Rick Santelli Angrily Storms Off Set

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CNBC analyst Rick Santelli angrily walked off during a segment on this morning’s Squawk Box after throwing the op-ed he was referencing at the camera. Santelli was angry over reports that rich Obama supporters were moving money to avoid tax increases while advocating for fairness.

http://www.mrctv.org/videos/can’t-take-it-anymore-santelli-storms-after-rant-fiscal-cliff

 

The colossal hypocrisy of liberals knows no bounds.

 

Here is what he was talking about...

Democrats suddenly are in love with Costco. Mr. Sinegal, founder of the company, spoke at the Democratic National Convention, and current CEO Craig Jelinek has been an ally of the president during the fiscal-cliff debate. On Thursday, Mr. Sinegal and Mr. Jelinek were visited by Joe Biden, who came by to commemorate the opening of the chain’s first Washington, D.C., store. That is a remarkable thing: The country is on the edge of a fiscal crisis, war is burbling in the Middle East, the president’s hometown is in the grip of a horrific wave of violent crime — and the vice president of these United States is going to Costco ribbon-cuttings.

Beyond getting the Biden treatment, Mr. Sinegal was the subject of a fawning New York Times profile and now has his very own Internet meme, which features his beaming face above the caption: “Costco CEO pays his employees $17/hr on average, plus benefits, earns less than $500K, refuses Wall Street demands to cut employee salaries and benefits.” Almost none of that is true, of course, but it hasn’t stopped the Left from holding up Costco as the ideal progressive alternative to Walmart.
Mr. Sinegal, like many corporate executives, took a relatively small salary, true enough, but received the majority of his multimillion-dollar annual income in equity-based compensation, meaning that he, like Mitt Romney and many a hedge-fund guru, paid 15 percent on most of his money. And while at least one Wall Street analyst has been critical of the firm’s generous compensation for its employees, Wall Street has hardly demanded anything of Costco other than continuation of its very profitable operations. This is partly out of appreciation for the fact that Costco’s customers are relatively wealthy — many are small businesses, and their average income is more than $80,000 a year — and that affluent shoppers have different expectations than do the relatively poor people who shop at Walmart. That’s Costco’s interesting niche: It’s a discount store for rich people, Starbucks to Walmart’s Dunkin Donuts. That strategy has been paying off: Institutional investors such as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway are among Costco’s top shareholders, and Buffett has never been shy about making his demands known to management.


In fact, Buffett’s company, along with Mr. Sinegal, Mr. Jelinek, and other shareholders such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are about to see a big payday from Costco — courtesy of Democrats and the fiscal cliff. As noted before, if the president gets his way, the capital-gains tax rate will go up to 20 percent for investors earning $250,000 or more. If nothing is done, the rate will go up to 20 percent for most investors — and more important, income from dividends will be taxed like ordinary income, meaning a top rate of 39.6 percent. That’s a big hit, so Costco is paying a big dividend — right now, before the new rates kick in.

In fact, Costco is set to pay out some $3 billion in a special year-end dividend this year to evade a January tax hike. The biggest single beneficiary will be Mr. Sinegal, the firm’s largest individual shareholder. He stands to gain $14 million. Institutional investors such as Berkshire Hathaway and the Gates Foundation will bring in many millions. That dividend will be made possible in part by a special debt offering. When a firm run by Mitt Romney does this, Democrats call it “vulture capitalists loading up companies with debt in order to write themselves big paychecks.” When companies that make friendly noises about Barack Obama do it, they get a personal visit from the vice president.

 

So funny, Santelli is such a drama queen. I know it keeps some of the masses entertained, but also show his shallow nature.

 

But of course, Romney and crew are Saints in this regard. Yeah, right. By keeping the finger pointed at the Other, we get nowhere IMO. All the while they laugh at the under $250K crowd as the suckers they are for trying to be part of the top earners ideology. Laughing to the banks.

 

I did not say that. I indicated that the rich liberals advocating higher taxes are sheltering their income from those same taxes. Just like Romney and crew. All the while bashing Romney and crew for doing the same thing. Hence "the colossal hypocrisy of liberals knows no bounds".

You're nice guy/conciliatory centrist routine sure didn't last long, this time.

 

I have always done my best to pay as little taxes as possible, but have not gone out of my way to move money out of the U.S., since that just seems unpatriotic, which I am not.

What time at Hooters on December 8th. ?

 

You honestly don't get it, do you? You're so focused on saving face for what was clearly a vote against capitalism that you won't even listen when examples of everything the main stream media and left used against the candidate they didn't like (Romney) are so prevalent on the side of Obama. It doesn't even make a dent, right?

Either it's wrong, in which case go after Romney and all the folks on the left guilty of it or it's right, and don't use it as an issue at all. Personally, I believe it's right and shouldn't be an issue. But the class war you folks on the left have successfully started won't allow it to just fade away.

 

Oh? And what happens if the government moved YOUR taxes to 80%, and you had the ability to move money off shore legally, within tax framework? Would you do it then?

 

So what have you been doing in Amsterdam for the past six months?