But, on the new front, I did decide to finally check out a Web site called Politico. I don’t really understand this site, nor do I have much interest in understanding it. People who are “with Politico” show up on television almost as often as that blonde actress who keeps bouncing in and out of rehab, and that alone diminishes any interest I may have had, which isn’t much to begin with. It seems to me, in a very simplistic way, that these people – Tina Brown, Ms. Huffington, the Fox News people, all of them – are just blathering at one another.
But I did find an interesting piece on the site regarding money. It seems that in spite of the billions of public dollars that have been stuffed into their stockings, the big boys on Wall Street are mad at Obama because he hurt their feelings. The piece was so full of outrageous observations that reading it was almost as titillating as watching porn.
And here, if you will, is the money shot: Brad Hintz used to be the CFO of Lehman Brothers, and according to him, “…the 2009 vilification of the entire financial-services industry by the political powers went beyond the pale and struck at the self-image of the leaders of Wall Street.” Like all money shots, it only got better. “Remember,” he goes on, “Wall Street is dominated by Ivy-League-educated bankers who studied liberal arts at good schools, read the right papers and magazines, donated to good causes, advised their employees to perform community service, counseled their partners to live understated lifestyles, voted for the ‘right’ candidates and who live in populist suburbs of liberal blue states. It’s not the oil industry.”
Two things on that bit of pricelessness. First, does the term “populist suburb” qualify as an oxymoron? If it doesn’t, it should. And second, isn’t quoting the CFO of Lehman Brothers – Lehman Brothers! – almost as vaudevillian as quoting the director of employee health and wellbeing at Phillip Morris?
So here’s a more realistic gem from the piece, courtesy of an anonymous source, referenced as an executive at a “top bank,” who says Wall Street’s disdain for Obama is mostly personal. “He raised money from us. Then he started calling us bad people. So forgive us for not wanting to buy him a drink after getting punched in the eye.” Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder if the terms “a drink” and “an election” are interchangeable in this particular cry baby’s vocabulary, and whether or not “punched in the eye” is Wall Street code, maybe learned in liberal arts classes at Ivy League colleges, for having your bonus trimmed down from $12 million to a mere $4.5 million, but I have to give him credit for being honest.
If you need a good laugh, and if your stomach is strong, here’s the piece in its entirety for your reading pleasure.
