KEN LANGONE: Today's Populism Reminds Me Of What Hitler Was Saying In 1933
Not so.
In a Politico piece about the super wealthy mobilizing for mid-term elections, billionaire Ken Langone figured the comparison was worth another go.
"I hope it's [the populist strategy] not working," Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and major GOP donor, said of populist political appeals. "Because if you go back to 1933, with different words, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don't survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy."
This isn't the first time that Langone has gone out of his way to attack an idea, person, or institution with liberal leanings, of course. Back in 2011 he said that President Obama was "petulant", a year later he trashed the New York Times for one of its articles on the Wal-Mart bribery scandal.
Most recently, Paul Krugman caught the side of Langone's tongue. Krugman is well known for believing that the federal deficit is not an issue. Langone disagrees, and believes that the government's budget should be cut.
Taxing the rich, he argued, has its limits. Though he does paint a rather scary picture of how the government could turn him and his peers into paupers.
"The thing about 1% like me there's a limit. What's the limit 100% of my income. Unless you say now he's got no income let's go after his assets. We may get there ... The money either comes from taxes or other activities... or a willing and compliant Fed saying how many bars you got? $1 billion? Turn the presses on! This is simple stuff! My problem with the Krugmans of the world is that they're brilliant ... they just may be too brilliant ... Losing weight is not a very scientific endeavor you consume less calories than you burn you lose weight ... so let's stop all this crap with all of these high fallutin' thoughts and ideas. You know what happens to people their eyes glaze over, I don't know what the hell he's saying."
Oh, and there was that time he called former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer a "spoiled kid" - which produced the gif below:
