Lucky Larry Silverstein: The luckiest man alive
They say it’s better to be born lucky than, eh, something or other. If
so, Larry Silverstein is your man. What a lucky guy! No wonder he’s
smiling. Consider this.
Every, every, every morning Larry had breakfast
with his son and daughter at the Window On The World restaurant on the
top floor of the World Trade Center. Except for the morning of September
11, 2001.
Boy, wasn’t that luck?
And where was he on that day? Here you can listen to him explain. “Eh, I, um, cough, er, ahem, cough, I was at the dermatologist, mumble, mumble”. What a lucky guy.
And where was he on that day? Here you can listen to him explain. “Eh, I, um, cough, er, ahem, cough, I was at the dermatologist, mumble, mumble”. What a lucky guy.
But what about his unfortunate children, incinerated
in the carnage of that day? Well, he’s lucky again! His son was, eh,
somewhere else that morning. The first time in months that he wasn’t at
the WTC.
But the poor daughter then? More luck! She too was, ahem,
somewhere else that morning. Like the son, missing for the first time in
months.
But Larry’s luck didn’t end there. You see, when Larry bought the WTC buildings, many people thought he was crazy. The owners were finding it difficult to get tenants, and faced a multi-billion-dollar asbestos-removal court order. Some figures put the bill so high that knocking them would have been more economical. Especially when tenants were so hard to come by.
Larry was struggling. But he got lucky yet again! Yes sirree! You see, in an act of breathtaking perspicacity and foresight, he insured the buildings for billions……..in the event of their being destroyed by terrorist attack. How the insurers must have laughed as they lodged his premium. But then, literally out of the blue, a few weeks later, the unimaginable happened. The buildings were destroyed by terrorists, and Larry collected his payout. All his problems solved, including the tricky asbestos one.
But there’s more! In a TV interview he said that he gave the order to ‘pull’ the WTC 7 building because of the danger to fire fighters. (There were in fact none in the building, just some highly incriminating documents relating to Enron and other sensitive issues). Now it normally takes between four and six weeks to rig such a building for demolition, but somehow Larry was able to magically pull it off in about five minutes.
Is that luck or what?
And his luck continues to this day. Given what I've described above, some begrudgers, most notably the insurance companies and the MSM’s investigative journalists (is that an oxymoron?) might be expected to raise awkward questions. But happily, not a bit of it! It all went swimmingly. Money was paid over, no awkward questions asked. And a few weeks ago, on the tenth anniversary of the terrible event, there was Larry on the podium, an honoured guest, as those assembled commemorated the tragedy and mourned the victims.
Larry Silverstein, the luckiest man alive. Seven billion the richer, I'm sure he’ll pass some of it on to a needy and so helpful Israel.
But Larry’s luck didn’t end there. You see, when Larry bought the WTC buildings, many people thought he was crazy. The owners were finding it difficult to get tenants, and faced a multi-billion-dollar asbestos-removal court order. Some figures put the bill so high that knocking them would have been more economical. Especially when tenants were so hard to come by.
Larry was struggling. But he got lucky yet again! Yes sirree! You see, in an act of breathtaking perspicacity and foresight, he insured the buildings for billions……..in the event of their being destroyed by terrorist attack. How the insurers must have laughed as they lodged his premium. But then, literally out of the blue, a few weeks later, the unimaginable happened. The buildings were destroyed by terrorists, and Larry collected his payout. All his problems solved, including the tricky asbestos one.
But there’s more! In a TV interview he said that he gave the order to ‘pull’ the WTC 7 building because of the danger to fire fighters. (There were in fact none in the building, just some highly incriminating documents relating to Enron and other sensitive issues). Now it normally takes between four and six weeks to rig such a building for demolition, but somehow Larry was able to magically pull it off in about five minutes.
Is that luck or what?
And his luck continues to this day. Given what I've described above, some begrudgers, most notably the insurance companies and the MSM’s investigative journalists (is that an oxymoron?) might be expected to raise awkward questions. But happily, not a bit of it! It all went swimmingly. Money was paid over, no awkward questions asked. And a few weeks ago, on the tenth anniversary of the terrible event, there was Larry on the podium, an honoured guest, as those assembled commemorated the tragedy and mourned the victims.
Larry Silverstein, the luckiest man alive. Seven billion the richer, I'm sure he’ll pass some of it on to a needy and so helpful Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment