We must methodically take our wealth back from the super-rich—before it's too late
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Many think that when anyone criticizes the super rich—specifically the multimillionaires and the billionaires—that it stems from nothing more than wealth envy. While that may be true for a few who themselves were unable to attain that feat, for most itWe must methodically take our wealth back from the super-rich—before it's too late
Many think that when anyone criticizes the super rich—specifically the multimillionaires and the billionaires—that it stems from nothing more than wealth envy. While that may be true for a few who themselves were unable to attain that feat, for most it is about equity and fairness. Most remember the speech about greed given by Michael Douglas’ character Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie Wall Street. It was short, but it was a confirming catalyst that allowed me to see the fraud that is our current economic system. Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can’t figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper company lost 110 million dollars last year, and I’ll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these vice presidents. The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last seven deals that I’ve been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank you. I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much. The essence of that speech was that of a master, a puppeteer, controlling companies and thus the lives of millions via financial transactions that built or created nothing of value. They made money by seeing the economic pieces solely as pawns to play with in a game of wealth extraction. Plutocrats and capitalist apologists can attempt to frame it in a more palatable form, but they cannot remove the stench for those not wearing gas masks. It is clear, however, that Americans are not greedy to the extent that plutocrats are, and plutocrats prey on that reality in order to gorge themselves. If greed was good and we all suffered from the excesses of it, the ones who would succeed would be the ones capable of making something of value to society, not those who depend on the manipulation of numbers. Read more