Monday, May 07, 2012

Tone Deaf Rises to Amazing Levels

The New York Times Sunday showcased a member of the Very Very Rich Class (someone who worked under Romney at Bain) who has written a new book.
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The shear level of asshole-ishness is stupendous.
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I was tried to read it, but couldn't' make it through the first column in a multi-page story.
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He starts by setting out his argument that the Very Very Rich are necessary because they build big houses that employee people.  AND they invest some of their money into technology.  And if they Super-Rich didn't do this there would be no innovation.
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Which ignores University Research, Start up research with Bain's money (ie.Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft) as well as Corporate Research (IBM, Xerox, etc.).
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Then he launches into the cause of the financial collapse - as told by revisionist Bain Money Men.  Seriously, his response is that sub-prime mortgages, complex derivatives, and wealth houses who sold securities as great investments and then bet against them were not at fault.  Not even marginally at fault.  Not even partly at fault. It was a run on the banks.  That is all.
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He points out that " “A lot of people don’t realize that what happened in 2008 was nearly identical to what happened in 1929,” he says. “Depositors ran to the bank to withdraw their money only to discover, like the citizens of Bedford Falls” — referring to the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” — “that there was no money in the vault. All that money had been lent.” "  That is what caused the financial meltdown.
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I had to stop reading.  His book comes out soon - with all the lessons he learned at Bain Capital under Mittens.  Although Mitt is only mentioned in the preface - you know he thanks Mittens for everything he knows.