Max Broadbent, a 96-year-old veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge against Nazi Germany, said that he is willing to give his life for slightly higher Q2 profits for investors. Speaking from his home at Meadow Brook Assisted Living, Broadbent noted that “some things are just worth dying for, including maximizing value for shareholders.”

Born just before the Great Depression, Broadbent’s family struggled through one of the worst economic crises in American history. At the age of 9, Broadbent joined his father as a migrant laborer, picking fruit in Californian fields. “It really brought things into perspective,” he remembered about those years. “So many industrialists were forced to sell their summer mansions and reduce travel to Europe. It was a terrible, terrible time.”

When the Second World War broke out, he lied about his age in order to enlist and was sent off to fight in Europe. “We didn’t ask questions, we didn’t mope or sulk. We knew that we were fighting one of the greatest evils the world has ever known,” he explained.

Now, he says, the US faces an even bigger threat: a temporary drop in profits for hedge fund managers. And if it means putting his life on the line one more time, he’s “ready, willing, and able.” But don’t call him a hero, he says. “I think any red-blooded American would do the same. Allowing the rich siphon off the capital created by the working class is fundamental to our way of life. If we can’t have that, what else is there to live for?”