Entitlement.

Sounds a lot like this:

“No offense to Middle America, but if someone went to Columbia or Wharton, [even if] their company is a fumbling, mismanaged bank, why should they all of a sudden be paid the same as the guy down the block who delivers restaurant supplies for Sysco out of a huge, shiny truck?” e-mails an irate Citigroup executive to a colleague.

And

“I’m not giving to charity this year!” one hedge-fund analyst shouts into the phone, when I ask about Obama’s planned tax increases. “When people ask me for money, I tell them, ‘If you want me to give you money, send a letter to my senator asking for my taxes to be lowered.’ I feel so much less generous right now. If I have to adopt twenty poor families, I want a thank-you note and an update on their lives. At least Sally Struthers gives you an update.”

And

“We’re in a hypercapitalistic society. No one complains when Julia Roberts pulls down $25 million per movie or A-Rod has a $300 million guarantee. We have ex-presidents who cash in on their presidencies. Our whole moral compass has shifted about what’s acceptable or not acceptable. Honestly, you can pick on Wall Street all you want, I don’t think it’s fair. It’s fair to say you ran your companies into the ground, your risk management is flawed—that is perfectly legitimate. You can lay criticism on GM or others. But I don’t think it’s fair to say Wall Street is paid too much.”

And

“You can’t live in New York and have kids and send them to school on $75,000,” he continues. “And you have the Obama administration suggesting that. That was a very populist thing that Obama said. He’s being disingenuous. He knows that you can’t live in New York on $75,000.”

Not much comment is necessary. These quotes – from unidentified sources, of course – speak for themselves. But the laid-off JPMorgan vice-president responsible for the third quote has clearly never listened to sports talk radio before.

And to address that last point, hilzoy astutely notes that the median family income in New York was $52,871 in 2007. That suggests that an awful lot of people in New York are living – or dying – in squalor. Like more than half of them. Or they’re zombies. Either way, it’s probably true on some level.

Meh. I can’t wait for some of these people to disappear into Galt’s Gulch.

x-posted from here.

Joel

Joel Anderson —blackink —  writes about sports, politics, crime, courts, and other issues far beyond his competence at BuzzFeed. He has worked at media outlets in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Atlanta and contributed to a number of publications, including The Root and The American Prospect, among many others.

Latest posts by Joel (see all)

  • I’m finding that the philosophy of Ayn Rand is a big problem. There are a lot of people who simply think they are entitled.

  • Grump

    “No offense to Middle America…”?

    Muthafucka, f’rill? The lack of accountability and responisibility on there part is hurting to read.

  • michaelTO61

    I read the original article and all of the comments. These people put their individual self first. They are a pure example of unpatriotic. The lack of shame is overwhelming to me. What’s gobsmacking is that these folks didn’t DO anything. They create nothing. They contribute nothing. And if they were making so much effing money when the market was good why are they pleading poverty now? I’d a thunk that if they were any good with money they’d have some savings put aside for retirement. But why expect someone who effed up the monies of the entire nation to have the ability to manage their own personal wealth. They need to just die.

  • Kia

    These people aren’t surprising but I still read that article along with this http://www.portfolio.com/executives/2009/04/21/Confessions-of-a-Bailout-CEO-Wife despite the fact that I knew it would involve a lot of head shaking on my part.

  • quadmoniker

    Yeah, the fact that they apparently didn’t save for this rainy day is what they implicitly accuse the people of “Middle America” of doing. This reminds me of a conversation I overheard two bankers having in New York one night, in which they basically implied that they deserved the money because they worked hard and lazy Americans with a “9 to 5” mentality didn’t understand that. I wanted to be like, motherfucker, too bad you didn’t cart that jacuzzi tub into your own damn house, or ever wade knee deep through shit in a crawl space to fix a leak, like my plumber dad did. Work hard? Fuckers.

  • Big Word

    The disconnect on the part of that housewife is maddening. She laments having to cut back on parties, eating out, and being seen buying super expensive presents as if that is somehow comparable to being upside on your mortgage.