With Inequality Rising, Billionaire Steve Schwarzman Expresses Surprise That American Voters Are Unhappy

“I find the whole thing astonishing and what’s remarkable is the amount of anger whether it’s on the Republican side or the Democratic side,” the Wall Street mogul said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Bernie Sanders, to me, is almost more stunning than some of what’s going on in the Republican side. How is that happening, why is that happening?”On the eve of the conference, the nonprofit group Oxfam released a report showing that the richest 62 people on the planet now own more wealth than half the world’s population. In the United States, recent data from Pew Research shows the average American’s median household worth has stagnated, as the median household worth of upper-class Americans increased 7 percent. Schwarzman, though, expressed surprise that people are enraged.“What is the vein that is being tapped into across parties, that has made people so unhappy?” he said, telling Bloomberg’s anchor, Erik Schatzker, “That is something you should spend some time on.”

In recent years, Schwarzman has made national headlines likening tax increases on the wealthy to the Nazi invasion of Poland.