• Journalist breaks into Wall Street secret-society party catches them making sexist/homophobic jokes,
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[quote] Recently, our nation’s financial chieftains have been feeling a little unloved. Venture capitalists are comparing the persecution of the rich to the plight of Jews at Kristallnacht, Wall Street titans are saying that they’re sick of being beaten up, and this week, a billionaire investor, Wilbur Ross, proclaimed that “the 1 percent is being picked on for political reasons.” Ross's statement seemed particularly odd, because two years ago, I met Ross at an event that might single-handedly explain why the rest of the country still hates financial tycoons – the annual black-tie induction ceremony of a secret Wall Street fraternity called Kappa Beta Phi. “Good evening, Exalted High Council, former Grand Swipes, Grand Swipes-in-waiting, fellow Wall Street Kappas, Kappas from the Spring Street and Montgomery Street chapters, and worthless neophytes!” It was January 2012, and Ross, wearing a tuxedo and purple velvet moccasins embroidered with the fraternity’s Greek letters, was standing at the dais of the St. Regis Hotel ballroom, welcoming a crowd of two hundred wealthy and famous Wall Street figures to the Kappa Beta Phi dinner. Ross, the leader (or “Grand Swipe”) of the fraternity, was preparing to invite 21 new members — “neophytes,” as the group called them — to join its exclusive ranks. Looking up at him from an elegant dinner of rack of lamb and foie gras were many of the most famous investors in the world, including executives from nearly every too-big-to-fail bank, private equity megafirm, and major hedge fund. AIG CEO Bob Benmosche was there, as were Wall Street superlawyer Marty Lipton and Alan “Ace” Greenberg, the former chairman of Bear Stearns. And those were just the returning members. Among the neophytes were hedge fund billionaire and major Obama donor Marc Lasry and Joe Reece, a high-ranking dealmaker at Credit Suisse. [To see the full Kappa Beta Phi member list, click here.] All told, enough wealth and power was concentrated in the St. Regis that night that if you had dropped a bomb on the roof, global finance as we know it might have ceased to exist. During his introductory remarks, Ross spoke for several minutes about the legend of Kappa Beta Phi – how it had been started in 1929 by “four C+ William and Mary students”; how its crest, depicting a “macho right hand in a proper Savile Row suit and a Turnbull and Asser shirtsleeve,” was superior to that of its namesake Phi Beta Kappa (Ross called Phi Beta Kappa’s ruffled-sleeve logo a “tacit confession of homosexuality”); and how the fraternity’s motto, “Dum vivamus edimus et biberimus,” was Latin for “While we live, we eat and drink.” On cue, the financiers shouted out in a thundering bellow: “DUM VIVAMUS EDIMUS ET BIBERIMUS.” [/quote] [url]http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/02/i-crashed-a-wall-street-secret-society.html[/url] The full article has images and recordings of some of the speeches and comedic songs sung at the party.
You mean to tell me old, rich people dont like homosexuals and the poor??? Wow
I always suspected the world's top economical brass was crazy, but this is far crazier than anything I expected
Eat the Rich.
This is what happens when you have electronic old men running the world.
[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;43963341]I bet they actually have massive sex orgies (with each other) while wearing masks.[/QUOTE] While wearing roman costumes
Reminds me of the Bohemian club. [QUOTE]"The Bohemian club! Did you say Bohemian club? That's where all those rich Republicans go up and stand naked against redwood trees, right? I've never been to the Bohemian club but you oughta go. It'd be good for you. You'd get some fresh air."—President Bill Clinton to a heckler[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=ironman17;43963338]This is what happens when you have electronic old men running the world.[/QUOTE] [b][i]WARNING WARNING[/i][/b]
[QUOTE]"The Bohemian Grove, that I attend from time to time—the Easterners and the others come there—but it is the most faggy goddamn thing you could ever imagine, that San Francisco crowd that goes in there; it's just terrible! I mean I won't shake hands with anybody from San Francisco."—President Richard M. Nixon[/QUOTE]
it's kind of sad really, they're so high up on the chain and cut off from reality that the only people they can really relate to are the ones who are as lonely and insane as they are. the isolation has clearly taken its toll, apparently one their money couldn't suffice to pay.
[quote]“Who the hell are you?” Novogratz demanded. I felt my pulse spike. I was tempted to make a run for it, but – due to the ethics code of the New York Times, my then-employer – I had no choice but to out myself. “I’m a reporter,” I said. Novogratz stood up from the table. "You’re not allowed to be here," he said. I, too, stood, and tried to excuse myself, but he grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let go. [B]“Give me that or I’ll fucking break it!” Novogratz yelled, grabbing for my phone, which was filled with damning evidence. [/B]His eyes were bloodshot, and his neck veins were bulging. The song onstage was now over, and a number of prominent Kappas had rushed over to our table. Before the situation could escalate dangerously, a bond investor and former Grand Swipe named[B] Alexandra Lebenthal[/B] stepped in between us. [B]Wilbur Ross[/B] quickly followed, and the two of them led me out into the lobby, past a throng of Wall Street tycoons, some of whom seemed to be hyperventilating. [B]Once we made it to the lobby, Ross and Lebenthal reassured me that what I’d just seen wasn’t really a group of wealthy and powerful financiers making homophobic jokes, making light of the financial crisis, and bragging about their business conquests at Main Street’s expense. No, it was just a group of friends who came together to roast each other in a benign and self-deprecating manner. Nothing to see here.[/B] But the extent of their worry wasn’t made clear until Ross offered himself up as a source for future stories in exchange for my cooperation. “I’ll pick up the phone anytime, get you any help you need,” he said. “Yeah, the people in this group could be very helpful,” Lebenthal chimed in. “If you could just keep their privacy in mind.” [B]I wasn’t going to be bribed off my story, but I understood their panic. Here, after all, was a group that included many of the executives whose firms had collectively wrecked the global economy in 2008 and 2009. And they were laughing off the entire disaster in private, as if it were a long-forgotten lark.[/B] (Or worse, sing about it — one of the last skits of the night was a self-congratulatory parody of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” called “Bailout King.”) These were activities that amounted to a gigantic middle finger to Main Street and that, if made public, could end careers and damage very public reputations.[/quote]They way that these people start freaking out when they realize that the public might find out just how awful they are as human beings is both hilarious and kind of depressing. Not to mention how they pretty much tried to bribe the reporter from posting this story is pathetic, but what else would you expect from a bunch of rich corrupt assholes with no regard for other individuals lives.
