Billionaires Say the Darndest Things About Those Occupy Protesters
Bloomberg Businessweek is getting a lot mileage out of its recent report on what the 1 percent -- it mostly quotes just the millionaires and billionaires -- is saying about the protesters standing up for the interests of the 99 percent. On Wednesday afternoon, Dan Beucke blogged about some choice quotes from the chairmen and chief executives who feel hurt by the sometimes vitriolic statements that Occupy protesters have been slinging their way lately. Our favorite comes from former BB&T chief John A. Allison IV: "Instead of an attack on the 1 percent, let’s call it an attack on the very productive. This attack is destructive." JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon offers a close runner-up: "Acting like everyone who's been successful is bad and because you’re rich you’re bad, I don’t understand it. Sometimes there’s a bad apple, yet we denigrate the whole." It's unclear if either of the executives are kidding. In trying to make sense of the meaning behind the 1 percenters quoteable statements, Buenke concludes:
Still, it's easy to understand why there's a morale-building element to the 1 percenters' lament. It’s no fun getting continuously pounded as a "fat cat," whether you're Cooperman's tennis pals at the St. Andrews Country Club or less lofty bond buyers at JPMorgan Chase. In these tough times, everyone -- at all levels of society -- could use a shot of self esteem. So we’ll end with this photo from Dulce Pinzón’s collection of workplace heros that have "gone unnoticed."
What follows is an amazing picture of a delivery guy wearing a full Superman costume and riding a bicycle in Williamsburg, an eccentric little Brooklyn neighborhood that now has its very own Occupy faction. Their first meeting was in a hipster bar.
