The Rage of the Privileged Class

[KamaAina]

Get ready to :rofl: !

http://nymag.com/news/businessfinance/56151

"No offense to Middle America, but if someone went to Columbia or Wharton, their company is a fumbling, mismanaged bank, why should they all of a sudden be paid the same as the guy down the block who delivers restaurant supplies for Sysco out of a huge, shiny truck?" e-mails an irate Citigroup executive to a colleague....

Their anger takes many forms: There is rage at Obama for pushing to raise taxes ("The government wants me to be a slave!" says one hedge-fund analyst); rage at the masses who don't understand that Wall Street's high salaries fund New York’s budget ("We're fucked," says a former Lehman equities analyst, referring to the city); rage at the people who don’t "get" that Wall Street enables much of the rest of the economy to function ("JPMorgan and all these guys should go on strike—see what happens to the country without Wall Street," says another hedge-funder)....

During the campaign, Obama was never shy about his promise to undo the Bush tax policies. But it was easy to ignore his occasional lapses into populist rhetoric and focus on his intense intelligence and Ivy League education. Now, in the wake of the crisis, Wall Street's politics are shifting rightward. "All the rich people I know took George Bush for granted," says an analyst at a midtown hedge fund. "I'm a Democrat, but I agree with Rush Limbaugh on a lot of this stuff," rails the wife of a former AIG executive.

To Wall Street people who have grown up in the bubble, the meaning of the crisis is only slowly sinking in. They can’t yet grasp the idea of a life lived on less. "Without exception, Wall Street guys have gotten accustomed to not being stuck in the city in August. So it becomes a right to have a summer home within an hour or two commute from Manhattan," says the Goldman vet. "There's a cost structure of going with your family on summer vacation that's not optional. There's a cost structure of spending $40,000 to send your kids to private school that is not optional. There's a sense of entitlement, that you need that amount of money just to live, that's not optional."

:eyes:

So many overprivileged whiners, so little space for four measly paras... :(

[KansDem]

1. Can someone sound an A-440?

I need to tune...
:nopity:

[DemoTex]

41. Oboist at your service! A=440!

Strings, tune!
Woodwinds, tune!
Brass .. tune!

[xchrom]

2. go on strike -- there are talented and ETHICAL 'scabs' that will

take all of your places.

[SoCalDem]

3. For the lady who agrees with Rush...

Is Rush sending money to them every month??

If not, that's all Rush's ideas are "worth" to her..a big fat ZERO..

HE'S raking in big bucks every month, and is nothing more than a "poo-flinger"..

She sure didn't mind the fancy lifestyle when her husband was not "formerly employed by"..

when people "have" money, they assume they will always have it.. not true ..especially now..

[Warpy]

4. They can cry me a river

and jump into it and drown. If they're wailing and gnashing their teeth over having 3% put back onto the top income tax rate, think of what they're going to be screaming about when it becomes crystal clear that the top rate needs to go a lot higher, albeit on salaries in excess of a million a year.

I know what it costs to live in NYC. It's why I don't live there. However, it's high time for them to start realizing the rest of us don't owe them a sultan's life, either.

Excuse me if this doesn't make my heart break for them.

[Ghost Dog]

28. .

(Diana Krall): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9y1vGxPVAA

[Bozita]

5. My eyes kept watering up as I read that piece.

*snifff*

[glitch]

20. Yeah, sometimes when I laugh so hard I cry too.

I don't know why that happens.

[Earth_First]

6. ..."it becomes a RIGHT"?!

Your summer home was purchased out of the misery that you created for millions of families here in America...

Excuse me, but for these millions of Americans whom you took advantage of; they ought to have THEIR right to kick you square in the nuts ...and be grateful that a swift kick in the ass is all you ended up with.

Their right. :eyes:

OP: you're right :rofl:

[Mari333]

7. omg the shadenfraude..I can hardly contain myself!!

