Listen to the fear in this man's words. Small wonder the Occupy movement was treated as terrorism; they were truly frightened.
Quote: Venture capitalist Tom Perkins compared liberals' push to reduce inequality in the United States to Nazi Germany's war on Jews.
In a letter to the editor published in The Wall Street Journal Perkins, a founding member of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, asks whether a "progressive Kristallnacht" is coming. Perkins's letter is in response to an editorial on speech codes at American colleges.
"Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich," Perkins wrote in the letter to the editor.
He continued that he perceives "a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them."
Perkins cites outrage over real-estate prices as an example of overblown liberal outrage.
"This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent "progressive" radicalism unthinkable now?" Perkins concluded in the letter.
Perkins is listed as a partner emeritus on the Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers website.
This post was updated.
Read the full letter to the editor below:
Regarding your editorial "Censors on Campus" (Jan. 18): Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich." From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these "techno geeks" can pay. We have, for example, libelous and cruel attacks in the Chronicle on our number-one celebrity, the author Danielle Steel, alleging that she is a "snob" despite the millions she has spent on our city's homeless and mentally ill over the past decades.
This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent "progressive" radicalism unthinkable now?
Tom Perkins
San Francisco
Mr. Perkins is a founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
"We'll know our disinformation campaign is complete when everything the American public believes is false." --William J. Casey, D.C.I
"We will lead every revolution against us." --Theodore Herzl
This, for me, is a reactive response to his wealth.
It has often occurred to me that the truly rich and powerful often do spend a great deal more of their time suffering from paranoid fears and other psychosis, because deep down they realise that the inequality they represent and propagate, is a betrayal of their own inner-selves. That is why, I think, that many of them go on to found and fund charities to aid the poor - as a salve to their conscience.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Josh Marshall @ TPM says the Kristalnacht guy is actually quite typical. His inner censor just quit on him:
Quote:...Put it all together and you get the climate in which someone like Perkins writes something as ridiculous as he did. As I said up top, his Holocaust analogy is so hyperbolic and ridiculous that he's getting dumped on by almost everyone. But we miss the point if we see this in isolation or just the rant of one out-of-touch douchebag. It is pervasive. The disconnect between perception and reality, among such a powerful segment of the population, is in itself dangerous. And it's led to what I would call a significant radicalization of the politics of extreme wealth. My evidence for this is only anecdotal. But it's come up in conversations I've had with many business reporters who cover these folks on a daily basis.
We take it more or less rightly as a given that people in finance will have generally right-leaning politics - low taxes, tight money, lax regulatory regimes. Basically traditional money Republicanism. But over the last few years (since 2008), I think there's been a pretty dramatic growth in what we'd call Tea Party politics in that set - extreme conservatism that goes beyond hands off fiscal and regulatory policy, the kind of feverish mindset in which you could write with a straight face that progressives might be building toward some sort of mass wealth confiscation or internment or even extermination for the likes of Tom Perkins.
"We'll know our disinformation campaign is complete when everything the American public believes is false." --William J. Casey, D.C.I
"We will lead every revolution against us." --Theodore Herzl
[PERKINS:] I don't feel personally threatened, but I think a very important part of America, the creative 1 percent, are threatened. I think [the] rich as a class are threatened by higher taxes and higher regulation
So there you have it; Perkins transgressed the unwritten law: You never talk about class in America, because that would be "class warfare."
Go here to see Kristalnacht Guy's watch retailing for only $380,000. But hey, some of those watches go for over $2 million.
"We'll know our disinformation campaign is complete when everything the American public believes is false." --William J. Casey, D.C.I
"We will lead every revolution against us." --Theodore Herzl
[PERKINS:] I don't feel personally threatened, but I think a very important part of America, the creative 1 percent, are threatened. I think [the] rich as a class are threatened by higher taxes and higher regulation
So there you have it; Perkins transgressed the unwritten law: You never talk about class in America, because that would be "class warfare."
Go here to see Kristalnacht Guy's watch retailing for only $380,000. But hey, some of those watches go for over $2 million.
The link didn't take me to a watch price Lauren? But I take your point. For these guys, time really IS money...
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
[PERKINS:] I don't feel personally threatened, but I think a very important part of America, the creative 1 percent, are threatened. I think [the] rich as a class are threatened by higher taxes and higher regulation
So there you have it; Perkins transgressed the unwritten law: You never talk about class in America, because that would be "class warfare."
Go here to see Kristalnacht Guy's watch retailing for only $380,000. But hey, some of those watches go for over $2 million.
The link didn't take me to a watch price Lauren? But I take your point. For these guys, time really IS money...
Indeed the 'c' word is really taboo. That's reason enough to say it loudly and often. Like you have no class.
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"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
America's neo-right has an annoying habit of blaming others for what they are guilty of. Bush wages outright military national socialism that even the Germans say is right out of Hitler's play book and Obama takes the rap for being a Nazi. And JFK was labeled a pro-Viet Nam war hawk etc. Those poor victims who looted the middle class...
Albert Doyle Wrote:America's neo-right has an annoying habit of blaming others for what they are guilty of. Bush wages outright military national socialism that even the Germans say is right out of Hitler's play book and Obama takes the rap for being a Nazi. And JFK was labeled a pro-Viet Nam war hawk etc. Those poor victims who looted the middle class...
True enough, Albert, but it is more than a bad habit. As Strether said, it is about class and using that word should be in our vocabulary.
If you liked Kristalnacht Guy, get a load of Fairy Dust Guy, Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, from his Daily Show interview.
Quote:It's socialism that creates, you know, scarcity, that creates famine. In a free market, there's plenty of food for everybody especially the poor.
"We'll know our disinformation campaign is complete when everything the American public believes is false." --William J. Casey, D.C.I
"We will lead every revolution against us." --Theodore Herzl
Quote:"There's a law in economics, supply and demand, that you learn in Econ 101, and if you increase the price of something, you decrease the demand,"
Which, of course, doesn't apply to the fat-gutted surplus of boom market millionaires, overpaid CEO's, and glutted war criminal military and their budgets. If you put the right wedges in and stick with them you can drive a Constitutional democracy down into a Brazilian model.
