This may be just the first in a continuing series based on the time I
have available and on the availability of suitable candidates—I imagine
that the second condition will be a lot easier to meet. It is written in
the spirit of Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” awards that
he hands out on a fairly regular basis on his MSNBC cable show. As you
can imagine, Bill O’Reilly is a multiple recipient. My approach will be
somewhat different. I am far more interested in highlighting the sins of
the super-rich, who are after all the ones who pay the piper. I should
add that Ira Renner received “The Awful Truth” award of the year in 1999
from Michael Moore (more below), so in a sense I am following in both of
their footsteps.
As some of you will recall, I have referred to the Real Estate section
of the weekly New York Observer as a kind of scandal sheet in which
various shady characters are reported as buying or selling hugely
expensive apartments. This included Jack Barnes and Mary-Alice Waters,
the two leaders of the Socialist Workers Party, who sold a loft near
party headquarters in the West Village last year for nearly 2 million
dollars. The article was titled “Communists Capitalize on Village
Sale—Get $1.87 M. for Loft”.
Earlier this month, Max Abelson, the Observer’s real estate reporter
scooped the Barnes and Waters transaction, reported on another big sale
(”Big Deal! Big-Hearted Baron Ira Rennert Buys Daughters Spreads in 740
Park, 778 Park for $60 M.-Plus“)
Brooklyn-born Ira Rennert has an oceanic $185 million Hamptons
compound, a few infamous smelting plants in Peru and Missouri, and a
billion-dollar fortune from junk bonds and Hummer vehicles.
He also has something of a generous streak: Two sources told The
Observer that Mr. Rennert has bought two of New York’s most expensive
apartments, at two of the best-bred co-op buildings, for his two daughters…
Mr. Rennert, meanwhile, has his own multiunit spread nearby at 625
Park Avenue, plus his 63-acre oceanfront property—“the largest home in
America,” The New York Times wrote in 1998. He’s also been known for a
different kind of excess: According to a 2003 BusinessWeek article, the
E.P.A. has ranked his Renco Group—a conglomerate based on mining and
smelting—as the country’s 10th-biggest polluter.
The news that this scumbag is buying 60 million dollars worth of
apartments for his useless offspring goes hand in hand with the fact
that his corporation is the country’s 10th biggest polluter. With one he
poisons the air and water and with the other helps turn Manhattan into a
theme park for Eurotrash and hedge fund managers.
full:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/captalist-pig-of-the-month/
- [PEN-L] Capitalist pig of the month Louis Proyect
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