Paul Krugman- Now THAT's Rich

[n2doc]

Institutional Investor’s latest “rich list” in its Alpha magazine, its survey of the 25 highest-paid hedge fund managers, is out — and it turns out that these guys make a lot of money. Surprise!

Yet before we dismiss the report as nothing new, let’s think about what it means that these 25 men (yes, they’re all men) made a combined $21 billion in 2013. In particular, let’s think about how their good fortune refutes several popular myths about income inequality in America.

First, modern inequality isn’t about graduates. It’s about oligarchs. Apologists for soaring inequality almost always try to disguise the gigantic incomes of the truly rich by hiding them in a crowd of the merely affluent. Instead of talking about the 1 percent or the 0.1 percent, they talk about the rising incomes of college graduates, or maybe the top 5 percent. The goal of this misdirection is to soften the picture, to make it seem as if we’re talking about ordinary white-collar professionals who get ahead through education and hard work.

But many Americans are well-educated and work hard. For example, schoolteachers. Yet they don’t get the big bucks. Last year, those 25 hedge fund managers made more than twice as much as all the kindergarten teachers in America combined. And, no, it wasn’t always thus: The vast gulf that now exists between the upper-middle-class and the truly rich didn’t emerge until the Reagan years.

Second, ignore the rhetoric about “job creators” and all that. Conservatives want you to believe that the big rewards in modern America go to innovators and entrepreneurs, people who build businesses and push technology forward. But that’s not what those hedge fund managers do for a living; they’re in the business of financial speculation, which John Maynard Keynes characterized as “anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be.” Or since they make much of their income from fees, they’re actually in the business of convincing other people that they can anticipate average opinion about average opinion.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/opinion/krugman-now-thats-rich.html?rref=opinion&_r=0

[KittyWampus]

1. Glad he draws distinction between affluent and oligarchs. Rather than tear down well to do

professionals… let's build up the struggling professionals and rein in the oligarchs.

It isn't so much about the money for the oligarchs, IMO.

It's the power and the ability to dictate terms constantly in their favor and to the detriment of others.

Sociopaths who may or may not use charity to mask their behavior.

[Scuba]

2. Hey, be a hedge fund manager if you're so jealous. At least that's what a winger told me.

[mountain grammy]

3. Yeah, they do have all the answers, right?

It's so easy "if you're not rich, blame yourself" Who was that jerk anyway? I think he ran for president.

[merrily]

4. Few facts, little humanity, but lots of answers.

[GeoWilliam750]

5. They really should stop publishing this list

The potential damage to so many people is so enormous, and true power hides behind anonymity.

[tclambert]

10. You're afraid some vigilante serial killer, like Dexter, may target the oligarchs?

Private security, the police force, FBI, and the army, navy, air force and marines all work to protect them, and keep them in an insulated bubble, an armor-plated bubble, far from contact with the germs of regular humanity. Dexter would have to work mighty hard to find an opportunity to put a Koch brother on his table.

[moondust]

19. The Lopper?

Actually, the hedgies probably want the list published as it tells investors where to send their money which then leads to higher fees.

[Clyde Tenson]

6. Where the hell does all this money come from?

Can someone explain to me where the billions are coming from? If these vampires are winning so much, it stands to reason that someone, somewhere is LOSING billions. Pensions? Small stockholders? I just want to know how this works...or is this a Ponzi deal all the way. Someone, educate me please.

[tclambert]

9. As I understand it, rents, interest, and service fees paid by the less well-to-do.

Anything you pay a monthly bill for essentially goes to the oligarchs. The businesses they own collect those fees and some of the profit becomes dividends, or bonuses for the C-level executives.

There is a Ponzi aspect to it, also, in that the things they own rise in value over time. That often produces the greatest increase in their wealth. But why do their stocks and other property rise in value? Largely because these same oligarchs speculate in those markets. When a stock market crash happens, they can lose horrific amounts of money (all on paper). Yet somehow, the system will find a way to make the losses come out of your pension fund, or your small time holdings. Because, you know, the uber-wealthy are too important to be allowed to suffer.