“You can’t live in New York and have kids and send them to school on $75,000,” he continues. “And you have the Obama administration suggesting that. That was a very populist thing that Obama said. He’s being disingenuous. He knows that you can’t live in New York on $75,000.”

wahhhh wahhhhh wahhhhh

I could send them some ramen noodle recipes.!













cryyyy me a rivvvverrrr. cryyyyyyy me a rivvvvverrrrr.....
woot!!

[Ikonoklast]

8. The SYSCO delivery driver actually performs a valuable service.

If you are contributing nothing but *fail* to your investment bank, it seems to me you should earn *nothing*.

Since when did going to Wharton or Columbia guarantee a life of wealth? I always thought in America, you still had to work hard and PRODUCE VALUE to get ahead.

[KamaAina]

9. Who says he's contributing nothing but *fail* to his investment bank?

I suspect he may be contributing a shitload of *suck* as well. :P

[Ikonoklast]

19. Don't forget the barrel of *whine*.

Vintage 2009. Especially bitter and sour year for the predator class.



:hi:

[Muttocracy]

31. Yes, the SYSCO guy's physical labor actually creates value! nt

[Mari333]

10. k n r

[L0oniX]

11. Oh noes ...who will buy the $1,000,000 2 bedroom condos in NY city now?

:shrug:

[Laelth]

12. They're pathetic. Watch me cry them a river.

I say we need to return the top marginal rate to what it was under Eisenhower. Then, they might actually have a reason to cry ... but only a little.



:nopity:

:dem:

-Laelth

[walldude]

13. No offense to you rich wall street assholes but

if someone went to Columbia or Wharton, and their company is a fumbling, mismanaged bank, they shouldn't be paid at all. If you paid that much for an education at a top school and you sink your fucking company you ought to be out pounding the pavement looking for a job that accepts failure. Frankly your failures would be hilarious if you weren't fucking over millions of people.

Oh and one more thing, it's all optional. You useless piece of shit you wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world.

[Mari333]

14. some of the comments in the comments section in the article

are hilarious..some are mad as hell, and SOME are bankers trying to justify themselves...

[Bozita]

49. The comments alone are worth the time investment

[midnight]

Bravo!

[midnight]

Bravo!

[midnight]

23. Bravo!

[NashVegas]

43. "you would happily put a sell rating on me"

Great comment:

"The only reason you still exist is because of me, the taxpayer who is lending and in some cases just gifting you money to open your doors everday. I'm not paying you to run an insolvent business. If I were a shipping company that you had public that had no cash flow and debts that exceeded its assets, you would happily put a sell rating on me, and I would quickly be out of business. No one would care if one section of my shipping company was earning money if the entire enterprise was bankrupt. You who remain employed should be thankful and amazed that you're still around, because its a miracle. If you want to make money, we're in America, build a business that makes money."

[malletgirl02]

53. Great Comment nt.

[Mari333]

15. k

[jody]

16. What is the antithesis of noblesse oblige? n/t

[Hannah Bell]

22. noblesse neglige?

[jody]

25. Thanks, interesting but "neglige" is like negligee.

:hi:

[RainDog]

68. the guillotine

and I understand, more and more each day, how the French got to that point.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

17. You can take almost any over 50 laid off worker, give 'em 6 months of intensive schooling,

and they could do the same thing as these overly entitled bozo's. Running the stock market should be the next work force re-training program. Sure would be better than some of the retraining for older adults my state offers.

[Political Heretic]

18. Fuck. These. Assholes.

[Skittles]

21. that's pretty much my sentiment too, PH

what strikes me is how utterly self-centered they are - it's all I, me, mine. Pitiful. What's that old quote? "Learn to live simply so others can simply live."

[Mari333]

24. the authour even uses the term 'Ayn Randian' nt

[Ghost Dog]

26. Rich people who took George W. Bush for granted

need to go down for a looong time.






If not lined up against a wall and shot.







And, I predict, they're going to find out that it's indeed not optional.





(I'm not feeling so cynical tonight. But I'm in Europe).

[Lyric]

27. Well it's obvious that at Columbia, the only thing these assholes bothered to read

was "Atlas Shrugged."

It's a pity that nobody told them it was a badly-written fantasy novel.

[Mari333]

29. heh. Have you ever seen The Fountainhead with Gary Cooper?

