Super Wealthy CEOs Help Crush the American Worker, Then Cry About Class Warfare

http://www.alternet.org/economy/151845/super_wealthy_ceos_help_crush_the_american_worker%2C_then_cry_about_class_warfare

Alternet
By Michael Winship

Super Wealthy CEOs Help Crush the American Worker, Then Cry About Class Warfare

The reckless finance class that torpedoed the economy continues to accuse President Obama of class warfare. Are they kidding?

July 31, 2011  |  

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As Jeff writes in the introduction, the first part of Age of Greed "is mostly a story of business pioneers who fought government regulation or, through innovation, escaped government oversight," building on fear from punishing inflation in the seventies and a new post-Watergate distrust of government, "all the while diminishing the power of government and reinforcing the changing national attitudes."

In the second part, "Once government was no longer a counterweight and a new political ideology cleared their path, financiers led the way... Debts more than innovation and technological progress became the economy's driving force. Financial businesses doubled in size compared to the economy and profits grew still faster. Hundreds of billions of precious American savings were wasted."

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"Fifty of the most prized donors in national politics, including several hedge-fund billionaires who are among the richest people in the world, schlepped to a Manhattan office or hovered around speakerphones Tuesday afternoon as their host, venture capitalist Ken Langone, a co-founder of The Home Depot, implored New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to reconsider and seek the GOP presidential nomination."

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Among those in attendance were at least three worthy of inclusion on Forbes' list of richest Americans -- Paul Tudor Jones (hedge funds; $3.3 billion), Stan Druckenmiller (hedge funds; $2.5 billion) and Bernie Marcus (Home Depot; $1.9 billion). According to Politico, "Several of them said: I'm Republican but I voted for President Obama, because I couldn't live with Sarah Palin. Many said they were severely disappointed in the president. The biggest complaint was what several called 'class warfare.' They said they didn't understand what they had done to deserve that: If you want to have a conversation about taxation, have a conversation. But a president shouldn't attack his constituents -- he's not the president of some people, he's president of all the people. Someone mentioned Huey Long populism."

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Rec

We know the politicians are the mouthpieces for Wall Street as a whole, but I like to see which CEOs are whining about class warfare.

Always making sure someone else took the heat for their failures and making sure they took credit for things that they truly had nothing to do with.

They have just applied it to this situation to accomplish the agenda at hand.

When profits are up, the CEO and board of directors are given the credit, when things go down, workers are laid off.