If you want an example of why the world’s rich are in deep trouble then look no further that today’s repulsive AFR Rich List write-up:
It is Saturday night in late April at the luxurious Mar-a-Lago resort in the billionaires’ playground of West Palm Beach, Florida. Inside the dining room – a faithful replica of that in the 15th-century Palazzo Chigi in Rome – the 50 or so formally dressed guests have risen from their tables to applaud the President of the United States as he arrives for his 8.15pm dinner appointment.
Donald Trump pauses at the door and momentarily soaks in the applause before waving and calling out “enjoy your dinner!” to the gathering of super rich and Florida elite. The President then strides purposefully towards Anthony Pratt, who has been given a table directly next to his, and says without hesitation: “Anthony, great to see you and thanks for the ad!”
The ad was a full-page advertisement placed in The Wall Street Journal that same day headlined with the words “Making good on our pledge” and “Creating jobs in the Midwest”. Next to a photo of Pratt leaning in towards the camera, along with his signature, the accompanying text sets out how, in 2017, Pratt Industries pledged to invest $US2 billion to create 5000 manufacturing jobs in the United States. “And today, we are breaking ground on a billion-dollar investment in a new paper mill and box factory in Wapakoneta, Ohio,” it reads, with more box factories planned for Indiana and Pennsylvania. Pratt supports Trump more than most, and he does so in a very outward manner.
…Over dinner featuring Chilean sea bass and meat loaf, the latter following the recipe of Trump’s late mother, Mary, Pratt sets out why he believes Trump will win the next US presidential election, due in November 2020.
What, no lark’s tongue pie? No cigars freshly rolled between the thighs of Cuban virgins?
This scene is not something to be celebrated. It is the excesses of an oligarchy that is destroying liberal capitalism before our very eyes. A court of oligarchs doing deals that compromise the public interest not lift it via markets, innovation and competition.
This is everything that the AFR has become and should not be. Every journalist should be forced to read Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments not Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.
If it had an ounce of self-regard the AFR would scrap the Rich List hence and launch the Disrupter 100 instead.
