Billionaire Michael Novogratz Says Rich Worried About Warren Should 'Lighten Up'

[BeyondGeography]

Billionaire Michael Novogratz has a message for his rich friends: Stop worrying so much about Elizabeth Warren.

“You’re not victims, you’re the richest people in the world,” said Novogratz, the former Goldman Sachs partner who’s now investing in cryptocurrency as founder of Galaxy Investment Partners. “How in God’s name do you feel like a victim?”

...“Ninety-seven percent of the people I know in my world are really, really fearful of her,” Novogratz, 54, said in an interview at a benefit for Hudson River Park Friends, of which he’s chairman. “They don’t like her, they’re worried about her, they think she’s anti-rich,” Novogratz said of the senator from Massachusetts. “It’s a little carried away.”

For Novogratz, plans to take from the rich to give to those who are struggling make sense.

“The way the country is functioning today, the bottom 60% aren’t doing well,” said Novogratz, who has supported Democrats in the past. “She’s speaking to that group. She wants to redistribute. Bernie’s a socialist, Elizabeth says she’s a capitalist, she just wants to redistribute more. And I think we’re going to have more redistribution.”

More at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-18/novogratz-says-wealthy-worried-about-warren-should-lighten-up?srnd=premium

[Faux pas]

1. Kickin'

[pwb]

2. Its like they couldn't live on only hundreds of millions .

Sympathy for the rich is over.

[CrispyQ]

3. If the richest people in the country had to pay more in taxes,

they'd still be the riches people in the country.

Saw that on a bumper sticker.

[Texin]

5. Not only that, they need to think about why the French Revolution happened.

Extreme financial inequity has always been the prime factor in political uprisings by the exploited poor. That and political representation who favor the wealthy to the exclusion of the working poor (whose numbers grow exponentially every day). Combine that with corrupt abuses by the ruling party/class, and that's enough to piss off a significant number of people to "take up arms".

[Blue_true]

14. More than the French Revolution.

Add the Russian Revolution, and the justification for fascism.

Income inequality is by far the most dangerous for the super-rich. They can either pay more in taxes and press politicians to use the money wisely, or they can try to hold onto as much as possible and end up with nothing and slaughtered by angry people that have built up resentment toward them.

[iluvtennis]

11. So true. Gotta find that bumpter sticker. nt

[sandensea]

4. Well said, Mr. Novogratz.

I suspect it's not about the money at all - but about the ego.

Most of these people would never miss an extra million or so in taxes - even tens of millions is some cases.

But the idea of being expected to pay anything at all is much too prickly for a lot of those tender egos of theirs.

Their idea of good governance is usually something from the 18th century - if not the Roman Empire. They need to feel like gods among ants, to feel important at all.

Good to see there are exceptions.

[Mr.Bill]

6. In an interview Bill Gates said

the money is just a way of keeping score. How nice. I hope he's having fun with all that winning.

[sandensea]

9. Egomania on parade

I'm glad he at least acknowledged it.

The worst are these self-righteous ones - like the Kochs or Mercers, who think they're waging some kind of holy war; or Blankfein, who thinks it's God work.

Lots of God complexes in that group.

[not fooled]

7. They've been redistributing upwards

for a long time, and now in earnest (see: who benefited from red don's tax scam).

And there's massive socialism for the wealthy and certain classes (see: farmers caught up in red don's trade war)

It's only class warfare when we fight back.

And it's hard to think of a group less deserving of sympathy than the engorged 0.01%, or who should have less input in public policy, especially going forward when we (I hope) begin to rectify decades of policy that benefited the 0.01% at the expense of the rest.

[joost5]

10. +1000 nt

[BeyondGeography]

13. All in the name of "shareholder values"

Wonder why that real increase in income never happens? Try 94 cents of every corporate profit dollar being sucked up by stock buybacks and dividends for the last 15 years. Explanation here:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/26/18744304/ceo-pay-ratio-disclosure-2018

[Hortensis]

8. Simple good sense.

[unblock]

12. if money is redistributed from the waltons to the poor, who does that benefit? wal-mart!

bilionaires who think wealth isn't concentrated enough are not merely greedy, they're *stupid* greedy.

they can't think past step one, their tax rates go up.

step two, the rest of us actually get a little bit of spending money. guess what? we're a-gonna spend it!

step three, businesses profit from that additional spending.

step four, a lot of extra money winds up right back in the pockets of billionaires.


the only difference is now they have to work a bit harder for it, providing more goods and services to (gasp!) poor people.