Billionaire says rest of us are living too large
Published: Jan 22, 2015 3:39 p.m. ET
By
SilviaAscarelli
Senior news editor
YouTube
Jeff Greene, in a 2010 campaign video
NEW YORK (MarketWatch)—Billionaire Jeff Greene can fly into Davos on a private jet with wife, children and two nannies in tow.
But the rest of us? We should scale back our expectations, this Florida-based money manager told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
“America’s lifestyle expectations are far too high and need to be adjusted so we have less things and a smaller, better existence,” he said. “We need to reinvent our whole system of life.”
Greene, who is ranked 190th on Forbes magazine’s list of the richest Americans, is the founder of Florida Sunshine Investments. He says he manages about $2 billion in financial investments, more than $750 million in real estate and at least $1.5 billion in assorted property development projects, according to Bloomberg. Some of his money was made by betting against subprime mortgages, according to a 2008 profile in Forbes.
More recently, he put one of his properties, the “Palazzo di Amore” in Beverly Hills, on the market in November for $195 million.
He also told Bloomberg: “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 unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for a Florida Senate seat in 2010. That seat is now held by Marco Rubio, a Republican.
Greene joined Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates’ Giving Pledge in 2010, saying he “would never consider leaving [his son] the vast amount of wealth that I have been fortunate to accumulate.” He now has three children.
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Silvia Ascarelli
Silvia Ascarelli is a senior news editor for MarketWatch based in New York. You can follow her on Twitter @SilviaAscarelli.
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David Juchnik 43 minutes ago
He earned it so why shouldn't he along with his family live well. And he said he would never consider leaving his son the vast amount of wealth that he has accumulated, because he isn't a enabler and wants his son/children to make it on their own. I believe I heard somewhere, where Bill Gates thinks the same way. I feel that parents that give their children hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, know that the greater percentage of people that either are given or inherit large sums of money, probably don't appreciate it as much as if they had to use their own initiative in order to develop wealth by starting a business of their own or getting the education needed to obtain a professional career in whatever field they choose. I firmly believe in the saying, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, Teach him how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime" Ah, where's my rich uncle, I hope he doesn't read this...
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Al Frazier 1 hour ago
Too many ghetto dwellers watch Real Housewives and Kardashians and believe they have a right to that fantasy lifestyle. Then reality sets in when they are cooking fries at Popeyes Chicken for their lifelong career. Next comes anger and frustration and they blame their failures on the 1%.
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brock nagy 2 hours ago
Hey - No big deal. Just another rich and corrupt politician with nothing to do but steal more
money from the average american. As long as our system stays corrupted you will see these
jokers running loose.
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