The reader just might wonder at what exactly a ‘Wealth Editor’ is/does? Its obvious that part of the job is to construct apologetics for billionaires, as in this essay. As UBS is the ‘source’ for this opinion piece, what will a search of the internet reveal about this financial organization?
Violation Tracker Parent Company Summary
The ‘rap sheet’ of the machinations of this company should give pause to the reader, of this essay, as the list of infractions and fines is not just extensive, but demonstrates a breath-taking pattern of contempt for the law.
This quote from Joseph Stadler demonstrates his function as some times mealy-mouthed apologist and for the .001 %. And then as an enemy of a ‘New Aristocracy’: that partakes fully in Populist rhetoric he finds so reprehensible.
“I am not saying billionaires should be heroes,” said Josef Stadler, head of the ultra-high net worth unit at UBS, the world’s largest private wealth manager. “But at least they should be recognised.”
…
Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Stadler said there was “bias in the media” in reporting on billionaires. “In the talk of inequality, the debate that they are too greedy, that they make too much money on the back of poor people.”
He said: “The data tells me that the debate is one-sided and it’s a pity. There is a natural tendency today to be critical when it comes to wealth accumulation. There is sometimes a fear that there is a new aristocracy coming.”
In the Worlds of both The Financial Times and Mr. Stadler , the as if expresses itself in that Occupy Wall Street and Thomas Piketty and the rhetorical/political triumph of the idea and actuality of ‘inequality’ had never happened. But the political hysteria is cemented in the construct of a New Aristocracy: this notion steeped in the execrable populist rhetoric- that blatant irony lost on both Mr. Stadler and Mr. Wagstyl’ !
The concluding two paragraphs of Stefan Wagstyl’s essay offers the reader proof that a ‘Wealth Editor’ is the highfalutin term, for a not very sophisticated apologizer for Plutocrats. Wagstly is a political/economic Panglossian.
Coming at a time when capitalism faces heavy criticism in the US and Europe, the report presents a stout defence of the world’s top wealth creators in applying “new technologies and business models to change entire industries”.
The authors argue that, while billionaires enrich themselves, they benefit the rest of society by generating jobs, creating wealth for others, including many employees, and paying tax.
Note that the photograph that accompanies this essay is of billionaire and Jeff Bezos. Who is an unapologetic, even an enthusiastic operative of the American National Security State.
Old Socialist
https://www.ft.com/content/a897387c-0222-11ea-b7bc-f3fa4e77dd47
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