From Bloomberg:
Billionaire Jeff Greene,
who amassed a multibillion dollar fortune betting against subprime
mortgage securities, says the U.S. faces a jobs crisis that will cause
social unrest and radical politics.
“America’s lifestyle
expectations are far too high and need to be adjusted so we have less
things and a smaller, better existence,” Greene said in an interview
today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We need to reinvent our whole system of life.”
The 60-year-old founder of Coral Gables, Florida-based Florida Sunshine Investments said his biggest fund was up more than 20 percent last year with bets on Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), bank stocks and mortgage-backed securities.
“I’m
remarkably long for my level of pessimism,” he said. “Our economy is in
deep trouble. We need to be honest with ourselves. We’ve had a
realistic level of job destruction, and those jobs aren’t coming back.”
Greene,
who flew his wife, children and two nannies on a private jet plane to
Davos for the week, said he’s planning a conference in Palm Beach,
Florida, at the Tideline Hotel called “Closing the Gap.” The event,
which he said is scheduled for December, will feature speakers such as
economist Nouriel Roubini....MORE
I'm thinking, "Just this once, can we kill the messenger?'
