Former Goldman Sachs CEO attacks Bernie Sanders claiming he will ‘ruin our economy and doesn’t care about military’

Following Bernie Sanders’ win in the New Hampshire Democrat primary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein took to Twitter to share his opinion on the Vermont senator.

He thinks Mr Sanders would be a bad president. Unsurprising, given that a central theme of the Sanders campaign is criticism of billionaires and Wall Street.

Mr Sanders was not the only target of Mr Blankfein’s tweet — he also went after president Donald Trump and Russian interference in US elections.

“If Dems go on to nominate Sanders, the Russians will have to reconsider who to work for to best screw up the US. Sanders is just as polarising as Trump AND he’ll ruin our economy and doesn’t care about our military. If I’m Russian, I go with Sanders this time around,” said Mr Blankfein.

Key policies of the Sanders campaign platform include raising taxes on the rich and a wealth tax on the richest Americans to pay for universal healthcare and child care. He has also said that he hopes there comes a day when billionaires do not exist.

Mr Sanders’ campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, replied: “This is what panic from the Wall Street elite looks and sounds like.”

While Mr Blankfein’s statements and warnings about progressive policies are popular on Wall Street, they were met with a certain amount of amusement by fans of Mr Sanders and his democratic socialist allies who are keen to see a disruptive force in the economy that they say favours only elites.

‘People for Bernie’ tweeted: “When you say ‘our economy,’ whose economy would that be, Lloyd?”

Other Twitter users were quick to point out the irony of an investment banker, who has apologised in the past for his role in the global financial crisis, complaining about someone else ruining the economy.

When asked about the tweet on CNN by Annie Grayer, Mr Sanders commented: “Let me see, a billionaire executive on Wall Street doesn’t like me. Hmm, I am shocked by that, Annie. I am really shocked.”

Mr Blankfein and Mr Sanders have argued before on Twitter on the subject of stock buybacks. Mr Blankfein contended that companies “used to be encouraged to return money to shareholders when it couldn’t reinvest in itself for a good return. The money doesn’t vanish, it gets reinvested in higher growth businesses that boost the economy and jobs. Is that bad?”

Mr Sanders responded: “Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, is correct that the money from stock buybacks ‘doesn’t vanish.’ It increases the wealth of billionaires like him. Instead of making the very rich even richer, how about increasing wages for American workers. Is that a bad idea?”

Having retired from leading Goldman Sachs in 2018 after 12 years, Mr Blankfein has continued to be vocal in his support for corporate America. He has also criticised Elizabeth Warren in the past, saying that her policies would bring “cataclysmic change” to the economy.