“I live near Wall Street. The sense of entitlement is beyond quantification,” [Jeffrey] Sachs said. “They could not figure out why anyone might be mad at them for having nearly destroyed the world economy, taken home $30 billion a year of bonuses, gotten bailed out to the tune of another trillion dollars and then lobbied for no regulation afterwards. ‘What do those kids have against us?’ I don’t think they were kidding except themselves. I think they don’t get it.”
April 13th, 2012 at 8:08AM
this is why it’s wrong to think of such attitudes in terms of denial, it’s worse than that as they literally cannot see what the problem is.
April 13th, 2012 at 1:50PM
Sanctimonious Sachs once again makes it up and phones it in.
April 13th, 2012 at 1:52PM
I agree he’s sanctimonious, but there’s no indication that he’s making anything up.
April 13th, 2012 at 8:42PM
“having nearly destroyed the world economy”…I would say that they (Wall Street) had plenty of help…for example, the US real estate industry, which–aided and abetted by the vast majority of the media–encouraged people to think that home prices could go up 10%/year forever. For example, individuals who chose to believe these fantasies and bought houses they couldn’t possibly afford, because they *wanted* it to be true. And let’s not forget those not-quite-private-not-quite-public organizations Fannie and Freddie. Also, spare a thought for the B-schools, which have encouraged the belief that business is more science and less art than is actually the case…an intellectual climate which surely had much to do with the readiness to believe the mathematical models forecasting safe repayment of bundled mortgage obligations.
And “world economy” involves countries other than the US. How about, for starters, the governing class in Greece, which purchased electoral favor by things like classifying *hairdressing* as a “hazardous occupation” deserving of early retirement at high pensions.
“Wall Street nearly destroyed the world economy” is pretty simplistic. And while there are certainly quite a few entitled jerks on Wall Street, I guarantee you can also find some pretty amazing levels of arrogance in government and its surrounding “policy” nonprofits and international organizations.