This interview with a banker's wife in London was getting passed around Steve's office last week. Jeremy S. sent it my way, too. 

The woman describes the incredible hours that her husband puts into his job. He's working so hard that she had attend weddings on his side of the family by herself; he was too busy to go. He works on weekends and doesn't get home until 10 in the evening. 

(Yes. And when layoffs are on the horizon, everyone works triple hard.)

At the end of the interview, the interviewer brings the conversation back to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The wife says that teachers should be paid more money, but she doesn't have a whole lot of sympathy for the protesters. She and her husband work very hard, made lots of sacrifices, and have been very careful with their money. 

"I don't think I should have to justify myself to anyone, but just for the record, I spend one evening a week cooking meals for homeless people. My husband and I donate significant sums to charity, anonymously. I fully expect that your readers will hate me. I guess maybe I shouldn't have done this interview. I suppose I am pretty rightwing, in that I care about people and believe in helping others while also strongly believing that people must take responsibility. This is a capitalist system, right? This is what we have chosen to live under, not communism. There is so much anger towards banks and the finance industry whereas hardly anyone seems to demand any sort of mea culpa from all those who took on financial commitments they should not have – such as those on minimum wage who got several loans and mortgages in order to buy a house they could not afford.

"I see inappropriate self-righteousness when I pass those 'protesters' in their tents… Meanwhile people like my husband and I speed past them to work on our future, to make a contribution to society… We studied hard, now we work hard and we pay hard. Fifty percent tax and we don't mind. I do wonder how much those people would pay without grumbling if roles were reversed?

How would you respond to her?