It has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my LIFE.
Rand wrote the screenplay, and its has the WORST most AWFUL script I have ever heard.
The LAST scene in the movie, which stars Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal..( sad!) is HOward Roark,
standing at the top of a HUGE phallic skyscraper, both hands on his hips,
as Patricia Neal rises to meet him on an open elevator..the camera shows her looking up as she rises to her lover at the top of his erect penis..er..building..
its so bad, its good.

[Ghost Dog]

35. "It's so bad, it's good". True, that, as regards her writing;

(I read it only a year or so ago - not FountainPenis (yet) but Atlas Shrugged, (I'm a 55 year-old European), and I agree: I had to skip/fast scan some of the crap, but I couldn't put it down. It's a well-observed, odious, self-portrait).

[Lorien]

30. The repugs hate the poor who are on welfare, but the WEALTHY on welfare

they adore! A poor person on welfare takes little and must prove that they are trying to better themselves. They must account for EVERY 15 minutes of their day. The wealthy on welfare take millions of taxpayer dollars, are totally UNaccountable, and worse yet, drag others down with their sloth and incompetence. And you wanna give the tax break to these wealthy welfare pigs and not those of us who actually WORK, Freepers??? :crazy:

[renate]

65. very well said n/t

I have nothing to add because what you said is perfect. :applause:

[Muttocracy]

32. uh, yeah, W's economic policies worked out so well for them in the long term

:eyes:

[dugaresa]

33. as I sit here working late at night again to keep my job

a job that i got a great review for, got a promotion, but didn't get backfilled so I get to do my old job and my new job. the same job that i just got a pay decrease for because the company is fearful of the economy and they won't contribute to my 401k.

i can't feel sorry for these stupid bastards.

they are a bunch of privileged whiners who got paid a lot of money and drove the country into the hole.

Wall Street encouraged outsourcing, encouraged low wages for workers, encouraged moving plants overseas. to compensate for the low wages and the lack of good paying steady jobs, they encouraged open ended credit and ridiculous ideas of people with little money being able to afford more. and when one day this lack of sense kind of approach goes "kaboom" they all pretend like it wasn't their fault?

nope, no pity for the dipshits that orchestrated this mess. none whatsoever.

[WeDidIt]

34. Poor ickle bankers

dere feewings aw hurt.

Fucking bastards haven't got a clue. I dare any one of them to work for one year as an IT Support Technician.

[Mari333]

36. k

[Ghost Dog]

37. This paragraph:

"Everyone on Wall Street is prepared to lose money. Bankers have expressions for disastrous losses: clusterfuck, Chernobyl, blowing up … But no one was prepared to lose money this way. This felt like getting mugged."



Wrong.



These people were quite prepared to lose other peoples' money. Never their "own" cut off the top (or bottom, what did they care?).




Well, it's not their own, now, is it?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

38. I agree with everything said there...

However the sense of entitlement is not limited to Wall Street. It exists at most if not all income levels and most social strata as well. Take, for instance, the people next door to me right now - two months behind on their rent, their church giving them handouts to pay for their electrical bills and diapers for their kids, giant SUV in the driveway, and two new $1000+ couches delivered last week using the proceeds from their tax refund. For the life of me I can't figure out what is going on in their minds.

[BobTheSubgenius]

39. I especially liked the homage to Ayn Rand....

...intentional, or not. These people are so incredibly full of their vastly inflated vision of their own importance that it would be hard for me to meet one in person.

[Mari333]

40. k

[Reterr]

45. I really wish they would actually "go Galt"

instead of constantly promising to but never actually doing it.

I wish some entertainment industry person with the resources would actually hoax these morons into thinking that some John Galt like figure is out there "recruiting" the "truly talented" like themselves.
God it would be so perfect. Like the rapture-ready types, I can just see these pompous, self-important morons packing up with Utopian dreams of some underground, libertarian paradise where they can sit around basking in their own glory. Now that is a reality show I could get behind. If they captured these arrogant twits at the moment when they realize it is a hoax, that would be priceless! I really don't understand how that Ayn Rand garbage has any appeal for anyone over 14.

