Communism in NYC

NYC Commies are giving SF Hippies a run for our honest and hard-earned money.

This has gotten beyond ridiculous and would be comical, except it shows the cretinism of today's youth trying to emulate their hippie parents from the 60s. Not in the sense of trying to take down the evil rich white man or stop a pointless war, but in the sense of rallying for causes they choose not to understand. Protesting against whatever is popular purely for that reason, and thinking they are doing the world a service through their "creativity" and "self-expression".
At least they're not calling Iraqi vets baby killers ...yet (but once PE money dies down from the credit crunch, who knows who they'll turn on next).

clipped from www.nytimes.com A Movie and Protesters Single Out Henry Kravis Bells will be ringing, and carolers will be greeting the Upper East Side neighbors of Henry Kravis this morning for a sidewalk screening of the first of a series of short films crusading against private equity firms. Directed by Robert Greenwald, the film starts by tallying Mr. Kravis’s income: “He made $450 million last year,” the narrator says, “which comes out to $1.3 million per day, or $51,369 per hour every hour of every day.” Then it immediately cuts to an interview with Margaret Konjevod, a nurse. What Mr. Kravis makes in an hour, “that’s what I make in a year, if I’m lucky,” she says. Today’s protest is the latest indication that the reaction against the wealth created by private equity funds has become part of a populist communist movement. [You know what we call it when you make everyone’s salary based on need rather than what the free markets deem equilibrium – yes, that’s right, Marxism. You want to really stick it to PE? Tell your pension funds not to invest in them. Sure, you'll forgo all the profits KKR and other firms gives to their investors, but your underdeveloped excuse for a conscience will seem Cristal clear to you while you're drinking 40s out of a dumpster after you retire, pun intended.] Some industry insiders may blanch at his attempt to simplify, or as he would say, “boil down” his message. In one voiceover, private equity is described as a firm that takes over “public companies using primarily borrowed money.” “To pay off this debt,” the film says, “they then sell off assets of the companies, fire thousands of workers and radically cut benefits of the remaining employees. It is the same product, in the same building, with the same customers as before.” Mr. Greenwald said he did not try to interview Mr. Kravis before releasing the film and had not consulted anyone in the industry. He said that he planned to reach out to Mr. Kravis and hoped that he would participate in future productions. He then suggested: “If you don’t participate, the story gets told without you.” [Right, first you smear people with your own un-researched and invented shit, and then, when they rightly choose not to associate with such skewed scum, you claim they're not "participating" - thus giving you a carte blanche to continue your fecal portrait. Michael Moorre better watch out - Greenwald has figured out your movie-magic secrets.]

Greene on the New Princes

My friend sent me this article today by the very lucid Robert Greene writing on Machiavelli (as he often does for a living) in the 21st century. I had to add my own two cents. I highly suggest you read the article first, and then my opinions on it.

clipped from www.powerseductionandwar.com Necessity governs the world. When you feel necessity biting at your heels, you are moved to respond in some way that is creative. It is either that or die. I must constantly create challenges for myself, find some way of feeling limited and pressured, never resting on what I have done in the past. Fortune rewards those who are bold; she is a woman. When I enter a negotiating situation, I always make sure I feel that I can walk away from an offer. Some want to rule, others to be ruled. In Machiavelli's world, people are not victims. Those who suffer under some form of tyranny inevitably have gotten the kind of government they want or deserve. They are unconsciously implicated in the process. No one, in Machiavelli's universe is some passive actor who is acted upon and injured.

Greene elaborates on a principle in his first section that I find absolutely critical in gaining, maintaining and expanding personal success – never feel complacent. If no outward challenges exist then create new ones to maintain your drive. To use the metaphor of a businessman as a shark – if you stop moving forward you die, thus one must find reasons to keep going. The fact that this lucid comparison has such negative connotation in our present society – where children are encouraged to rest on their insignificant laurels, where everyone is “special”, where capitalism is equated to fascism by the ignorant masses, speaks volumes to its laggard nature.