[bvar22]

12. "come out of your pension fund, or your small time holdings"

...OR,
a humongous Bail Out voted FOR by people who have the same financial interests.

[font color=white].......................[/font][font size=3] Now THIS is Bi-Partisanship[/font]

[dionysus]

15. so glad you used this krugman article as an excuse to bash Dems...

good work, keep at it... god bless..

[rhett o rick]

17. One more time you dont discuss the issue but choose to bash posters. You guys dont

like Krugman because he speaks the truth and that's tough. It's tough to think that Pres Obama isnt perfect.

[dionysus]

20. i like Krugman very much. it's the pavlovian "let's trash the dems" shit that annoys me. someone

could post an OP about their favorite breakfast cereal and somehow it could be spun into an attack on Dems.

I don't think Obama is even close to perfect, but what I do see is, a contingent of people constantly tearing down the democratic party while giving the repukes a free pass... they make a DU career of it.



Krugman's article was great.

[rhett o rick]

22. That's outright crazy. We cant fix the Republican Party so we try to

fix our party. A party that used to be for the People and now, at the top end, is for corporations. I will criticize anyone that puts corporations above people. I will criticize anyone if they are on the side of indefinite detention, the Patriot Act, cutting SS, and so on.
The war isnt between Democrats and Republicans, it's a class war, and our class is losing. The alliance between the Blue Dogs and Republicans is killing the middle class.

[bvar22]

23. You said it better than I can.

I'm NOT a Republican.
I don't vote FOR Republicans.
I don't GOTV for Republicans.
I don't donate to Republicans.
I EXPECT Republicans to behave like Republicans.
Why should they listen to me?

I AM a Democrat.
I have voted FOR Democrats for almost 50 years.
I GOTV for Democrats.
I Campaign for Democrats.
I donate to Democrats.
I EXPECT Democrats to act like Democrats.
When Democrats act like Republicans, I feel betrayed.
I have EARNED a voice in MY Party.

[rhett o rick]

25. I think you said it very well.

I agree with what you said with one exception. I have been a registered Democrat for 48 years and only voted for one Republican, may dog forgive me. In 1968 I was fed up with the Democrat's continuation of the Vietnam War, so I fell for the Nixon lie that he would end the war immediately. I learned my lesson.

[bvar22]

24. Paradoxical.... and a little odd...

...that YOU would use this opportunity to bash a loyal Democrat
for bashing Democrats.

You DO see the paradox?
Yes?

[Major Nikon]

27. Indirectly in some instances, but hedge funds are mostly rich people's investment vehicles

You have some (mostly Republican governor) controlled states like NJ investing pensions in hedge funds.

[GoneFishin]

13. Much of it comes out of the pockets of the middle class, translated as lower standards of living.

There was a time when a single working adult could support a middle class family comfortably.

Now, people still work just as hard, but the super-rich find ways to skim more and more fruits of other people's labor into their own bank accounts.

[DesertDiamond]

7. I read a couple of years ago that these people are sitting on $1.2 TRILLION in cash. It's probably

more than that by now. And instead of creating jobs with it they are taking the good old "wait and see" path. And this piece points out that we need to be careful not to talk about "white collar welfare." My white-collar friends are NOT among these 25, and we need to stop misdirecting the issue. When we blur that line, that pits us against the merely affluent, and makes them feel the same toward us. And divide and conquer is EXACTLY what those 25 want to do to us!

[dionysus]

16. shit, i'd be considered white collar and i'm far, far from affluent!

[redqueen]

8. "The vast gulf that now exists between the upper-middle-class and the truly rich didn’t emerge

until the Reagan years."

Yep.

[smallcat88]

11. Our economy

is just one big monopoly game to these guys!

[Electric Monk]

14. k&r

&u&g&m&a&n

[rhett o rick]

18. k&r thanks for posting. nm

[Enthusiast]

21. K&R!

[Laelth]

26. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth