Home Depot Founder Worries Pope Francis Neither Loves Nor Understands Rich Americans - RawStory

[WillyT]

Home Depot founder worries Pope Francis neither loves nor understands rich Americans
By Scott Kaufman - HuffPo
Monday, December 30, 2013 22:39 EST

<snip>

In an interview on CNBC on Monday, Home Depot founder and devout Catholic Ken Langone said that the Pope’s statements about capitalism have left many potential “capitalist benefactors” wary of donating to the Church or its fundraising projects.

According to Langone, an anonymous, “potential seven-figure donor” for the Church’s restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral is concerned that the Pope’s criticism of capitalism are “exclusionary,” especially his statements about the “culture of prosperity” leading to the wealthy being “incapable of feeling compassion for the poor.”

Langone said he’s raised this issue with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who yesterday praised Pope Francis for “shattering the caricature of the Church.”

“I’ve told the Cardinal,” Langone said, “‘Your Eminence, this is one more hurdle I hope we don’t have to deal with. You want to be careful about generalities. Rich people in one country don’t act the same as rich people in another country.’”

<snip>

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/30/home-depot-founder-worries-pope-francis-neither-loves-or-understands-rich-americans/

[JEB]

1. I think Mr. Langone is worried

that the Pope actually does understand the rich.

[roguevalley]

8. he's worried that the pope feels the rich are donors and some dick won't donate

a bunch to fix a church. he answered his own concerns. the rich are the same everywhere. empty shells that can never be filled.

[elzenmahn]

23. This Pope Most Certainly Does...

...he's seen, first-hand, the Friedmanist experiments in South American economics. Naomi Klein lays it all out in The Shock Doctrine. He knows the end-game, and where this leads.

Mr. Langone's "worries", to me, are actually a form of extortion. Be nice, or we'll withhold our contributions.
I hope Pope Francis calls this out and doesn't fall for it.

And as for Mr. Langone, his "fears" and "worries" can go right UP the back-end from where they came.

[onehandle]

2. Keep it up, billionaire wingnuts. His popularity is sky high.

Please proceed.

[HughBeaumont]

3. Well, rest assured . . .

. . . no one can ever accuse a wealth-fattened piece of pigshit like Ken Langone of acting like anything but a true American Plutocratic McAsshole.

Ken Langone, funder of Home Depot and others, on weighty issues: "I am a fat cat, I'm not ashamed," he said last week in a telephone interview from a dressing room in his Upper East Side home. "If you mean by fat cat that I've succeeded, yeah, then I'm a fat cat. I stand guilty of being a fat cat."

Ditto his octogenarian HD running buddy, CNBC favorite and even more loathsome fascist asshole (if that's at all possible) Bernie Marcus:

Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, on #OWS: "Who gives a crap about some imbecile? Are you kidding me?"

Bernie Marcus, on fellow businessmen voting for Democrats and supporting EFCA: "If a retailer has not gotten involved with this, if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to Norm Coleman and these other guys," Mr. Marcus said, apparently referring to Republican senators facing tough re-election fights, then those retailers "should be shot; should be thrown out of their goddamn jobs."

Bernie Marcus, head of Job Creators Alliance (snicker) on Democrats:"Basically, what they're doing to small business is very similar in this case to what Debbie did to Dallas." (Ironic coming from the founder of HOME DEPOT, one of the worst steamrollers of small businesses their ever was)

Bernie Marcus, generous donor to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, on the Employee Free Choice Act: "may be one of the worst things I have ever seen in my life," (from a conference call of a meeting on how to prevent retail workers from organizing . . . conducted the same year Home Depot laid off 7,000 people)

Men of God, these two are. Fuuuuuuuuuuuu . . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/100257582

[Bigmack]

4. I think the Pope has forgotten what Jesus said:

"Blessed are the filthy rich, for they shall buy their way into heaven."
The Book of Wall Street.... chapt. 1 verse 5

[Brigid]

5. "The Pope's statements about capitalism . . .

"Have left many potential 'capitalist benefactors' wary of donating to the Church or its fundraising projects" -- is that a threat?

I think JEB is right -- the Pope understands the rich all too well.

[Chrom]

7. that was definitely a threat

That is how entitled these assholes are, they think they can blackmail the Pope.

[bpollen]

24. Yup, that would constitute a threat...

Very similar to the protection racket:

"Beautiful church ya have here, fodder. Be a shame if something happened to it..."

[Kingofalldems]

6. The fact that this rich bastard gets an audience

with a Cardinal is very telling. Apparently both he and the Cardinal believe God favors him somehow.

[Quasimodem]

9. I think Pope Francis does understand rich Americans ...

... which explains why he does not love rich Americans.

Not even Christ could love them unreservedly, which is why he said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

[Stuart G]

10. Oh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Well...No More Home Depot..? nt

[Jefferson23]

11. So threats now, that is interesting. Pope is evidently a persuasive man in his mind. n/t

[MellowDem]

12. He doesn't understand homosexuals or women...

the rich is one group he does understand. As for love, well, he is commanded to by an authoritarian tyrant he worships or else he may burn for eternity. So, conditional love for all

[warrant46]

22. And he Hates---- The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests SNAP

Who work diligently to uncover the crimes and outrageous deeds done by his employees and directors of his Posse

Want to donate ?

Donate here

http://www.snapnetwork.org/

[AngryOldDem]

13. Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable...

So far, the Pope is doing a magnificent job on this score, showing compassion for the millions who sit in poverty outside of the cathedral that Mr. Langone wants to throw money at to restore.

Good job, Your Holiness!

[PeoViejo]

14. The poor won't put up a Bronze Plaque in honor of their donation

These assh0les want to be remembered fondly after they die, because, like everyone else, they are nothing but maggot bait in the end.

Getting a Tax Break helps too. Giving 5 bucks to some poor sot on the street is a total loss to them.

[packman]

15. This asshole is playing both ends(pun)

First, he wants to be viewed as a philanthropist with his donations and , maybe, in his mind he's thinking he'll buy his way into heaven . Better if he'd given his money to feed the poor or shelter the homeless of New York than restoring a building. Second, he's taking a tax-write off by donating to the church. And as for Dolan, he blows in the wind. With the last Pope he was an in-your-face conservative toeing the anti-gay line spilling out of the Vatican. Dolan and Langone will be in one of the circles of hell reserved for hypocrites kissing each other's asses in the next life through out eternity.

[elzenmahn]

25. Jesus had plenty to say...

...about assholes like Mr. Home Depot. People who prostrate and donate for show.

As for Cardinal Dolan, well, he's a whole 'nother piece of work.

[W T F]

16. That's a good thing, because Jesus felt the same way about the rich too

[silvershadow]

17. Thanks for the tip. No more Home Depot for me. nt

[iemitsu]

18. I think, Mr Lnagone, that the Pope does understand

that the rich don't behave the same in every country. He recognizes that America's rich are more greedy than the rich in other parts of the world.

[ut oh]

19. Ah, but many of them do...

and many of them act WORSE than rich people in other countries....

Another 1% playing the victim....

[PowerToThePeople]

20. Here is your ride, Mr. Richy-Rich

[milestogo]

21. Since when do the "rich" shop at Home Depot?

The rich, so misunderstood.

[putitinD]

26. they don't

all the wealth comes from the bottom up. the exact opposite of trickle-down. Its the poor and middle class that makes these assholes rich. Same as it always has been.

[mmonk]

27. Poor baby. To be so misunderstood.