Are the one percent ready to defend their wealth? That question formed the premise of Max Abelson’s art project Bloomberg piece, in which he tried to goad monied men (mostly of the geriatric variety) into telling the masses to back off and leave them alone. Abelson collected some good quotes out of this exercise!
For instance, bank executive John A. Allison IV told Abelson, as if in parody, that “it still feels lonely” at the top (or, as he puts it, among the “very productive.”) Billionaire Tom Golisano was more evocative in his language: “If I hear a politician use the term ‘paying your fair share’ one more time, I’m going to vomit.” Home Depot Ken Langone reclaimed certain terms that have been used to oppress his people: “I am a fat cat, I’m not ashamed. If you mean by fat cat that I’ve succeeded, yeah, then I’m a fat cat. I stand guilty of being a fat cat.” Another Home Depot co-founder, 82-year-old Bernard Marcus said, regarding possible targeting from Occupy Wall Street protestors, the only thing to do was approach the whole thing with Zenlike calm. “Who gives a crap about some imbecile? Are you kidding me?”
