Thursday, December 8, 2011

Jim Kruse -- Hey, He Used to Be Part of the 99 Percent!

Did you see the video a week or so ago of a "1 Percenter" who opined on camera that no one great ever came out of the 99 percent?


Like just about everyone who's seen it, I couldn't believe how stupid he was to think that, let alone say it out loud on camera. What about all those paragons of business virtue like Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Larry Ellison who came from the middle class or less? In fact, Bill Gates is one of the few 1 percenters I can think of (and even he might be a 2 or 3 percenter) who would be considered "great" by the average person.

This guy was so flagrantly stupid, in fact, I half wondered if he was real. Maybe he's an actor and it's a setup?

I guess not. He's been identified as Jim Kruse, senior managing director for CB Richard Ellis, a Los Angeles-area commercial real estate agency. Jim is responsible for Beverly Hills, among other areas of south L.A.

You'll notice that the photo of Jim used on his CBRE page is probably over 10 years old. Oddly, he looks younger in that picture than he does in this photo, used to announce he was joining CBRE back in 2003. But you can tell it's him, despite the golden hair, now gone to silver.

Jim went to the University of California Irvine (not usually the academic choice of the 1 percent), where he did well enough in water polo to serve on the U.S. Olympic team.

Sounds like he considers himself a self-made man, yet somehow he's forgotten that all the self-made came from the 99 percent. And that they usually took advantage of tax-funded infrastructure like the California state universities, which cost just a few hundred dollars a year when Jim was in school.

4 comments:

Frank Benlin said...

I think he's gotten sucked in to the West LA super life. Obviously has forgotten his roots. He probably has to put up a front to all of his "fellow" one-per-centers. I think it shows weakness.

Unknown said...

He is just another LA guy trying to make a living, keep up with the Jones and make his social climbing wife happy. I feel sorry for him.

Tim P said...

You don't even understand what Mr. Kruse was saying. And like all lefties, all you can do is insult and demean.

UCI is one of the top, most competitive universities in the state and therefore country and to be an Olympian in any sport puts in about 1/2 of 1/2 of the 1%.

Daughter Number Three said...

Tim P, I don't know how I could have misunderstood what Kruse was saying. Just rewatched the video and it seems pretty clear that he says no one of any greatness ever came from the 99%.

You seem to be pretty good at insulting and demeaning yourself. And overgeneralizing as well.

I didn't say UC Irvine wasn't a good school, just that it's not known as a prestige school in the manner of Harvard, etc., where the 1% generally try to send their kids. And that it's state-supported (probably a lot more in the days when Kruse would have attended than now). I see no shame in that. I just think people who got a hand up from the taxpayers shouldn't pretend they did it all on their own.