Wall Street bankers and other financial and corporate "fat cats" are beginning to feel picked on and lonely, and they're not going to take it anymore. However, they may be hanging themselves with their own quotes that shall live forever in infamy.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the "highest-paid chief executive officer among the heads of the six biggest U.S. banks," joined hedge fund manager John Paulson, and Home Depot Inc. co-founder Bernard Marcus, and other sad and lonely billionaires in using speeches, open letters and television appearances to defend themselves - the richest 1 percent of the population - targeted by Occupy Wall Street demonstrators across the nation.
If these guys aren't feeling the love now, just wait until what they're saying in their pity-the-poor-billionaires public relations blitz reaches the majority of the 99 percent. The billionaires are letting go with their repressed inner selves, and if you thought this was a cold, soulless group before they wanted you to like them, just wait until you listen to the video and read this evil crap.
If successful businesspeople don’t go public to share their stories and talk about their troubles, “they deserve what they’re going to get,” said Marcus, 82, a founding member of Job Creators Alliance, a Dallas-based nonprofit that develops talking points and op-ed pieces aimed at “shaping the national agenda,” according to the group’s website. He said he isn’t worried that speaking out might make him a target of protesters.
"Who gives a crap about some imbecile?” Marcus said. “Are you kidding me?”
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Asked if he were willing to pay more taxes in a Nov. 30 interview with Bloomberg Television, Blackstone Group LP (BX) CEO Stephen Schwarzman spoke about lower-income U.S. families who pay no income tax.
“You have to have skin in the game,” said Schwarzman, 64. “I’m not saying how much people should do. But we should all be part of the system.”
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Tom Golisano, billionaire founder of payroll processer Paychex Inc. (PAYX) and a former New York gubernatorial candidate, said in an interview this month that while there are examples of excess, it’s “ridiculous” to blame everyone who is rich.
“If I hear a politician use the term ‘paying your fair share’ one more time, I’m going to vomit,” said Golisano, who turned 70 last month, celebrating the birthday with girlfriend Monica Seles, the former tennis star who won nine Grand Slam singles titles.
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[Leon] Cooperman, 68, [Omega Advisors Inc. chairman and former CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)’s money-management unit.] said in an interview that he can’t walk through the dining room of St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida, without being thanked for speaking up. At least four people expressed their gratitude on Dec. 5 while he was eating an egg-white omelet, he said.
“You’ll get more out of me,” the billionaire said, “if you treat me with respect.”
Be sure to read Max Abelson's entire report at Bloomberg here.
