> > “Most people view it as a ragtag group looking for sex, drugs and rock > ’n’ roll,” said one top hedge fund manager. >
...as opposed to hedge fund managers who already have all the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll other peoples' money can buy. On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 3:25 PM, raghu <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/business/in-private-conversation-wall-street-is-more-critical-of-protesters.html > > ------------------------------------------snip > Publicly, bankers say they understand the anger at Wall Street — but > believe they are misunderstood by the protesters camped on their > doorstep. > > But when they speak privately, it is often a different story. > > > “It’s not a middle-class uprising,” adds another veteran bank > executive. “It’s fringe groups. It’s people who have the time to do > this.” > > As the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have grown and spread to > other cities, an open question is: Do the bankers get it? Their > different worldview speaks volumes about the wide chasms that have > opened over who is to blame for the continuing economic malaise and > what is best for the country. > > Some on Wall Street viewed the protesters with disdain, and a degree > of caution, as hundreds marched through the financial district on > Friday. Others say they feel their pain, but are befuddled about what > they are supposed to do to ease it. A few even feel personally > attacked, and say the Occupy Wall Street protesters who have been in > Zuccotti Park for weeks are just bitter about their own economic fate > and looking for an easy target. If anything, they say, people should > show some gratitude. > > “Who do you think pays the taxes?” said one longtime money manager. > “Financial services are one of the last things we do in this country > and do it well. Let’s embrace it. If you want to keep having jobs > outsourced, keep attacking financial services. This is just > disgruntled people.” > > He added that he was disappointed that members of Congress from New > York, especially Senator Charles E. Schumer and Senator Kirsten > Gillibrand, had not come out swinging for an industry that donates > heavily to their campaigns. “They need to understand who their > constituency is,” he said. > > Generally, bankers dismiss the protesters as gullible and > unsophisticated. Not many are willing to say this out loud, for fear > of drawing public ire — or the masses to their doorsteps. “Anybody who > dismisses them publicly is putting a bull’s-eye on their back,” the > hedge fund manager said. > > John Paulson, the hedge fund titan who made billions in the financial > crisis by betting against the subprime mortgage market, has been the > exception. His Upper East Side home was picketed by demonstrators > earlier this week, but Mr. Paulson offered a full-throated defense of > the Street, even going so far as to defend the tiny sliver of top > earners attacked by the Occupy Wall Street protesters — whose signs > refer to themselves as “the other 99 percent.” > > “The top 1 percent of New Yorkers pay over 40 percent of all income > taxes, providing huge benefits to everyone in our city and state,” he > said in a statement. “Paulson & Company and its employees have paid > hundreds of millions in New York City and New York State taxes in > recent years and have created over 100 high-paying jobs in New York > City since its formation.” > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Sandwichman
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