NY Times: How DARE Anyone Make Money!

The New York Times today has a head-scratching editorial denouncing the hedge fund managers. Why? It turns out that some hedge funds are profitable, and when people are out of work, well, profits are evil and should be taxed away. Don’t take my word for it; read this:

Debate is endless about the role of hedge funds, largely unregulated investment pools for institutional and wealthy investors. What is not disputable is that the funds’ profits are bound up with a defective financial system that has fostered booms, busts and bailouts.

The day after the hedge fund results were released, the government reported that unemployment was stuck at 9.7 percent, with 15 million Americans out of work. For most people with a job, average earnings fell by 2 cents an hour in March, to $18.90. To add insult to injury, some hedge fund managers and, more commonly, private equity fund managers are able to pay a much lower rate of tax than the typical working professional.

Notice that the NY Slimes is griping over tax rates, not the actual amount of taxes these people pay. If you want to understand why we are not going to have a real recovery and are going to have double-digit unemployment well into the horizon, continue to understand that our masters in Washington are taking instructions from these economic illiterates.

The entire editorial is full of this envy. It never occurs to the writers at the Slimes that we need to have profitable industries. Instead, if someone is making money, then that person is demonized by the Slimes and the Political Classes and immediately a movement starts to take away the profits. Now, I understand that there are issues on Wall Street and all that, and my point is not with the hedge funds in particular, but rather the Slimes’ hysterical approach to any industry today that is profitable.

According to these bozos, profits are the cause of unemployment. They really believe this nonsense.

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3:11 pm on April 4, 2010