My own parents escaped poverty and made it into the middle class thanks to the educational and housing opportunities available to GIs after WWII. I guess we don’t live in that world any more:
These days, the high end of the real-estate market is also the hot end. Sales of properties in lower-cost communities have plummeted, while those in the middle are struggling. But the market for luxury properties, those defined as worth at least $10 million, is booming.
High-end homes are selling so well, there is even room for a niche market: the fully-furnished, fully-stocked estate, complete with a plasma screen TV in every room.
“It’s immediate gratification,” says San Diego realtor Patricia Kramer, who sells the move-in specials. Some in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe are as large as 20,000 square feet.
Says Kramer, “You walk in and you bring your toothbrush and you are home. “
If you want to tour the estates, though, you may have to settle for the virtual one, because only those who pre-qualify to buy are allowed inside.
John Karevoll, with the real-estate information service DataQuick, says economic growth has benefited the very high-end households more than it has helped middle-income and lower-income ones.
“In fact,” Karevoll says, “lower-income households are probably doing worse than they were five, 10, 20 years ago.”
According to Census data, middle-income families saw their wealth increase a little more than 7 percent in the last 15 years. Contrast that with the richest 5 percent of the population, who have seen their wealth soar 40 percent.
“It’s another gilded age in America,” says Rick Goodwyn, publisher of Unique Homes magazine. “The wealthy are rapidly becoming wealthier.”
And then there’s this, from WWD (7/2/2007):
Happy Days Here Again: Courture Sales Ride High On Raft of New Wealth
The same gusher of wealth-bolstering sales of fine jewelry and five-figure handbags is fanning a boom in high fashion, with strong attendance and sales expected as coture week kicks off today with a flurry of high-octane anniverary events here and in Rome.
“With the January collection, we doubled sales,” said a beaming Sidney Toledano, president of Christian Dior; marking its 60th anniversary with an extravagant show and party at Versailes this evening.
[]
Giammetti said new bilionaires, who think nothing of hiring Goerge Michael or Tina Turner to perform at a private party, may allot a large budget for couture dresses. “I really look at couture in a positive way,” Giametti said. “There is a new clientele to touch.”
Meanwhile John Edwards is quite rightfully disgusted that a man in this country couldn’t speak because he couldn’t afford an operation for his cleft palate for 5 decades.
This is George Bush’s America. I must say I find this preoccupation with outrageous, conspicuous consumption a bit white trash.
Related posts:
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- FDL Book Salon Welcomes Wade Rathke, Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families
- FDL Book Salon Welcomes Paul Tough, Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America
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FDL!
Dick Cheney Controls Tim Russert.
Lighten up on Conyers. Recall the story of Balaam’s Ass.
The days of the GI Bill weren’t all wine and roses either. The money was handed out on a regional and local level and largely excluded African Americans.
Impeach ABU- the gatekeeper
A BIT white trash?!?
It’s disgusting. Anyone who spends,say,50 grand for a freaking purse needs a good old fashioned butt whooping. Not while we’ve got homeless,hungry and sick people in this country(in ANY country)with no hope.
Does anyone have the quote from James Webb about the amount of wealth transfer to the top 10% or 5% or 1%??
It is beyond revolting. What’s really worrisome is the values the children are learning from their ‘entitled’ wealthy parents.
America is about winning and making it financially.
Who ever said it was about democracy and an economy to life ALL boats?
The repukes today are the me me me generation on steriods and they don’t want anyone raining on their parade. Their greed knows no bounds.
The people need to take back their country and their economic lives. We are noting more than vassels to the landed gentry. It’s the new feudalism!
NBC Nightly News, a week or two ago, did a big story on the swanky living spaces the rich were buying in Manhattan. It was “ha ha, good times for us” kind of reporting. I sat watching, mouth agape. There is no way workaday people want to see lifestyles of the rich and clueless on the nightly news, when it’s getting hard to afford gas and groceries these days.
Off subject, but….Obama has got snarl.
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
In an interview with the Quad City Times Clinton called Obama’s answer to whether or not he would meet with leaders who oppose the United States “irresponsible” and “naïve.”
The Davenport, Iowa paper wrote: “Clinton rejected the idea she reversed herself and added she wouldn’t foreclose talks with those leaders. But she wouldn’t promise it, either, and she added that Obama is regretting his answer today.
“‘I thought that was irresponsible and frankly naive,’” the New York senator said.
We will update when we get a response from the Obama campaign.
****UPDATE****Obama hits back
Obama himself responded to the Quad City Times, saying Clinton was creating a “fabricated controversy” and that what was “‘irresponsible and naive’ was voting to authorize the Iraq war.”
“What she’s somehow maintaining is my statement could be construed as not having asked what the meeting was about. I didn’t say these guys were going to come over for a cup of coffee some afternoon,” he said. “From what I heard, the point was, well, I wouldn’t do that because it might allow leaders like Hugo Chavez to score propaganda points. I think that is absolutely wrong.”
