Compare/Contrast – Crocodile Rock version

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa

Sometimes you can discuss things forever and it takes a real world example for a point to sink in. For this reason I like to compare/contrast to make a point. Here is another one . One person is off limits and the other is being forced to shoulder the burden! I would have liked to use used Zach\'s example, but that person was anonymous. Fortunately/unfortunately glaring examples are NOT hard to come by.

1. Leon D Black, Billionaire Financier and 15% tax bracketer, threw himself a 60th birthday party with 200 of his closest friends.

The NYT reports that last Saturday night, in the fabled NYC frolicking ground of Southampton, billionaire financier Leon D. Black threw himself a jaw-droppingly expensive 60th birthday bash. Two hundred well-heeled guests reclined on cushionsSatyricon-style nibbling seared fois gras as Sir Elton John — earning a cool million bucks — sang ‘Crocodile Rock.’ Joining this Reptilian Cotillion were Martha Stewart and fashion designer Vera Wang, who partied alongside some of Wall Street’s most notorious denizens, including junk-bond pioneer Michael Milken, Blackstone’s buyout king Stephen A. Schwarzman (who became a symbol of greed when he threw his own $3 million b-day bash back in bubblicious 2007), and Lloyd “God’s Work” Blankfein of Goldman Sachs.

Mayor Bloomberg was among the revelers, as was NY Senator Charles Schumer, who must have been feeling grateful for his host’s generous political contributions as he soaked in the expansive view of moonlit Schinnecock Bay.

A fellow like Leon Black needs all the influential friends he can get because, like other private equity tycoons, he enjoys a ridiculously low 15% tax rate on “carried interest” (the share of profits that hedge fund managers get as part of their stratospheric compensation). Chances are the persons who, say, cook for Mr. Black or landscape his yard pay something more like 35% in taxes for the money they earn doing actual work

Speaking of the 35% tax bracket, let me introduce you to the contrast:

2. DeForest High School teacher Jan Williams (who might spend more than most, but is by no means alone) is lucky to be able to buy an Elton John CD to listen to as she takes time away from her family and spends it at Target buying school supplies for her students!

“I spend well over $5,000 a year on supplies,” Williams said.

The English and drama teacher, who has been teaching for 22 years, has countless books and boxes of supplies that she pays for, every year, out of her own pocket. This year, Williams said it will be a lot tougher — and she’s not alone.

Many teachers, who spend hundreds or thousands of their own money for classroom supplies, said they don’t know how they’re going to make ends meet this school year. The budget repair bill passed earlier this requires public employees to make larger contributions to their pensions and health insurance.

“They put in a lot more time than people realize. They also spend their own money, often, on supplies and other things to help in the classroom,” said Deborah Mitchell, a retail expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. “With what’s been going on with the budget in the state, they have less to spend.”

The average teacher spends between $300 and $500 of their own money each year and some, such as Williams, go well beyond that, WISC-TV reported. They said the purchases help make up what some parents can’t afford.

We are going to great pains and spending millions upon millions of dollars to make sure we do NOT raise Mr. Black’s taxes a penny, while the politicians who are beholden to the Leon Black’s of the world have just forced a 12% paycut on the amazing public workers of Wisconsin.

I will leave it with a quote by Ms. Williams:

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“I won’t cut back. If I see things that are needed, I’m going to still get them,” Williams said. “And I know that every single teacher is going to be doing the same thing.”