They always say that a broken clock is right at least twice a day. Well we have another example. Bill Gross who is the CEO of the massive financial firm PIMCO and manages one of its largests funds, a noted commentator on financial matters, and whose occupation is to make money out of money may have seen the light in a letter he has written to his investors.
For a full read of his letter click the link below. You can also read a good write up on the huffingtonpost as well.
http://www.pimco.com/...
And yes he titles it Scrooge McDucks to play off of the colorful Disney character who takes pride in his wealth, but does have a bit of a heart for his nephew Donald.
I know some may look at this with a sceptics point of view and would be totally justified in doing so, but sometimes we have to hit the bottom before we can start the road to recovery.
But here are my takes on his views
I now find my intellectual leanings shifting to the plight of labor. I often tell my wife Sue it’s probably a Kennedy-esque type of phenomenon. Having gotten rich at the expense of labor, the guilt sets in and I begin to feel sorry for the less well-off, writing very public Investment Outlooks that “dis” the success that provided me the soapbox in the first place.
I know reading this may might induce some severe vommitting because of the self righteousness of those on high looking down upon us little people, let them eat cake for all we care, he does make a stretch of a comparison with a nod to Kennedy but in reading about the Kennedy's as JFK campaigned, they knew they were rich, accepted that they were rich, admitted to others they were rich, but still went out of thier way to engage in public service to help those less fortunate. But as I said before maybe he needs to see the bottom before he gets back up.
We continue on,
Still, I would ask the Scrooge McDucks of the world who so vehemently criticize what they consider to be counterproductive, even crippling taxation of the wealthy in the midst of historically high corporate profits and personal income, to consider this: Instead of approaching the tax reform argument from the standpoint of what an enormous percentage of the overall income taxes the top 1% pay, consider how much of the national income you’ve been privileged to make.
BOLDING MY OWN
I see this as a bit of a diplomat telling someone to go to hell in such a way as they enjoy the trip. Yes you pay taxes and it may be a lot, but consider the fact that you have had it pretty good in regards to corporate and personal wealth so why don't you shut up over the fact that you might not have really earned this from YOUR HARD WORK but through ways that you did not deserve and that others may not have had a chance at. Notice his use of the term privileged and not earned.
Still he writes on,
Admit that you, and I and others in the magnificent “1%” grew up in a gilded age of credit, where those who borrowed money or charged fees on expanding financial assets had a much better chance of making it to the big tent than those who used their hands for a living. Yes I know many of you money people worked hard as did I, and you survived and prospered where others did not. A fair economic system should always allow for an opportunity to succeed. Congratulations. Smoke that cigar, enjoy that Chateau Lafite 1989.
In short, shut up and appreciate the fact that you have money you really didn't have to work at while someone who has done a whole lot more with thier life then you have doesn't seem to be enjoying the fruits of thier labor. Has he found his inner progressive fighter, read on my friends.
But (mostly you guys) acknowledge your good fortune at having been born in the ‘40s, ‘50s or ‘60s, entering the male-dominated workforce 25 years later, and having had the privilege of riding a credit wave and a credit boom for the past three decades. You did not, as President Obama averred, “build that,” you did not create that wave. You rode it. And now it’s time to kick out and share some of your good fortune by paying higher taxes or reforming them to favor economic growth and labor, as opposed to corporate profits and individual gazillions. You’ll still be able to attend those charity galas and demonstrate your benevolence and philanthropic character to your admiring public. You’ll just have to write a little bit smaller check.
BOLDING MY OWN
Notice a little sword into the back here. Reference to a supposed turning point where the pundits thought that Obama stumbled with this but the GOP did everything possible to prove him right. Here Gross acknowledges what many on this site had been saying for years, you didn't really earn all that on your own, you had help so lets payback those that did help us. Plus in the words of Abigail Adams he did "remember the ladies" in pointing out the worst kept secret of the financial industry being a man's world for the longest time.
Gross also goes on to take down the corporate world for growing based on cutting which can only go for so long and can't go on forever.
Has our prosperity been based on money printing, credit expansion and cost cutting, instead of honest-to-goodness investment in the real economy?
I think here he reaches his inner progressive but I think libertarians would also find favor in this rugged indiviualism that they like to promote. We as an individual should earn the results of the hard work we have put in and Gross goes on, he uses charts as well so NERD ALERT, to take down the 1% for earning a whole hell of a lot by doing a whole lot of nothing.
The simple answer is that long-term growth for each company, and for all countries, depends not on balance sheet alchemy and financial wizardry, but investment and the ultimate demand for a company or a country’s “products.”
Anyone with basic business knowledge knows that, unless you are a GOP, but I digress.
To conclude I let Mr. Gross finish off with what the Kos community has been saying for ever and ever,
If you’re in the privileged 1%, you should be paddling right alongside and willing to support higher taxes on carried interest, and certainly capital gains readjusted to existing marginal income tax rates. Stanley Druckenmiller and Warren Buffett have recently advocated similar proposals. The era of taxing “capital” at lower rates than “labor” should now end.
I await the comments below