"But every group finds itself facing criticism, and ends up on the losing side of policy disputes, somewhere along the way; that’s democracy. The question is what happens next. Normal people take it in stride; even if they’re angry and bitter over political setbacks, they don’t cry persecution, compare their critics to Nazis and insist that the world revolves around their hurt feelings. But the rich are different from you and me."
- Paul Krugman, "Paranoia of the Plutocrats" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/opinion/krugman-paranoia-of-the-plutocrats.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0), The New York Times, January 26, 2014
"But the rich are different from you and me," declares Paul Krugman in his latest New York Times op-ed. But that's not all he has to say. Paul goes on to tell us:
"We’re not talking captains of industry here, men who make stuff. We are, instead, talking about wheeler-dealers, men who push money around and get rich by skimming some off the top as it sloshes by. They may boast that they are job creators, the people who make the economy work, but are they really adding value? Many of us doubt it — and so, I suspect, do some of the wealthy themselves, a form of self-doubt that causes them to lash out even more furiously at their critics."
Those dastardly rich people, who skim off the top, don't add value and don't create jobs! Surely they are all inveterate rogues!
But that being the case, how best to help others like . . . you and me? Or better still, how best to help others who help others? Eureka . . .
Given the poverty, endless suffering and immeasurable contribution to society of New York Times columnists, I would proudly like to establish a charity for these esteemed personages, who struggle financially, just like . . . you and me.
How much would you care to contribute?
I beg of you, open wide your wallets and pony up from your pocketbooks. Moreover, to avoid any doubt as to where your money will be going, allow me to announce the 2014 winner of this new charity's largesse: none other than Thomas Friedman! Some of you might already have seen Friedman's decrepit mansion in Maryland. Don't you think it's high time to add a new wing to the estate?
The 2015 winner? Why that would be Nicholas Kristof, that smiling, world trotting, do-gooder, of course. What's that you say? Kristof is married to Sheryl Wudunn, Senior Managing Director at Mid-Market Securities, who previously "worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where she was a vice president, in the role of investment advisor for private clients, in the firm's investment management division" (go to http://www.mid-marketsecurities.com/team.php and click on her name)? Sorry, but in case you didn't know, there are plenty of struggling investment bankers out there.
And in 2016? It will be our turn to offer a helping hand to Paul Krugman. After all, Paul might have given away (or lost on bad investments - I'm joking, of course) all of his Nobel Prize money and payments received from his many books. What does he receive for his bi-weekly Times column? Peanuts, I'm sure. Yup, given that he's just like the rest of us, he, too, can certainly use our assistance.
Plans for the future? How about a charity for impoverished job-creating politicians, responsible for making the economy work, such as Nancy Pelosi (net worth of over $20 million), John Kerry (net worth of some $200 million), and Barack and Michelle Obama whose presidential memoirs are expected to fetch in the neighborhood of $30 million (see: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/01/27/140127fa_fact_remnick?currentPage=all)?
Where to send your donations for these new charities? I'll provide the mailing address in my next blog entry . . . not.
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