The arrogance of richness

[_ludwigm]

drones...

Drones are male honey bees. They develop from eggs that have not been fertilized, and they cannot sting, since the worker bee's stinger is a modified ovipositor (an egg laying organ).

[#img] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ne_24a.jpg[/img]
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A drone bee. Drone bees are characterized by their larger eyes, larger bodies (though the queen is usually even bigger), and stouter abdomens.


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As private wealth improves globally, there are more millionaires than ever before.

The number of millionaires is on the rise as the growth of private wealth around the world surged in 2013.

The total number of million households reached 16.3 million in 2013, or 1.1 percent of all households globally, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group on Monday. In 2012, meanwhile, that number was just 13.7 million.

Of those figures, the U.S. holds the highest number of millionaires, with 7.1 million, along with the “highest number of new millionaires (1.1 million).”

China, too, saw robust growth with 900,000 more millionaires entering the ranks to 2.4 million total. Those numbers easily surpass Japan, where millionaires are down to 1.2 million households “driven by the 15 percent fall in the yen against the dollar,” according to the report.

The report also stated that the highest density of millionaire households is in Qatar, where 175 out of every 1,000 households are above that threshold. All findings in the report are based on U.S. dollars.

http://fortune.com/2014/06/09/millionaires-global-rise/
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[_moksha]

This is a Conservative Republican's wet dream, and yet many Conservatives would prefer
the Bismark for sentimental reasons.

[_ludwigm]

[#img] http://www.abramovichyacht.com/wp-conte ... t-Map1.jpg[/img] (yes, I should #-ing out the picture, even as quote...)
This is a Conservative Republican's wet dream, and yet many Conservatives would prefer the Bismarck for sentimental reasons.

7.1 million of them (in US) DO invest something that range...

[_ludwigm]

[#img] http://cdnl.complex.com/mp/620/400/80/0 ... of001.jpeg[/img]
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http://www.complex.com/art-design/2014/ ... ave-desert :

"There is no road. There is no fence. There is no sign. There is no trail. You just come on it. I'm sure some people won't find it," said the artist to the Los Angeles Times. To access the pool, one has to visit the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles for a key and GPS coordinates to the installation in the Mojave Desert.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/ar ... tml#page=1 :

The piece, he says, "is about the effort people make to reach a luxury good." Pools, says Barsuglia, are often used as markers of wealth. "I'm interested in the way that these are often integrated into the architecture of a house. And, often, people will have a pool, but they don't even get into it. They just like to show that they have it. It shows they don't have to think about water."

[_MeDotOrg]

There seems to be a binary view of the world, that if you have criticisms of our capitalist society you must be a communist.

Many conservatives view the world with Totalitarianism on one side and freedom on the other. Any move towards Totalitarianism is bad, and any move towards freedom is good.

I have a different political model of the world: The opposite of totalitarianism is not democracy, it is anarchy or a failed state. In other words, the opposite of North Korea is not the United States, it is Iraq or Syria.

An optimal society has social glue and individual freedom. It is a balance of the collective and the individual. Oliver Wendell Holmes said "Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins." Freedom is not absolute.

We obviously have differences about how much individual freedom and how much community responsibility our society and government should have, but I think we all agree with the idea that there needs to be a balance, somewhere between totalitarianism and anarchy.

The piece, he says, "is about the effort people make to reach a luxury good." Pools, says Barsuglia, are often used as markers of wealth. "I'm interested in the way that these are often integrated into the architecture of a house. And, often, people will have a pool, but they don't even get into it. They just like to show that they have it. It shows they don't have to think about water."

After my father retired, he moved to Palm Desert, (next to Palm Springs). Palm Springs is a very strange town: everyone seems to be under 30 (the caretakers) or over 60 (the cared for). I've always thought of it as a sort of a Republican Disneyland: people play golf and tennis and live in walled communities with private security forces.

Even though the aquifer is being sucked dry, the ostentatious display of water is somehow connected with your social station in the desert. My parents lived in a walled community called The Lakes:



...which looked verdant, but it was nothing compared to what J.Willard Marriott built down the street. His hotel had gondolas in the lobby:

...to take you to your room...

