Billionaire money manager Leon Cooperman denounced Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for her recent tweet telling him he should “pitch in a bit more” because he’s been economically successful in life.
“You proceeded to admonish me (as if a parent chiding an ungrateful child) to ‘pitch in a bit more so everyone else has a chance at the American dream,’” Cooperman, the manager of the Omega Family Office, wrote in an open letter.
“Your tweet demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of who I am, what I stand for, and why I believe so many of your economic policy initiatives are misguided,” he said.
“However much it resonates with your base, your vilification of the rich is misguided,” Cooperman continued. “For you to suggest that capitalism is a dirty word and that these people, as a group, are ingrates who didn’t earn their riches … and now don’t pull their weight societally indicates that you either are grossly uninformed or are knowingly warping the facts.”
His letter told of his humble beginnings—his father was a plumber and his mother an immigrant from Poland—and that his life is a “classic American success story.”
Cooperman said his wealth has allowed him to donate more to philanthropy than he has spent on himself over a lifetime—and he intends to donate “substantially all of it” when he dies.
He went on to address Warren’s “soak-the-rich positions on taxes and economic policy” and offered his take on what he believes the U.S.’s fiscal policy priorities should be.
As a registered Independent, Cooperman said the two of them should be working together on these issues, “not firing off snarky tweets that stir your base at the expense of accuracy.” He hoped she would “elevate the dialogue” and find a way all Americans could have a chance at the American Dream.
In response, Warren issued a tweet saying he’s “wrong.”
Leon is wrong. I'm fighting for big changes like universal child care, investing in public schools, and free public college.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 31, 2019
We can do all of that with a #TwoCentWealthTax. Leon can and should pitch in more—so that every kid has the same opportunities he did to succeed. https://t.co/38fJSXKKCJ