[IMG]http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/intelligencer/2014/02/14/kbp-1.o.jpg/a_560x375.jpg[/IMG] drag or not, you'd expect dresses that don't look like the result of a 10 year old fooling around with xmas tinsel and some glue from the people who'd blow $1,000 on pizza :v:
The elites are a bunch of deprived cooks? What else is new?
I wonder how Fox News is going to react to this.
Why am i not surprised?
[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;43963613]But the world is their sandbox so whatever. :v: I'm not even going to lie or pretend that i'd be any better. EVERY single person is subject to ending up just like them regardless. With that amount of wealth the concept of [I]true happiness[/I] isn't even a concern; that's what people in the middle classes tell themselves so they can sleep at night. Needless to say no person should have that amount of wealth or power. (This is human nature though and we have to live with it)[/QUOTE] well i mean, have a look at them. they've got everything they could ever want, but they're alone, incapable of relating to or understanding the plight of anyone not on their level, scared of what the public would think of them, entirely convinced of their persecution, and trapped in their own little lonely world unable to comprehend that there's anyone in it but themselves. they've got all this pull and power all over the world, but every last one of them is still alone, asocial, and extremely pitiful. that's why i think they're sad. it's like they're trapped in a self-convincing psychosis brought on by their money. it's depressing.
They have some really nice dresses.
man I bet the dude's heart stopped when he got caught, but what the hell was he thinking just blurting out "I'm a reporter" when asked who he was. [QUOTE=Aphtonites;43963614][IMG]http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/intelligencer/2014/02/14/kbp-1.o.jpg/a_560x375.jpg[/IMG] drag or not, you'd expect dresses that don't look like the result of a 10 year old fooling around with xmas tinsel and some glue from the people who'd blow $1,000 on pizza :v:[/QUOTE] the people in drag were neophytes, as in "the freshmen joining a college fraternity", and this was their hazing to be let into the group. They were all given wigs, leotards, and sequined skirts to wear as part of the deal.
[QUOTE=Zenreon117;43963640]The elites are a bunch of deprived cooks? What else is new?[/QUOTE] I dunno, I never knew the richest people in America were chefs. That's news to me.
[QUOTE=Aphtonites;43963614][IMG]http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/intelligencer/2014/02/14/kbp-1.o.jpg/a_560x375.jpg[/IMG] drag or not, you'd expect dresses that don't look like the result of a 10 year old fooling around with xmas tinsel and some glue from the people who'd blow $1,000 on pizza :v:[/QUOTE] of all the things you're insulting their fashion sense?
[QUOTE=dai;43963990] the people in drag were neophytes, as in "the freshmen joining a college fraternity", and this was their hazing to be let into the group. They were all given wigs, leotards, and sequined skirts to wear as part of the deal.[/QUOTE] You were there????
[QUOTE=Kyle902;43964067]You were there????[/QUOTE] Yeah, he's the blonde one. But really, its in the article.
[QUOTE=dai;43963990]man I bet the dude's heart stopped when he got caught, but what the hell was he thinking just blurting out "I'm a reporter" when asked who he was.[/QUOTE] NYT and other major news organizations are pretty serious about how reporters conduct themselves in the field one of their criteria for ethical journalism is remaining truthful about your intentions, until the story must be obtained for the sake of the public and honest means prevent you from reporting it. sorta like the myth that undercover cops can't lie about their identity, except there's generally some truth to it
[QUOTE=Killer900;43963596]They way that these people start freaking out when they realize that the public might find out just how awful they are as human beings is both hilarious and kind of depressing. Not to mention how they pretty much tried to bribe the reporter from posting this story is pathetic, but what else would you expect from a bunch of rich corrupt assholes with no regard for other individuals lives.[/QUOTE] Yeah, when they flip the fuck out at the prospect of anything they're doing becoming public knowledge, that should provoke some small amount of thought as to whether [I]they should be behaving like that.[/I]
I was expecting something more like this. [img_thumb]http://zogarok.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/eyes-wide-shut-chap.png[/img_thumb]
[QUOTE=CrumbleShake;43964162]I was expecting something more like this. [img_thumb]http://zogarok.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/eyes-wide-shut-chap.png[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] what is that?
Is this guy sure he didn't just walk in on the FP New York meetup?
[QUOTE=SIRIUS;43964204]what is that?[/QUOTE] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_wide_shut]Eyes Wide Shut[/url]
good god cross dressing, thats just going too far
[QUOTE=dai;43963990]man I bet the dude's heart stopped when he got caught, but what the hell was he thinking just blurting out "I'm a reporter" when asked who he was. [/QUOTE] ethics code. alot of (respectable) news organizations won't allow their journalists to flat out lie about who they are to get a story
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