[_ludwigm]

what J.Willard Marriott built down the street. His hotel had gondolas in the lobby
...to take you to your room...

From J.Willard Marriott entry of wikipedia:

Legacy
Marriott's legacy continues today through the continuance of the company he founded and through his community involvement and philanthropy.

The meaning of "philanthropy" :

Philanthropy etymologically means "love of humanity" in the sense of caring, nourishing, developing and enhancing "what it is to be human" on both the benefactors' (by identifying and exercising their values in giving and volunteering) and beneficiaries' (by benefiting) parts. The most conventional modern definition is "private initiatives, for public good, focusing on quality of life". This combines the social scientific aspect developed in the 20th century with the original humanistic tradition, and serves to contrast philanthropy with business (private initiatives for private good, focusing on material prosperity) and government (public initiatives for public good, focusing on law and order).

[_ludwigm]

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/05/ ... 9/103/125/
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MUNICH — Bernie Ecclestone is free to concentrate on running Formula One after a German court dropped a bribery case against him Tuesday in exchange for a $100 million payment.

After hearing more than three months of evidence, the Munich state court cited significant doubts that Ecclestone could be convicted on charges of bribery and incitement to breach of trust as it approved an agreement between his lawyers and prosecutors and closed the trial.

The charges can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and a conviction would have threatened Ecclestone's grip on the global racing series.

If you can pay enough, you can get off --- avoid punishment.
(paying $100 million out of $4.2 billion is 2%, less than any tax anywhere around the world)

[_ludwigm]

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... -jail-cell
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Some people land in jail and have to sell off some prized assets in order to make bail. Then there’s Subrata Roy, who may have to part with the Plaza Hotel, not to mention some other prized properties in New York and London. The Indian businessman, owner of a conglomerate called the Sahara Group that has interests in everything from finance to TV stations to a Formula One team, has been at the Tihar prison in New Delhi since March. Indian regulators have accused Sahara of raising 240 billion rupees ($3.95 billion) by selling a convertible bond instrument without permission. Roy has argued that his company has complied with an order to refund the money raised from 30 million depositors.

To get out of Tihar, the largest prison in the country, Roy needs to pay $1.6 billion in bail. Even for someone who controls 120 companies and 14,600 hectares of land, that’s a hefty sum. Hence the “For Sale” sign at the landmark hotel at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South—and the unusual arrangements for Roy, 66, and his team at Tihar (Sahara bought the Plaza in 2012). On Aug. 1, a three-judge panel ruled the prison’s conference hall could double as a jail cell and an office, one equipped with videoconferencing and Internet facilities as well as several beds. The court also allowed Roy to have four staff members from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Explaining the need for the arrangement, Roy’s lawyers said in a court filing last month the company required a “congenial atmosphere” to negotiate the sale.

[_moksha]

The Baby Boomers have already started to retire and all will have retired (or reached 65) by 2025. Armed with that demographic information, how soon could a Republican President and Congress get fully functional Soylent Green production facilities up and running across the country?

[_ludwigm]

Buy Condo, Then Add Parking Spot for $1 Million...

What will $1 million buy in New York City? A diamond-encrusted Cartier men’s watch. A small fleet of 2014 Bentley Continentals. Or maybe your very own parking spot in SoHo.

A new development, 42 Crosby Street, is pushing the limits of New York City real estate to new heights with 10 underground parking spots that will cost more per square foot than the apartments being sold upstairs.

The million-dollar parking spots will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis to buyers at the 10-unit luxury apartment building being developed by Atlas Capital Group at Broome and Crosby Streets, itself the former site of a parking lot. At $250,000 a tire, the parking spaces in the underground garage cost more than four times the national median sales price for a home, which is $217,800, according to Zillow.

So instead of a 5,000-square-foot house with a wine cellar in Dallas or a 3,500-square-foot home with a sauna in Seattle, one could choose 150 square feet in the basement of 42 Crosby, a condominium designed by the architect Annabelle Selldorf.