

49. +1. I was looking for a kind way of saying the same thing. Yours works.

Something about Munch the Younger's big and goofy countenance drives me nuts. Dad dealt the dollars AND the DNA.

[VOX]

61. That "New England whaler's beard" really completes the look.

It looks like a joke-store “over the ears” clip-on job.

What a family!

[Soxfan58]

35. We can see.

How Mnuchin is so out of touch with real people.

[MFGsunny]

36. PUKE. n/t

[UniteFightBack]

37. Does it at least vibrate? Mr. Who from Whoville looks like he could use it. nt

[pdsimdars]

38. One arrogant pr*ck begets another arrogant pr*ck.

[VOX]

39. $91,000,000. It's even more offensive when you type out the zeros.

What a gross obscenity. Even the family members of the mis-administration are deplorably repugnant.

[lunatica]

40. The artist is laughing all the way to the bank!

There’s a sucker born every minute.

Of course, the Mnuchins think a great outing is to go to the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing or to the US Mint where money is made. They have photos of themselves fondling reams of paper money to prove it.

[mopinko]

65. the artist gets none of that. tho in all honesty, koons

did get a lot more than it was worth in the first place.

[gldstwmn]

75. Supposedly Koons net worth is $200 million.

A lot of his pieces sell in the tens of millions.

[gldstwmn]

74. Remember when he and the wife took the taxpayer's

plane to Fort Knox so they could look at the gold?

[msdogi]

41. Koons is a scam artist

He's perfected the craft, and idiots like this guy have enabled him. Gotta give it to him, he gets away with it really, really profitably.

[happybird]

80. Read an article a few years ago about how he

basically runs a sweat shop full of art student interns who do all the work. And he's a total dick to them.

His ideas are kitschy crap, imho.

[IronLionZion]

43. Father and son were both investment bankers at Goldman Sachs

They should pay more in taxes but sometimes astronomical wealth can be laundered through art if it were ill gotten.

Steve Mnuchin bought a failed bank at a very low price from the FDIC and rebuilt it. What he did next was truly evil as he aggressively foreclosed on thousands of people's homes and changed the locks to keep them out. It was disgusting and resulted in a lot of lawsuits and some fines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneWest_Bank

[oldlibdem]

44. Did I hear you say that there must be a catch?

Will you walk away from a fool and his money?

[BSdetect]

45. He could buy a lot of orgasmatrons for $91m

[ProfessorPlum]

89. Lol

Well played

[calimary]

47. I was an art major in college. I wouldn't pay 80 dollars for that.

Yeah it’s a Jeff Koons. But sheesh, 80 million dollars? I think we’re talking about an 80-million-dollar show-off. “I’m so rich, look how much I can drop at an art auction and not even flinch. How ‘bout YOU?”

Now if you’re buying the Pieta or Mt Rushmore, okay, 80 million. Sounds a little more fitting. A Michelangelo or da Vinci would be worth 80 million or more. But THIS? Fuck. This is just ego flaunting itself.

And let me just add - imagine what that 80 mill could do in even just ONE of our big cities with a poor and homeless population. Maybe one near the southern border - where there’s so much desperate need?

Or what could that 80 mill do in one of those Central American countries from which these refugees are trying so desperately to escape? How might an 80-million-dollar infusion in even ONE of those countries help improve economic conditions and beat down the crime and the gangs and threats to families - so those poor people wouldn’t have to make that dangerous 2,000-mile trek up to the US?

You could do a LOT with 80 mill that would benefit many who genuinely need help rather than massage the ego of a shriveled-up old coot with big bucks, who I guess must be desperate to prop up some semblance of power and virility within his aging, equally shriveled-up ego. I guess when you can no longer stand to look at yourself in the mirror, and you’ve got big bucks, you go for as much validation as you can buy.

[Turbineguy]

48. How many people will need to become homeless

to balance this?

[notinkansas]

50. How do these people sleep at night?

??

[SMC22307]

103. "On a bed made of money," as Don Draper would say.

[CanonRay]

51. He could have put up about 2300 tiny houses

for the homeless with that. Hope somebody knocks the damn thing off the table.

[dchill]

53. Greed has many faces.

[Ilsa]

55. It might be a fake.

Wouldn't that be hysterical?

I don't trust the art world, obviously.

[delisen]

60. That is funny. Maybe identical rabbits will start popping up all over

[lunatica]

79. I'd say it's a genuine original fake from the start

Including all the artistic angst, misery and passion that went into creating it. I would believe it in an instant if the artist was on drugs just recovering from a three day drunken binge with the mother of all headaches.

