A Message From the 1%, Why Vilification of Wall Street is Disgusting

Politics / US Politics Oct 27, 2012 - 05:38 AM GMT

Best Financial Markets Analysis Article Billionaire financier and Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone told Bloomberg Television's Trish Regan on "Street Smart" today that he is "proudly part of the 1%. I worked like hell to become part of the 1."

Langone said that, "I have been in Wall Street all of my life. I love it. It has been good to me... This vilification of what is going on in America today is disgusting."

Langone on his past:

"As a little boy, my first job was delivering newspapers and then I had a variety of different jobs. I worked in a butcher shop, I worked in a supermarket, I worked in construction. I dug ditches on the Long Island expressway in 1954, 1955, 1956. During my summers off from Bucknell, I was a day laborer and they were building the section of the expressway from the city line to Shelter Rock Road. That was the way that I was able to augment my needs for college. My parents did what they could do but I still had to work to help because it was only about $2,500 a year to go to Bucknell. Today it is $53,000 a year, which is kind of sad."

On whether it's frustrating to hear politicians talk about working Americans vs. the 1%:

"Let me say this loud and clear. I am proudly part of the 1%. I worked like hell to become part of the 1%. I don't want anything back for what about to say, but it also happened. By my virtue of Bernie, Arthur and I getting into the 1%, we bought 330,000 people along with us, the great Home Depot, great paying jobs to wonderful bright careers and futures. I was once part of the 99%. The goal of being in the 99% was to get not from the standpoint of the money, but the standpoint of the accomplishment, the standpoint of the satisfaction. The thing that I find tragic today--I don't know what the hell a conditional mortgage obligation is, I don't know what subprime debt is. I have never owned any of it. I have invested in companies, I have worked in companies, we have built companies, we have created jobs."

"I have been in Wall Street all of my life. I love it. It has been good to me. I know many wonderful, decent, honorable, ethical hard-working people that were in Wall Street with me. This vilification of what is going on in America today is disgusting. We're upside-down right now. Sure, things were done that were wrong. Sure, excesses happen. But there's plenty of blame to go around. There is Barney Frank, the Congress, who pushed the American dream that everyone should on a home. Now, everyone should not own a home. There is a lot of people that can't afford it. There are a lot of people who don't have a responsibility to own a home. The point of the notion that this is going to be the American dream, everyone was in the pool swimming and all of a sudden when it blew up, then you look around for scapegoats."

On whether it's more difficult for young people right now:

"I wish I was their age because the opportunities that are out there now are as good as they were as I've ever seen in all my life. They might be harder to identify, but they are there. But once you identify them and once you figure out what the human want is and you address that human want with the supply of whatever they need, you can do well. I don't buy into this notion. We will get through this period of experimentation with socialism. Do not buy into this notion. We will get through this time of experimentation. What would you call it? Take from the rich because the rich are bad? That's how I feel."

"Let me really play with a liberal's head. I don't know whether other people should or shouldn't pay taxes. I know I can, and I am willing, to pay more taxes. I know I should not get social security. I don't need it. I won, so don't give it to me. But if you want to do that to me, do it in a constructive way that what you take from me beyond you already get is sequestered to reduce this humongous debt that we have so these kids that have not been born yet aren't burdened by our lavish lifestyles."

bloomberg.com

Copyright © 2012 Bloomberg - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Comments

stevehudson
28 Oct 12, 09:46

disgusting?

America is broken, but this guy says the status quo must not be criticized. "vilification of what is going on in America today is disgusting." Wall Street -- the megabanks -- have ripped off America to the tune of trillions of dollars; their parasitic anti-social finance system collapsed from its own rottenness and was given welfare support by government. There is nothing disgusting about criticizing this. This guy says he worked hard as a youth. So what? VIRTUALLY EVERYBODY DOES!! I worked like an m.f. producing the goods and wealth of the nation, but did not become a billionaire.

I earned every penny I made and then some though. I submit that no billionaires have actually earned the money they have, but only a fraction of it,and should not exist as they are a detriment to society. Exceptional contributors to society should be exceptionally rewarded, but excessive unearned wealth and wealth concentration is bad for society. Bill Gates got $500k from his hold man, bought some software, got a monopoly, and rode a technological wave to hyperwealth. It would have happened without him. He did not deserve all that wealth. Most personal wealth is still acquired the old fashioned way: it is inherited -- nothing to do with exceptional contributions. Wall Street does not provide money for productive capitalism, but is a speculative secondary market, mainly funding LBOs and the like that tear down and steal from productive workplaces. Home Depot?

It's basically a Chinese manufacturing outlet. The goods there are produced by a totalitarian communist state, mostly in government-owned enterprises. The set-up enriches people like Langone at the expense of American jobs. "Free Trade" does not work for the American people, but mainly for disgusting parasites like this jerk. He aint no Henry Ford or Alva Edison.

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