Joe the Hedge Fund Manager
"He is not fighting for Joe the Plumber," Barack Obama said of John McCain during the campaign. "He's fighting for Joe the Hedge Fund Manager."
Perhaps it was inevitable, then, that yesterday, a mere nine days after McCain's loss, House Democrats hauled in Joe the Hedge Fund Manager to testify before Congress. Actually, they hauled in a billionaire's row of them: John, George, Philip, James and Kenneth the Hedge Fund Managers. Their average earnings last year: reportedly $2.5 billion apiece.
They were in for the populist treatment. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) pointed out that some of their income is taxed at the 15 percent rate. "That's a lower tax rate than many schoolteachers, firefighters -- or even plumbers -- pay." The audience chuckled.
Read the whole Sketch
-- Dana Milbank
By Dana Milbank |
November 14, 2008; 1:42 PM ET
Previous: SketchChat |
Next: Lion of the Senate Feels Fine
Posted by: Dinapoli3316 | November 19, 2008 9:32 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I'm in shock ! An average of 2.5 Billion (that's with a B) per year these CEO's earn? ? Giving them the benefit of the doubt that they work 10-hour days, that boils down to 1 Million Dollars an hour ! ! That's $16,666 a Minute ! ! That's obscene ! How can any one human being actually EARN that much. The answer is: they can't and they don't. They don't earn, they are paid - a big difference. And why? Because of the culture that I saw when I worked at a corporate headquarters for seven years: The top people are treated like, and expect to be treated like, Princes in a Medieval fiefdom. It really is another culture in another land. Everyone under them grovels because they know that the potential rewards for sucking up are enormous, and that going out of grace means an enormous fall. But, can't mess with Captitalism ! Why does this remind me so much of the Roman Empire, where all the wealth was truly concentrated in relatively few families, and the rest had to struggle. Gordon Gekko was not right - Greed is not Good.