Can you explain how you are using the term successful capitalist here?

Reader comment on: Grassley on Wall Street Fat Cats

Submitted by ben (United States), Mar 17, 2010 08:08

Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Sergey Brin, Henry Ford all seem like successful capitalists. I am not so sure about the bankers and the many people on wall street (the so called "fat cats") who packaged junk mortgages and resold them. If all it takes to be a successful capitalist is the accumulation of personal wealth, then the description fits. In fact, by that standard, Bernie Madoff was a very successful capitalist. But I would think that a successful capitalist need to have created wealth, something that many of these traders clearly did not do. In fact, for many of them, they did the opposite. Clearly this is not true of all bankers and traders.

I agree that the name calling, whether calling someone a "fat cat" or an "elitist" is a waste of time and does obscure the important issues involved in an argument.

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