Suze Orman: Bush owes American people every penny of his fortune John Byrne

Published: Friday March 20, 2009





Print This Email This Suze Orman, the sharp-tongued CNBC pundit, sounded off in a major way in an article published Friday -- taking President George W. Bush to the woodshed.



He's not the only one, though. In a detailed interview with WWD , Orman is said to have railed against a spectrum of financial demigods, among them former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and even the retirees who got hoodwinked by Bernie Madoff.



But of Bush, the 57-year-old Orman has only scorn.



For Bush, the interviewer says, she "holds an especially dark place in her heart.



"Commander in Chief?" she sputters. "You blew up every single financial vessel we had and if you think you aren't personally responsible, well, the blame starts at the top. There is no higher top than you, sir! If I were you, I would feel so absolutely horrific that I would take every penny I had and distribute it to anybody and everybody to help them in whatever way I could. You owe the American people every penny of your fortune and your family's fortune."



The WWD interview doesn't contain her comments about Summers or Greenspan, but it does contain an especially scathing quote regarding those who'd invested all their money with the now-infamous financier Bernie Madoff.



You walked right into that financial concentration camp, my loves, she says, seemingly conscious of the fact that Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel was among those swindled. I mean, you didnt have to give 100 percent of everything to him.



Ouch.



The CNBC star also offers a tidbit of insight into what drives her, recalling her childhood as an impoverished Chicagoan where her father ran a poultry shop.



What effect did being poor have on her, WWD's Jacob Bernstein asked? I learned that money was the key to happiness," Orman replied. "Thats what I learned.





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