Lloyd Blankfein is the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs who went on CNBC’s appropriately titled Squawk Box yesterday to say contradictory things about things. He covered a range of topics from politics and the disturbing recent losses in the financial markets around the world to his chemo therapy treatments for lymphoma.
Last week, Democrat Bernie Sanders — who has railed about the wealth gap during his presidential campaign — criticized Blankfein for supporting entitlement cuts in order to help balance the federal budget.
Blankfein told CNBC: "I didn't take it personally because we never met."
It’s a good thing he didn’t take it personally because right at that moment he began to take it personally.
But he added that Sanders' attacks on the "billionaire class" and bankers could be dangerous.
“It has the potential to personalize it, it has the potential to be a dangerous moment. Not just for Wall Street not just for the people who are particularly targeted but for anybody who is a little bit out of line,” Blankfein said. “It’s a liability to say I’m going to compromise I’m going to get one millimeter off the extreme position I have and if you do you have to back track and swear to people that you’ll never compromise. It’s just incredible. It’s a moment in history.”
Yup. But listen, everybody, it’s not just Wall Street—it’s anybody who is “a little bit out of line.” Holy shitballs! That’s not a thing. At all. That’s the white collar way of saying something something “political correctness.” He wouldn’t endorse anybody but, regardless of whether you are a Hillary supporter or a Bernie supporter, we all know that Hilary will be the one getting his donations.
In 2012, Blankfein said he was a registered Democrat but a Rockefeller Republican. In 2015, he donated to the campaigns of Republican senators Rob Portman and Roy Blunt, but in 2008 he endorsed and raised money for Clinton's failed presidential bid. His wife Laura has donated the $2,700 maximum to Clinton's 2016 campaign.
Being a “registered Democrat but a Rockefeller Republican” is a nice way of saying you are a rich person (or aspire to be said rich person). Seriously, the only person “out of line” right now is Bernie Sanders. The fact remains, the one percent of the one percent are at a point of no return. They either believe they are going to live forever or fly off in a space ship while they watch the Earth burn up. Unfortunately for people like Blankfein, it’s more likely they will end up on their front yard during a mob’s bonfire of their possessions.