Venture capitalist Thomas Perkins wrote a letter to the editors at the Wall Street Journal, comparing the plight of the rich to the Holocaust, called "Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?"... and the WSJ published it.
"I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich,'" Perkins writes. Thomas Perkins, one of the founders of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, was comparing taxes on the super rich to the slaughter of millions in the Holocaust.
"From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent," Perkins continues. "There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these 'techno geeks' can pay."
Perkins ends his rant with: "This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent 'progressive' radicalism unthinkable now?"
Obviously, there has been backlash to the letter. "It certainly proves you can get rich without being very thoughtful, perceptive, or intelligent," Slate's Matt Yglesias writes. More people took to Twitter to express their outrage:
The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment.
"I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich,'" Perkins writes. Thomas Perkins, one of the founders of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, was comparing taxes on the super rich to the slaughter of millions in the Holocaust.
"From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent," Perkins continues. "There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these 'techno geeks' can pay."
Perkins ends his rant with: "This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent 'progressive' radicalism unthinkable now?"
Obviously, there has been backlash to the letter. "It certainly proves you can get rich without being very thoughtful, perceptive, or intelligent," Slate's Matt Yglesias writes. More people took to Twitter to express their outrage:
Serious rich-dude bubble to see “treatment” of rich by progressives as parallel to Nazi treatment of Jews... http://t.co/wATqtmPxQe
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) January 25, 2014Late to this wild letter to @WSJ. Do people really think like this!? Letters: Progressive Kristallnacht Coming? http://t.co/mviFzonaL5
— Matthew Campbell (@MattCampbel) January 25, 2014Venture capitalist warns that Occupy, etc. will lead to "progressive Kristallnacht," gets that printed in the @WSJ: http://t.co/Xw9S0zUYgc
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) January 25, 2014Rich idiot warns of looking “progressive Kristallnacht”: http://t.co/Ik228BONLq
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 25, 2014The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment.