NY Times Op-Ed December 8, 2011
All the G.O.P.’s Gekkos
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Almost a quarter of a century has passed since the release of the movie “Wall Street,” and the film seems more relevant than ever. The self-righteous screeds of financial tycoons denouncing President Obama all read like variations on Gordon Gekko’s famous “greed is good” speech, while the complaints of Occupy Wall Street sound just like what Gekko says in private: “I create nothing. I own,” he declares at one point; at another, he asks his protégé, “Now you’re not naïve enough to think we’re living in a democracy, are you, buddy?”
The Los Angeles Times recently surveyed the record of Bain Capital, the private equity firm that Mr. Romney ran from 1984 to 1999. As the report notes, Mr. Romney made a lot of money over those years, both for himself and for his investors. But he did so in ways that often hurt ordinary workers.
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/opinion/krugman-all-the-gops-gekkos.html
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From the latest Harper’s Magazine Index:
Amount employees of private-equity firm Bain Capital have donated to the campaign of its co-founder Mitt Romney: $69,500
To the Obama campaign: $119,900
Capitalist pigs. Oink, Oink.
Comment by Deborah Jeffries — December 10, 2011 @ 2:32 am
Gekko was very wrong with his greed is good comment in the movie.
Greed is the disease that has sickened America.
It’s an attribute possessed by a percentage of Americans (ruling class one percenters) that shows a total lack of moral character.
I distance myself from people who are this way because I have zero respect and tolerance for it.
I’m grateful for shelter, food and clothing and am content with a modest existence.
If the one percent felt the same way, our country would be a better place for all people.
Comment by Deborah Jeffries — December 12, 2011 @ 4:45 pm