In general, I like what the new crew at the Monthly is doing these days, but this post from today just falls shy of the mark:
Today, the rich are very impressed with themselves based upon self-perceived merit, not their families of origin. And they thought that Obama, being a fellow meritocrat, would be impressed with them, too. They earned it—just like the president—so, surely, he would admire them, and would never call them fat cats (verbal criticisms stings these guys as much or more than policy proposals that affect their wallets). So, yeah, they thought Obama was like them---and he is, sort of, that’s the funny thing---and now they’re mad he called them out in the pretty minimal way he did. What the hedge funders don’t seem to realize is that, while Obama doesn’t respect them all that much, he respects their meritocratic achievement---and, therefore, his own---just enough not to have the full throated, glib contempt for them that FDR had for his wealthy peer group.
I think Obama's kid-gloves treatment of the private-equity assholes has less to do with his respect for their "merit" than for the fact that he personally prefers the tactics of mediation and conciliation to confrontation and argument. Because, in this case, there is no "meritocracy" to admire.
People who invest other people's money have two basic jobs to do: Manage risk, and allocate capital, in the most efficient and profitable manner. They failed, miserably, on both counts, and Obama bailed them out. The fact that they are not begging to kiss the President's ring only shows how absurdly out of touch with reality they are, and why many of them deserve to be doing prison time, not fundraising for another private-equity guy who would screw every one of them if it promised a big payout for the partners at Bain. But either way, these people bring no achievements of merit to the table---besides being hopelessly corrupt, they're also shitty money managers.
---Vitelius
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