Sam Zell Defends the 1%

Sam Zell, real estate developer and so forth, is on Bloomberg TV, In the Loop with Betty Liu on Wednesday.  And she said, "Let me ask you about Tom Perkins, because you're part of the 1%.  How did you feel when you read that letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal he wrote, and when you heard his comments?" 

Tom Perkins one of the founders of Kleiner Perkins, the venture capital firm wrote a letter to the editor in the Saturday Wall Street Journal.  He said that the incessant attacks on the 1% in this country -- and he was addressing specifically in San Francisco -- are the equivalent of Kristallnacht, which was the beginning, as you know, of Hitler's Final Solution.

ZELL:  I guess my feeling is that he's right.  The, quote, 1% are being pummeled because it's politically convenient to do.  The problem is that the world and this country should not talk about envy of the 1%.  It should talk about emulating the 1%.  The 1% work harder --

Betty Liu said, "But Sam, but Sam, to the person who's on minimum wage, who's living below the poverty line."  See? "To the person who's on minimum wage and living below the poverty line, they should try to emulate the 1%.  How are they gonna do that, Sam, how are they gonna do it?"

ZELL:  Lots of people have come from nowhere and become part of the 1%.  The politics of envy, the politics of class warfare are what have separated America from many parts of the rest of the world, and we have benefited dramatically from not having class warfare, from not having envy.  William Jennings Bryan in 1896 was the first person to run publicly in the United States on a platform of class warfare.  He lost.  And wisdom at the time said, "This is not America."  And I think it still is not America.  I guess my feeling is that he's right.  The, quote, 1% are being pummeled because it's politically convenient to do.  The problem is that the world and this country should not talk about envy of the 1%.  It should talk about emulating the 1%.  The 1% work harder --


CAROL COSTELLO CNN REPORTING ON THIS:  (she replays the video of this interview) The 1% simply work harder and the rest of us are simply envious of Mr. Zell's incredible wealth.  Seriously?  Mr. Zell worked harder than a single mother working two jobs?  Mr. Zell talks about envying the 1%.  It's not envying all the money they have.  It's sort of like lower middle-class people probably don't really respect the rich because they think the system is rigged against them. It's not that they're envious of all this money that wealthy people have.

They want to be like them.  The point is, if you're gonna have examples for people to follow, there's nothing wrong with following the example of people who got there by hard work.  But the left eschews that, impugns that, and trashes that and instead says that's a hopeless route 'cause the game's rigged just like Carol said. You can't get there with hard work because they didn't get there with hard work.  They got there by cheating. They got there with connections.  The only way to get where you're gonna get is to let government get you there, is what they believe.  It's sick, folks, and that's why liberalism is destroying people's futures and taking away, stripping away their human dignity.

from Rush Limbaugh dot com