Ken Griffin warns Paris riots should be 'wake-up call' for Americans
The Citadel CEO said Paris 'looked pretty damn similar to Chicago in 2021 and 2022' during a panel discussion
Ken Griffin warns Paris riots should be a ‘wake-up call’ to Americans
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin on the Paris riots and why they should be a "wake-up call" to Americans (Credit: YouTube/Bloomberg Podcasts).
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin issued a warning that the riots that have occurred in Paris and other cities in France should serve as an example to young Americans that socialist policies aren't the utopia that some describe.
The billionaire hedge fund manager spoke during a panel discussion at Citadel Securities' recent Future of Global Markets Conference and said that the chaos on the streets in France exemplifies where the road to socialism leads.
"If you want to look at where socialism leads you to, look at France this last weekend. It's the socialist dream. The country spends 60% of its GDP at the government level. And yet their streets are awash in turmoil," Griffin said. "It's heartbreaking.
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"Paris looked pretty damn similar to Chicago in 2021 and 2022."
He added that young Americans who may be supportive of socialist policies should view the disorder in those cities as a wake-up call for the failings of socialism.
Citadel CEO and founder Ken Griffin warned that the chaos in France shows that socialist policies don't lead to the outcomes its advocates claim. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"I think Paris should be a real wake-up call to every single young American. France is the dream that the left talks about – the liberal, safety net-rich, socialist Europe. And here's France," he said.
"That dream, that dream is the nightmare I left from Chicago. That dream doesn't belong in our country. A society where it comes down to how much you can take from others. And they'll first take your property, and then they'll take your personal rights. That's not a society that we want to create in our country," Griffin explained.
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Griffin said the Paris riots reminded him of Chicago in 2021 and 2022. (Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Citadel founder was asked if he has seen U.S. political candidates who he is concerned want to take the country down that path.
"I mean, JB Pritzker, governor of Illinois. Yes, 100%," Griffin said.
Griffin moved Citadel's headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022 after the firm had operated in the Windy City for nearly three decades.
Griffin moved Citadel's headquarters from Chicago to Miami several years ago, citing high taxes and crime rates. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
In November, Griffin told Fox News' Bret Baier at the America Business Forum that Chicago is a "failed city-state" and noted that two of his colleagues had bullets fly through their cars.
"I had 25 bullet holes in the front of my building where I lived. You can't live in a city awash [with] violent crime," he said at the time.
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FOX Business' Kristen Altus contributed to this report.