The Blogger Digby posted a fascinating guest post from a fellow named John Forbes, an individual, who while financially could be considered a 1%er, he is also quite alarmed and reviled by what he sees that his fellow 1%ers are doing to the country in the name of free-market capitalism. It is worth reading the whole thing, but here is an excerpt:
Mr. Perkin’s statements are part of a trend by wealthy investors and corporate executives to try and paint the people who are advocating more sensible and equitable economic policies in this country as a bunch of ignorant villagers waving torches and pitchforks, desperate to demonize those that they see as more successful than themselves. Perkins is not the first to take this position, with Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone having made a similarly tone-deaf statement equating closing tax loopholes with the Nazi invasion of Poland. I assume in the coming days that we will see more of these breathless condemnations of those who dare to challenge the privileges that many of these people now enjoy, many of which are completely unearned and actually deeply damaging to our society.
The simple fact is that many high net worth individuals and large corporations in this country are no longer paying their fair share of taxes, and the critical infrastructure of our country including core priorities like transportation and public education are being severely damaged by these policies. As with many issues affecting public policy, it has taken some time for the trends and underlying numbers to become clear. I would argue that we have now reached a turning point where the damage that inequality is doing (and the ongoing corruption of our legal and tax system that is enabling it) is no longer a fringe opinion; it is now substantiated by economic statistics and recognized as fact by many economists, investors and financial analysts.
The growing resentment that Mr. Perkins and many other wealthy investors in Silicon Valley and Wall Street are now feeling has its real roots not in envy or class warfare, but in the emerging realization by the majority of taxpayers that they are being forced to shoulder an unequal share of the burden that is required to preserve our countries most fundamental institutions.http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/even-top-1-is-disgusted-by-tom-perkins.html
The Mr. Perkins that John Forbes alludes to in that excerpt above is the vulture capitalist billionaire who last week was wallowing in self-pity all over the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. You remember dear readers -- the $300,000 wristwatch wearing asshat who was sad-face trumpeting the insinuation that the people (your's truly here) questioning whether or not it is time to start reigning in the excesses of Wall Street and implementing economic policies to stem the trend of rising income inequality, are the equivalent of Hitler's Nazi Stormtroopers herding Jews in to boxcars and shipping them off to the Auschwitz gas chambers just because they are "different" -- remember that repulsive twit?
So yeah -- it's actually good to know that there are some super-wealthy people who still have a conscience and find Mr. Perkins to be much more a causal symptom of America's sickness, instead of a potential cure.
Go read it and learn something. The Gadfly sure did.
----TFG
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