Ken Langone's Rallying Cry: Charity, America, Freedom

Ken Langone just gave a speech at this year's Ira Sohn conference on why the hedge fund industry should be writing checks to charitable causes. Why? KEN LANGONE TELL YOU WHY!

"I don't know how many people here work at hedge funds, but I want to say something. The city of New York would be worse off without the hedge fund industry. I want to tell you something. We don't do a good enough job bragging. The Robin Hood Foundation. Steve Cohen, all he's done. Yet we let ourselves be defined by people who resent us because of our success...Spitzer thinks I'm a bad guy, I'm not a bad guy. What's the worst thing that he can say about me? That I'm an overpayer? [aside] I don’t like the guy and every time I get a chance to take a shot at him I do it...so let me tell you why you should give money to charity. When a society creates a gap between the haves and the have-nots so wide you're setting yourself up for social unrest. Think about what's going on in the so-called Arab Spring. It's not democracy versus dictatorship. It's about people wanting a better life. That's why they're in the streets...[screaming] And I'm giving money to America...a place that let a kid who's father was a plumber and mom worked in a cafeteria get an education. And I'm not sorry, I worked my ass off. The first thing I do every morning is put on an American flag pin on my lapel and I say 'thank you grandma and grandpa for coming here.' I never felt rich until I started writing big checks. For your own selfish reasons, write a check. Confident people accomplish more. If you want to make a difference, then think about what good you can do with what you have."