Venture capitalist Tom Perkins has been under fire for several days after he wrote a letter to the editor published by The Wall Street Journal. In his letter he drew parallels between Nazi Storm troopers and San Francisco progressives by arguing:
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.”
The irony that Perkins, who once served as Director of Rupert Murdoch’s propagandizing News Corps, would compare others to Nazis without a hint of irony might be mildly amusing if he was a more likable human being. However, like so many members of the financial elite, he has developed such a powerful sense of entitlement, that he may actually believe the rich are treated unfairly.
Despite the fact that the wealthy are getting richer than ever before. Furthermore, they are being facilitated in accumulating massive wealth by a political system that is now redistributing income upwards. Yet, Perkins still feels rich folks like him are getting the short end of the stick, because progressives want more economic fairness.
Americans do not begrudge success. However, what we do dislike is the egotistical, selfish behavior of some members of the wealthy class. Tom Perkins is a prime example. While he is whining about how mean progressives are to rich guys like him, it should be noted that his narcissistic, self-serving attitude is not merely annoying, but even dangerous.
In 1996, Perkins was convicted of manslaughter in France. He was racing his yacht and it rammed into a small boat, killing a French physician. Despite killing a man, he was only fined and not sentenced to any prison time. The 10,000 dollar fine for a tycoon of his wealth did not even amount to a slap on the wrist. Yet, rather than apologize for his callous behavior, Perkins instead blasted the court by stating:
I was arrested and tried in a foreign court in a language you don’t understand, by judges indifferent – or worse – to justice.
Damn, that French court for trying him for a crime he committed in France and for not speaking English. Don’t they know he is a really rich American entitled to special treatment? How dare they convict him and give him a small fine.
The average working person would be in prison if he committed manslaughter in any country. Yet, Perkins, full of hubris, is unconcerned with the plight of anyone but himself. He races yachts with abandon and a disregard for public safety, because by God he is a man of substantial means and to hell with everybody else.
He is a self-parody of every rich movie villain you can imagine. His egotistical individualism is an ideology that places wealth and self above community. The only thing more galling than the narcissism prevalent within the uber-rich, is that the Republican Party base has adopted a “pity the billionaire” ideology while they mercilessly destroy the social safety net for the unemployed, hungry children, and the working poor. While GOP politicians and the voters who elect them laud the “success” of wealthy “job creators”, few jobs were created. The financial elite who through selfish greed crashed the market in 2008, and through selfish egotism were crashing yachts in 1996, have earned every bit of scorn we can heap upon them. The billionaire whose yacht play killed a man who was simply in the way warrants no pity.
