Wall Street execs are not 'fat cats'

[rpannier]

They are Robber Barons

Interesting that Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressives at the turn of the 19th-20th Century warned us about Monopolies and Corporations that get too powerful.

Yet here we are.

Amazing to think that in the mid-to-late 19th Century and very early 20th Century the Republican Party were the liberals.

[MrModerate]

1. In my world of insults, very little separates . . .

"Fat cats" and "robber barons." What distinction are you drawing?

[rpannier]

4. Robber Barons carries a more negative conotation

Fat Cats is a softer version and can mean someone with a lot of money who doesn't do much of anything -- nothing good or ill.

Robber Barons however carries a more negative connotation in the eyes of many people because there is no way to soft peddle their behavior.

[MrModerate]

16. OK, but there's a kind of swashbuckling connotation to "Robber Baron" . . .

That "fat cats" can't equal. I guess I think of robber barons as more evil, and fat cats as more contemptible.

You pays yer money and you takes yer choice.

[MikeNearMcChord]

2. I would use the word Plutocrats, but in this day of framing

Economic Elitists would sound much better.

[MADem]

3. I was gonna say they're more like obese, hypothyroidic lions...

But Robber Barons works, too.

Your comment about the Republicans is apt. It's important not to become complacent. If they flipped once, they can flip again. And really, unless they want to continue down Hate Road and Greed Avenue, they're going to have to find some way to stay relevant.

We'd do well to stay on guard and on point.

[KittyWampus]

9. still sitting here watching your signature line kitty

LOL!

[MADem]

14. He's a bit hypnotic.

So's this one!

[MilesColtrane]

5. Why parse words?

"Parasitic shit bags" works for me.

[Trajan]

6. I was thinking about the excesses of the 'fat cats' today ...

We hear much where I work about 'value', and whether an activity or purchase is 'value-added' ...

We run a 'Lean Electronics' shop, where Lean, 5S and Six Sigma are all implemented to reduce waste and improve the bottom line as best as possible.

(They are not overly generous with worker wages and compensation, but workers do well enough there to stay)

In any case, I hear nothing about our corporate management going on junkets or expensive retreats, nor do I hear of marvelous office complexes with mahogany panels or guilded fixtures ...

They are lean from top to bottom .... And I appreciate that the top tier also adheres to the same maxims they wish every employee to abide ....

Then: I hear of these different banking organizations, using corporate funds to pay for these expensive retreats, and I wonder : Where is the value added ?

What value is it to stockholders when CEO's and other officers spend profits on richly appointed rooms and extravagant meals, if only to satisfy their own vanities and lusts for the accouterments of wealth ?

These are NOT lean operations, and such expenditures are WASTE ... They are NOT 'value-added', and the stockholders should can any outfit that spends thusly ...

[Greyhound]

17. Additionally, your company produces something whereas banks and financial institutions

only extract. The best model I can think of to compare them to is the Mafia, they sell what they do not own or pay for and demand perpetual profits for doing so.

[ClassWarrior]

7. What's wrong with "criminals?"

:shrug:

NGU.

[tsuki]

8. Sorry, they are not Robber Barons. The original Robber Barons

built something, like US Steel, Pullman Company, Standard Oil.

These guys are Pirates that raid existing companies. They are not builders.

[H2O Man]

10. The term was

originally in reference to those involved in the railroad business.

[Joe Chi Minh]

13. Amost right H2O! How about the Norman upper class in the Middle Ages?

Or maybe the robbery bit was just understood.

[rpannier]

11. Pirates is a good word nt

[MrModerate]

18. Ghouls, perhaps? Cannibals? n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. I've been saying for a while now, they're sharks, not cuddly fat cats - unless

you're a journalist. of course it's a great euphemism for those who received multiple warnings in the Gospels and Epistles. Not to speak of the Old Testament.

[pansypoo53219]

15. swine.

won't say pigs. greedy MBA swine.