I’m an artist so I know this is how it’s supposed to happen when you’re a REAL ART artist. It’s the agony and the ecstasy thing!

[muriel_volestrangler]

59. He says it's on behalf of a client

The winning bid came from art dealer Bob Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s father, who was in the sales room and said he made the purchase on behalf of a client.

http://fortune.com/2019/05/15/mnuchin-jeff-koons-rabbit/

So I'm not sure how much weight we should put on it being Mnuchin Sr. who made the bid. He does appear to be horribly rich in his own right (bought a house for $14m), and Goldman Sachs just seems to employ Mnuchins whenever they ask, but the price of the rabbit seems to be someone else's fault.

[Beartracks]

63. Just goes to show, money can't buy taste. But I do like how...

... you can see the reflection of the camera & tripod across the room from the rabbit.

===========

[hunter]

66. You can buy a desktop size Jeff Koons Balloon Dog straight from China for $25.

Officially licensed versions are about twice that, you can find one in an art museum near you. Supporting art museums is a good thing.

You can buy a Koons rabbit from China as well, even a full size reproduction in the sketchier neighborhoods.

I've never bought art as an investment. I've never bought art as a vehicle for money laundering. I've never bought art as a status symbol. I'm quite secure in my own status, thanks.

My wife and I buy lots of art directly from artists we enjoy and wish to support. Our walls are covered with art, our shelves are overstuffed with books and compact disks and sculptures.

My own parents are artists who always had day jobs. Now retired, my parents are full time artists.

My wife is an artist with a day job.

Our children are artists with day jobs.

I don't criticize Jeff Koons art, I criticize the disparity of wealth in the U.S.A. that makes such obscene absurdities possible. I think the uber-wealthy ought to be taxed out of existence. Even a guy like Bill Gates might be happier if he and his family could live an ordinary life.

[sprinkleeninow]

68. It was costly bc made in china and huge tariffs jacked up the actual price. n/t

[gldstwmn]

77. Lol. If only he'd bought it a few weeks sooner...

[tclambert]

69. This is obviously a very important work of art, illustrating "man's inhumanity toward man."

The inhumanity shows in the careless disregard for how many people were allowed to die rather than receive the help that $91 million could have provided them.

[gldstwmn]

70. Where does the Mnuchin family money come from?

When I think of what could be done with a fraction of $91 million to feed, clothe and house the less fortunate or any number of charitable endeavors... I certainly hope they tithe. Somewhere Koons is laughing his ass off and rolling around in a pile of money.

[SMC22307]

104. Where else? Goldmann Sachs, plus real estate and art.

That we know of...

[Iggo]

73. Who got (over)paid?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

76. The rich park windfall money in art & real estate; the poor & working class spend windfalls.

tRump's tax gift to the rich was a windfall.

Spending money is money in motion. It makes the economy move. Parking money just creates inflation, no new value added.

Wage and wealth inequality is damaging the USA. It is unsustainable.

[NotHardly]

82. I can see where Stephan gets his looks...

[democratisphere]

83. There is no accounting for bad taste in artwork.

$91 million is certifiably insane.

[912gdm]

85. welp, now I know where those fish lips come from.

and that disgusting hygiene

[Ruby the Liberal]

87. Either we tax them or we eat them

and I'm about at the point that I don't have a preference any longer.

[bedazzled]

93. I had one of those in my Easter basket when I was a kid

You blew it up

[Locrian]

94. when are we going to have a serious conversation?

About the morality? Evilness? What? of a wealth system where this happens all the time?

All the talk about the problems of society and it's staring us right in the face - the mass accumulation of wealth is obscene and in this zero sum game affects people's lives.

And what of the deep sickness of these people?

How in any way does someone live with the repugnant belief that they earn/deserve/justify such extravagant disregard for others and the profound waste of money?

Not the "physical" picture of him - but the moral picture of him is the embodiment of a piece of filth: the rotting death / sewage / sludge of all that is wrong with our wealth system.

[Alwaysna]

99. My question is since there are more "have nots" than "haves" why have we not had major

Ongoing rebellions?

[FiveGoodMen]

106. Most of the have nots have been brainwashed.

They believe there's virtue in bestowing the rich with ever more money and power.

And they think they're going to be joining that circle before long.

And god's going to punish them if they want a fair system (just ask their preachers).

[NCjack]

101. Just as I suspected -- the Mnuchins are connosewers of art. I have seen the expression

of more vision and talent on roaches painted with finger nail polish.

[ck4829]

105. Kick