Bloomberg

10:26 a.m. CST, February 6, 2014

Billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell agreed with capital pioneer Tom Perkins that wealthy Americans are being unfairly criticized and said that the 1 percent work harder.

"The 1 percent are getting pummeled because it's politically convenient to do so," Zell said, an interview Wednesday on Bloomberg Television’s "In the Loop" with Betty Liu.

People "should not talk about envy of the 1 percent, they should talk about emulating the 1 percent. The 1 percent work harder, the 1 percent are much bigger factors in all forms of our society."

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Perkins, a founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, in January wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal in which he said the public's turn against the rich represents a "dangerous rift" in America and compares such progressive radicalism to the German Kristallnacht.

"I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its '1 percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American 1 percent, namely the 'rich,'" he wrote.

While Zell said "persecution" isn’t the right way to describe treatment of the top 1 percent of earners, he sees envy of the rich and class warfare as growing problems in America, blaming government regulations for a widening income gap.

Zell, who helped to expand the industry of U.S. real estate investment trusts in the 1990s, also discussed REITS in the interview, saying there are too many of the publicly traded property companies in the market.

There are more than 200 publicly traded REITs in the U.S., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Zell, 72, created companies including Equity Residential, now the largest publicly traded apartment landlord, and Equity Office Properties Trust, an office owner that was sold to Blackstone Group LP near the peak of the buyout boom in 2007 for about $39 billion.

In 2007, Zell bought the Tribune Co. and its newspaper and broadcast assets, eventually taking them private and becoming chairman and chief executive officer. The company filed bankruptcy in 2008 and emerged under new controlling ownership in 2012.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

"The one percent work harder"

Amazing how clueless some of these guys are.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

He is correct in saying that successful people are becoming the subject of unfair scorn.

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His voice sounds like Harvey Firestein


Im sure most of the 1%ers are hard workers. That doesnt make the income equality any better though.

It isn't fair that 46 people have 50% of the world's wealth. STRING 'EM UP!

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I'm sure there are 1%ers that worked hard to get where they are but I bet there are plenty that were born on 3rd and think they hit a triple.

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How many 1%ers never worked a day in their lives!!

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

True, but its hard because the true focus should be on the system that allows such an income gap, but at the same time, the ultra rich affect these laws in the first place.

More like Sam Zealot...

Amirite?!?

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What they call "work" consists of hiring somebody to watch the workers.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Sam likes the weed. #Truth.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

No, he isn't. And since when is bankrupting a company "success"? If it was a minimum wage Wal-Mart worker filing Chapter 7, many people would look down their noses at him and judge him as a loser and perhaps borderline criminal. When Zell bankrupts a 150 year old corporation, he's "just doing business".

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I am not a professional economist. I feel, however, that this "income inequality" rubbish is in direct contradiction to my belief that any person is capable of great financial success in this country if that person educates themselves and works hard.

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He's a carpetbagger. Comes in,strips a company down and dumps it.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Absolutely.

I used to work for a company that was owned by EGI. We would get invited every year to his party at the Park West. Dude was high as a kite. Very nice guy when he's loaded, but that's the only interaction I have ever had with him.

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Must have been difficult amassing that fortune with no ambition

They've got the guns.... BUT WE'VE GOT THE NUMBERS!!!!!!

I'm educated and I work hard, why don't I have as much money as Brandon Davis who doesn't work at all?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I have no idea, because I am unaware of what kind of job you have. I also have never heard of Brandon Davis.

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We are all born with advantages or disadvantages. Some are born tall. Some are born with good looks. Some are born rich.

Just work hard and do your best and save your money. You'll end up happier and better adjusted then a trust fund baby who spends his whole life without direction.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

What difference does it make what kind of job I have as long as you believe me when I say I work hard? Isn't the "hard work" part the thing that decides success? Isn't that what Zell said and what you seemed to agree with? The 1% work harder, right? Well, I have no problem with dividing the earth's resources based on hard work. I'm pretty sure I outwork Sam Zell on most days.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Him & his brother are heirs to an Oil fortune.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

you don't know that, you're just assuming in order to make your point

I don't think that's a bad philosophy. But don't try to tell me the wealthy "work harder" or are "smarter", when that so obviously isn't true.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Regardless, most likely true.

Anyway, there are certainly plenty of people with far more money than I have that don't work as hard. Do you think that is fair to say? So that pretty much destroys his entire silly premise.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Is "hard" work physical labor? A lot of people equate the two. If you use your brains for a living,that's considered soft. I have been steadily employed since about 1978 by being soft.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I said I agree that successful people are becoming the subject of unfair scorn. I never said I agree with his conclusion that he works harder than anyone else.

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No, I'll consider what you do hard work. That's as opposed to riding Harleys, smoking weed, and getting blowjobs from interns.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don