Jeff Greene is a man who accrued billions by betting against subprime mortgages. He’s also an attendee of the World Economic Forum, a Davos event during which the ultra-rich seemingly get together to take a vacation from skiing and tell everyone else what to do.

In Switzerland, Greene spoke to Bloomberg, and offered some depressing advice for the 99 percent. “America’s lifestyle expectations are far too high and need to be adjusted so we have less things and a smaller, better existence,” he said. “We need to reinvent our whole system of life.”

Having fewer things? A “smaller” existence? You’d be forgiven for thinking Greene was channeling Matthieu Ricard, a French Buddhist monk (who is also at Davos, and attended a panel on mindfulness with Arianna Huffington).

Greene, however, doesn’t seem to live by his own advice. Here’s Bloomberg’s Matthew G. Miller:

Greene, who flew his wife, children and two nannies on a private jet plane to Davos for the week, said he’s planning a conference in Palm Beach, Florida, at the Tideline Hotel called “Closing the Gap.”

One suspects “the gap” in question is not the gulf between Greene’s prescribed standard of living for millions of hardworking Americans, and the ones he enjoys himself.

Bloomberg reports that Greene is scheduled to dine with former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair, another man familiar with amassing a fortune in less than spotless ways. Davos, a place for friends.

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