Whiny one-percenter Tom Perkins puts his foot in his mouth...again
Tom Perkins is at it again. After comparing what he believes is a progressive "war" on the American wealth today to Nazi attacks on Jews ahead of the Holocaust last month, the venture capitalist and near-billionaire is now out with another big idea: The rich should get more votes.
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When asked for one big idea that would change the world at a speaking engagement in San Francisco Thursday, CNN reports he offered up the "Tom Perkins system," arguing that taxes should be "like a corporation. You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes." And "you don't get to vote unless you pay a dollar of taxes."
Jeff Macke, host of Yahoo Finance's Breakout, calls Perkins' new plan "an idea so stupid it's more a call for help." We try to make sense of it in the accompanying video.
Perkins' latest big idea comes as he recovers from a public relations disaster last month. In a letter to the Wall Street Journal he drew "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.'"
He went on, writing, "This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendant "progressive" radicalism unthinkable now?"
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In 1972 Perkins co-founded the firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which has backed companies like Google (GOOG), Intel (INTC), Facebook (FB) and Twitter (TWTR).
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers further distanced itself from Perkins after the WSJ letter was published; Perkins was already listed as partner emeritus on the company website before the controversial comments.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Perkins apologized for making comparisons to the Holocaust. He said, however, that he doesn't regret highlighting a "progressive war on the American 1 percent." In the Bloomberg interview, he also offered the trivia that you could buy a six-pack of Rolexes with the watch he was wearing.
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Perkins' latest controversy follows comments earlier this week from Bud Konheim, CEO of luxury fashion brand Nicole Miller. Konheim told CNBC that Americans should stop complaining about poverty as it would be considered wealth in most other countries.
"The guy that's making...$35,000 a year, why don't we try that out in India," he said.
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