Greene’s discourse on boldness is also poignant, though this negotiating strategy is not novel. In displaying the will to walk away from a deal, a job, a trade, etc. you flex power over whoever sits in front of you. Of course should you find yourself facing another strong-willed individual on the other side of the table he may find this display arrogant, or worse – imminently dangerous to his position and thus seek to undercut you. Having a superior of weaker will than you is thus often useful, so long as you can stay self-motivated.

So far as peasants preferring to be ruled, that’s a sure fact that I’ve observed in depth while growing up in Russia. If more Americans understood this they would be able to see how Putin can govern Russia with a diamond-studded iron fist and still have tremendous support of the people. Ironically, our current complacent culture in America feels that it cannot allow itself to be lead and is thus causing itself tremendous pain and distress – but unwilling to chastise itself rather than its inept leaders and cause change the only way it can occur – through action and pragmatic self-betterment.

Party Like A Rock*

Seriously people, I can't make this ish up.
If you thought forcing a quant to take estrogen at SAC was the fruit-battiest Wall Street got ...well, just wait till you meet Tiger - the gay go-go dancer.

clipped from www.nytimes.com A life of private jets and black-tie balls ended with Seth Tobias, a wealthy investment manager and a familiar presence on CNBC, floating face down in the swimming pool of his mansion [in Palm Beach, FL]. Bill Ash, a former assistant to Mr. Tobias, said he had told the police that Mrs. Tobias confessed to him that she had cajoled her husband into the water while he was on a cocaine binge with a promise of sex with a male go-go dancer known as Tiger. Mr. Ash has a past: he has been arrested at least 11 times on charges ranging from larceny to prostitution; He has been called Mr. Madam because of a past connection he says he had to Heidi Fleiss, the Hollywood Madam [and because he likes going to galas in fancy sequined dresses]. Through her lawyers, Mrs. Tobias refused to comment for this article. In a recent interview with The Palm Beach Post, she said, “I’m broken. I haven’t gone out in six weeks. I’ve been in and out of the hospital. I just pray all day and wonder why people could be so evil.” [If a socialite didn't go out for six whole weeks - you know it's serious. If she just wanted the money she'd clearly be spending it - and not just on hiding the evidence...] Mrs. Tobias spent $9,628 to have the pool drained and resurfaced days after her husband died, according to documents filed in an unrelated case. In court filings, the Tobias brothers invoke Florida’s “slayer statute,” which prohibits inheritance by a person who murders someone from whom they stand to inherit. They claim she “intentionally killed” her husband “by asphyxiation and drowning.” One lawyer representing Mrs. Tobias, Gary Dunkin, said he was shocked by the accusation. “In my 25 years practicing law, this is the most reckless allegation I have ever seen,” he said in court. [Dunkin' has never seen relatives accuse a socialite of murdering her estranged husband for money because he spent most of his 25 years practicing law at Krispy, Dunkin & Happy, which lardly deals only in cases pertaining to deliciousness.] Mrs. Tobias' [other] lawyers, which include her prior husband [with whom she'll share the "legal fees" paid by the husband's estate if she doesn't win], Jay J. Jacknin [aka Triple J, Jizza Jack, and Jack'n J], have asked the court to put off her depositions, citing her “psychiatric condition”. They said she hired contractors to empty the pool because she was distraught over her husband’s death [not going according to plan]. Mr. Tobias never ran with the titans of Wall Street. He was a small player in an industry where successful managers command billions or even tens of billions of dollars [so you can't even imagine what kinda crazy shit goes down at the Cohen and Simons houses]. Mr. Tobias’s life was apparently as volatile as his investment returns. [Mr. & Mrs. Tobias] secretly frequented a gay bar called Cupids in West Palm Beach, in a strip mall along a main thoroughfare. It was there, according to Mr. Ash, that Mr. Tobias first met Tiger. “Seth used to come in here back when it was crazy,” said Adiel Hemingway, the longtime manager of Cupids. As a flat-screen television blared hard-core gay pornography, he said that Mr. Tobias often came to the club with his wife. Hemingway took out a picture of Tiger. Tiger is blond and covered with tattoos that look like stripes. “I know exactly who he is, but I’m not telling you,” Mr. Hemingway said.