(Bloomberg) -- Last week, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders proclaimed on Twitter that “billionaires should not exist.”
On Tuesday evening, as billionaire Steve Schwarzman promoted his new book in the Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library, someone asked him on stage what he thought of that. “I guess maybe Bernie Sanders shouldn't exist,” Schwarzman quipped, drawing his biggest applause of the evening.
And then he grew serious -- and possibly even agreed a bit with the liberal lawmaker so far across the political spectrum.
“We can't have a cohesive society” if 40% of people are unable to cover a $400 emergency with money on hand, Schwarzman told the audience, citing a Federal Reserve study. The Blackstone Group Inc. co-founder said he favors an increase in the minimum wage. He also said teachers should be exempt from federal income taxation.
Schwarzman's book, “What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence,” was published last month. In it, he speaks of growing up “in the middle-class suburbs of Philadelphia, absorbing the values of 1950s America: integrity, straightforwardness and hard work.”
Read an Interview: Schwarzman on Entrepreneurship, China and Wall Street
After he was interviewed at the event Tuesday by Alan Murray, the president and CEO of Fortune, Schwarzman had nothing more to say about the senator from Vermont. He didn't take any remarks back. He just said, “I'm not litigating the 2020 election.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Coy in New York at pcoy3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net, David Scheer, John Harney
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