How Much is Enough?

Today I read about the five hedge fund managers and their testimony before Congress. They made a little money, too. Philip Falcone made $1,700,000,000 managing hedge funds that made tons of money for his co-conspirators...err investors. George Soros and Jim Simon made $2,900,000,000 last year managing hedge funds. John Paulson made $3,700,000,000 last year managing hedge funds. Poor little Ken Griffin only managed to bilk us out of a measly $1,500,000,000.

Criminal--absolutely criminal. Is it possible for someone to make this kind of money without somehow ripping off the rest of us? I don't think so. One way or another, they are stealing us all blind. The financial services industry, the media (or the multinational companies that own them), and the politicians are all in bed together, and we're paying the bill--to the tune of $700 billion plus. Watch how much of that $700 billion ends up in the pockets of folks like Falcone, Soros, Simon, Paulson and Griffin. Nice work if you can get it.

Maybe I'm a socialist--or a Marxist--call me whatever you like. I think that income beyond a certain level should be heavily taxed. Surely a few million a year is enough for anyone to live on. If not, you need some budget counseling and I'd be happy to provide it. In fact, I would be more than happy to provide these hedge fund managers with counseling and I wouldn't charge more than $1,000,000--I promise.

Yeah I know. Taxing the rich quashes productivity. I think that's just a line of bull we've been sold. I say give it a shot and we'll see. It might make some of these greedy bastards find a real job creating value for someone other than themselves and their already wealthy co-conspirators. I think they're all sociopaths with absolutely no regard for the rest of us.

I pay my taxes. I pay my bills. I've never borrowed money I couldn't afford to repay. And today, thanks to the hanky panky of these dudes and others like them, I'm watching the value of my retirement portfolio drop a few thousand dollars every day. Totally pisses me off, and just another reason I'm...

The Crotchety Old Man