Billionaire hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman is sick of politicians criticizing him for being rich, and would prefer that his success story be held up as “an example” to be followed.
“I think that my life should be used as an example to these youngsters—and the 99%—of what could be achieved,” Cooperman said in a recent taping for the television program Wall Street Week, which, as USA Today reports, is to air on Sunday. “These youngsters can see what can be accomplished with some hard work. To tell the 99% they are being screwed by the 1% is just wrong.”
Cooperman is founder of Omega Advisors and his net worth is valued at $3.7 billion. It’s not the first time the 72-year-old has lashed out at criticisms of wealthy Wall Streeters in the wake of the financial crisis. On Monday, he blasted Hillary Clinton for saying hedge fund managers have lower tax rates than nurses and truckers. And in 2011, he penned an open letter to President Barack Obama criticizing what he deemed to be tactics of “class warfare.”
Cooperman’s comments reflect broader fears sweeping Wall Street that they are in for yet another round of pummeling due to the upcoming election, experts says. Income inequality—or concerns of a rising wealth gap between the rich and everyone else—has become a hot topic on the campaign trail for both Democratic and Republican candidates this year.
“It’s going to ratchet up,” says Anthony Scaramucci, host of Wall Street Week, of the political rhetoric.
In the Wall Street Week interview, Cooperman talks about his hardscrabble upbringing in the Bronx as the child of immigrant parents.
“I’ve lived the American Dream,” he says, talking about how he was the first generation of his family to go to college. “I think that’s something to emulate.”
