WALL STREET JOURNAL
Bernie’s Wall Street Slander
by Bret Stephens
February 8, 2016

Last Friday a crane collapsed in lower Manhattan, killing a man named David Wichs. The next day the papers told the story of his life: a Jewish immigrant from Czechoslovakia; a math whiz with a degree from Harvard; a thoughtful neighbor and husband; “the nicest, most trustworthy person that I have known,” according to his boss, Mark Gorton, of Tower Research Capital. Mr. Wichs was just 38 when he died. I never met Mr. Wichs, but reading about him reminded me of so many people I know in his industry—prodigiously bright and slyly funny, reasonably wealthy but rarely ostentatious, family men of the type who show up at school auctions and United Jewish Appeal dinners. Maybe they voted for Barack Obama the first time, probably not the second. They’re the people who, even now, make American finance the envy of the world. They’re the most demonized people in America. READ MORE SUBSCRIPTION CONTENT