Misdirected Propaganda
Interactive Brokers CEO - Thomas Peterffy
Billionaire Thomas Peterffy is spending millions on television ads
this election season with one cautionary message: Avoid socialism.
"As a young boy, I was fantasizing about one day going to America, making a success of myself. The Americ
an Dream," he says.
Peterffy left his country and moved to New York in 1965,
where-without knowing English–he got a computer programming job on Wall
Street. He later purchased his own seat on the American Stock Exchange
in 1977 and, fast forward a few years, found himself the creator of
Interactive Brokers, one of the first electronic trading firms.
Forbes Magazine now estimates Peterffy, 68, has a net worth of $4.6 billion.
Commentary by Mac Ambo
10/11/12
Peterffy is a billionaire, whose standard of living for the past 40
of his 68 years hasn't come close to that of average people much less
those near, on or under the poverty level. He is out of touch with the
reality that too many people face in America today. His best
recollections of his meager days in Hungary don't factor in the modern
day realities - where, at that time - America WAS a true beacon of hope
and opportunity. The "dream" could ignite a determined motivation to
succeed. And success was possible, many times - by just "showing up" and
maintaining discipline - the "sticktoitiveness of persistence" paid
off. And that's where he loses me.
Present day America is a stripped down, bare shelved, debt ridden and
rusting warehouse of outsourced production which no longer closely
resembles a place where the atmosphere beckons opportunists and the
common man - willing to work hard, offering a healthy vibrant growing
economy, rewarding wealth for the effort - unless - they have capital or
access to capital. Try and borrow from a bank these days. At rates as
low as 1%, the only people banks are interested in are those entities,
be it people or companies who don't need to borrow, but prefer to use
OPM (other peoples money) to finance their ventures. The incentive to lend Average Joe just
isn't there - banks won't take the risk.
There is no shortage of people in America wanting to better
themselves. The $1 trillion dollar student debt proves it. But defaults
on student loans prove also - that there aren't enough job opportunities
to match the demand. With the Fed printing money at an insane rate,
seeking to forestall the inevitable financial collapse, buying power is
being reduced greatly, forcing people to adopt a lower standard of
living as each day passes.
So, here is a situation in which people are having forced upon them,
conditions - where it will soon come down to the basic survivability of a
people - a bleak way of life, but food shelter and clothing are most
important and necessary, by whatever means.
And that, Mr. Peterffy is the new, soon to be faced reality of
America. Your ads might be better aimed at Congress, Ben Bernanke and
the Fed, and even your own candidate - Mr. Romney, the right half of the
unimocracy - as well as Obama, the left half. Aim it at the globalists,
the corporatists, your Wall Street friends and the warmongers. Leave
the average American alone, unless you have some definite solutions to
share - solutions that work. So far, your message is pure propaganda, by
someone who has turned - long ago from that hopeful little boy in
Hungary into one of the elitists, wanting for nothing, and whose message
does not apply. Had you not succeeded in America, during a time of
robust economic growth - you might have a different understanding today.
Even then, the odds only favor a few. The game is rigged that way.
