Thin-skinned plutocrats: They tanked the economy but still want deference
May 26, 2012 12:02 am
By Paul Krugman
In the wake of a devastating financial crisis, President Barack Obama has enacted some modest and obviously needed regulation; he has proposed closing a few outrageous tax loopholes; and he has suggested that Mitt Romney's history of buying and selling companies, often firing workers and gutting their pensions along the way, doesn't make him the right man to run America's economy.
Wall Street has responded -- predictably, I suppose -- by whining and throwing temper tantrums. And it has, in a way, been funny to see how childish and thin-skinned the Masters of the Universe turn out to be. Remember when Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group compared a proposal to limit his tax breaks to Hitler's invasion of Poland? Remember when Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase characterized any discussion of income inequality as an attack on the very notion of success?
But here's the thing: If Wall Streeters are spoiled brats, they are spoiled brats with immense power and wealth at their disposal. And what they're trying to do with that power and wealth right now is buy themselves not just policies that serve their interests, but immunity from criticism ...
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/paul-krugman-thin-skinned-plutocrats-they-tanked-the-economy-but-still-want-deference-637589/