[Demeter]

47. You Just Described the GOP!

They're recruiting affluently rich fools all the time.

[AllieB]

42. Read the comments on the NY Mag website.

Most of them are ready to string up the Wall Street fuckers.

[gizmo1979]

44. Ha ha Go on strike.

They hate unions.You can't strike bozo.

[alcibiades_mystery]

46. Dear Hedge Funders:

I grew up in New York City. Granted, I lived in Queens and Brooklyn, but I went to New York City Public Schools, my folks paid New York City taxes, and if the cops arrested me and my friends, we went to Central Booking, and they were NYPD. I'm a New Yorker. Your idiot kids who go to $5000 a 'semester" pre-school and $40,000 a year private schools (and tell us again how we can't "throw money" at the problems of public schools while you're throwing plenty at your own kids' education) ARE NOT REAL NEW YORKERS. Period. Bridge and tunnel? Fuck you. We can survive on $50,000 a year or less in New York. You can't. So who's the real New Yorker? Fucking scum. If you want to get out of town in August, try Jones fucking Beach. I hope you get jacked up on the street. Assholes.

Best,
alcibiades_mystery

P.S. Fuck you.

[MrMickeysMom]

52. I'm howling with laughter over that

Especially the P.S.

[Skittles]

54. now you are the kind of New Yorker I love

yes INDEED *swoon*

[myrna minx]

58. I am swooning. I love your PS.

:D

[scarletwoman]

48. I've got just one thing to say: JUMP! YOU FUCKERS! (nt)

[MisterP]

50. behold, the Libertarian gods! come to think of it, BioShock seems optimistic when you consider

the intelligence and stability of these Captains of Industry: I can hear them already, waving crowbars and screeching like Toot Braunstein

[Raineyb]

51. My comment to the article if I had bothered to register

What a tale of tears and woe!

To paraphrase a character from a sci fi show "That was a very entertaining story but why am I reading it?"

What is the point of this whiny tale of the poor put upon Wall Street trader? Why the hell should I give a damn? These fools with their overdeveloped sense of entitlement have ruined the economy and now they have the nerve to whine about not getting their bonuses? Why the hell should they get any bonus the bloody company is bankrupt. In essence, especially when talking about AIG, we the people own your ass! You should get nothing! Take your salary, STFU and be grateful you're still employed you whiny git! Oh, and by the way, unlike you the guy in the Sysco truck making deliveries actually performs a service which is more than I can say about your whiny behind right now as I cannot sell your whine to pay my rent.

Ugh! The electrons used to have this story show up on my monitor would be put to much better use discussing the plight of the put upon middle and lower class tax payer whose money was wasted bailing out these imbeciles.

The poor put upon Wall Street trader is the least of my concerns considering the absolute pathetic state of the economy.

Regards

[Wednesdays]

55. knr ... here's a whole orchestra.

:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:
:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:
:nopity::nopity::nopity:
:nopity:

[KamaAina]

59. But, but, but the Masters of the Universe can't afford tickets to the Philharmonic anymore!

:cry:

[Desperadoe]

56. kick

because it deserves to be read

[Mari333]

57. k

[knitter4democracy]

60. Try having one for a brother-in-law.

Thank goodness we're almost done with the divorce.

Three thousand dollars for a pair of shoes. Twenty-three grand a year for his daughter's preschool. Preschool!!! Eighty dollar jeans for their toddler so she can be dressed "right". What-freakin'-ever.

[leftofthedial]

61. They're mad as hell we're not gonna let them take it anymore...

[Blue_Tires]

62. those folks need to die in a fire....

[Zomby Woof]

63. The rage doesn't stop there

It extends to supermarkets and their grocery bag features.

[blindpig]

64. That is hilarious.

Those fuckers are seriously deluded. It is as though ticks would strike against cats & dogs. Yes, let them strike.

[guruoo]

66. “JPMorgan and all these guys should go on strike...

—see what happens to the country without Wall Street"

Yeah. You betcha.

[Blue_Tires]

67. STRIKE?!?! She's a labor-loving red after all!