“He likened the position to a continuation of the Bush administration diplomatic policies,” the Quad City Times writes.
The simple fact of the matter is, that the Bush family and those like them ‘know’ they are better than the rest. And they were born to rule.
anangryoldbroad @ 6
I wouldn’t buy a purse for 50 grand unless it came complete with a $49,980 check in it.
And a matching key chain.
The only reason I could possibly see to buy a $50k purse would be to impress somebody … but why should anyone give a shit about the opinion of someone who would be impressed by a $50k purse? How could the opinion of a person like that be worth anything?
All this greed and gluttony is repugnant. Our culture is f**ked up.
The culture is unsalvageably rotten. Multiple revisionist rehabilitations of Marie Antoinette in the History section are another symptom.
Shorter Jane: Get some class
Oklahoma kiddo @ 8
Can you imagine an entire generation who behaves like bush?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 12
Wasn’t Prescott Bush a used car salesman who married well. Both the Bush and Walker families were scum.
Sandman @ 7
From my blog, “I Saw a Highway of Diamonds with Nobody on it” on 11/15/06:
To read more of what Jim Webb has to say, (with The Daily Kos’s snarky debunking of the “conservative Democrat” meme interspersed) visit Webb, conservative…
“… and tell ’em Big Mitch sent ya!”
I wish every MSM outlet would feature DAILY
a) an article on someone affected by Iraq (family of someone killed, injured; family with someone over there, etc.); and
b) an article on someone on the bottom end of this wealth spread.
Day in and day out. This should be repeated again and again and again. Just the “facts.” That should be enough.
(from last thread)
An impeachment INQUIRY is just that.
If there is no reason to question the activity of this AG, then there never has been and never will be any reason for Congress to continue pretending to be a separate branch of our government.
Impeachment off the table? My dear Congress, please leave your rubber stamps on that table, we will call you back into session when we need you.
Remember when George’s very wealthy mother, Babs said of the people forced to flee to the Astro-Dome in N.O. after Katrina were probably ‘enjoying themselves? Those folks never had it so good Mrs. Bush thought. These Bush people haven’t been in touch with the real world for decades. Why? Because they are filthy rich and well connected.
Steve-AR @ 18
Obama can hit back all he wants, Hillary had the statesmanlike answer. It’s like saying to the Union president, are you going to sit down with management and hit a deal? The union president says, hell no, the chairman of my negotiating team is going to sit down and hammer out a deal, then bring it to me. If it gets close enough to make it worth my while, I’ll speak with management.
Last Sunday’s Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle had,
cheek by jowl on the front page,
an article about workers being forced to take 1/3 cuts in pay,
Delphi workers feel pinch – Many worry about living on less after wage cuts
right below
Hot properties – try lake homes,
about waterfront homes in the Finger Lakes doubling in value.
But if Bobo says that we’re doing well, who am I to disagree?
Oklahoma kiddo @ 12
You know it.
http://www.tarpley.net/bushb.htm
Treason is their business — and biz is great!
Twain @ 23
Oops. Don’t know what happened. Anyway, after Bush 41 lost the election a Republic, who did not with to have his name used, said that Bush was deeply offended because he felt that he was “entitled” to be president. That says it all, I think.
Obama’s answer made me cringe. As did his answer on Health Care.
The more I see Hilary paired up with Obama, the better she looks to me.
Though I agree with Digby–Edwards was the youtube debate winner.
tbsa @ 17
I went to college with a bunch of them – me on my scholarship and working two jobs, them with their trust funds and legacy admissions. A vacuum cleaner was about the only tool some of them knew how to use (from watching others, not personal experience, mind you). As a side job (that would be job #3, I suppose, for those keeping score), I sewed buttons, hemmed trousers, constructed bookcases, and did other things requiring elaborate equipment like a needle and thread, hammer and nails, or a screwdriver.
Honest to God, one kid claimed never to have seen a screwdriver before I wielded one in his presence. “Why did they name that thing after a drink?”
Ah, college memories. Pass the OJ, please . . . my screwdriver needs a splash more.
Twain @ 27
The Bush family starts with the Bible salesman who ran around the country side. He was a strict calvanist who believed in double pre-destination: I (Bush) am going to heavan no matter what I do, and you (non-calvanist/Bushie) are going to hell, even if you are Ghandi, Mother Teresa or a Catholic, Methodist, or Presbystarian. It starts with that attitude, and develops from there.
de-lurking
because i am not as learned as most of you, this article “spoke” to me: Welcome to Richistan, USA
Jane, I currently live in a town which cannot sell out fast enough to the rich. The landscape is destroyed fast and furious by the ugly mansions. The ski resorts worry about global warming, it would be easy enough to make it a law to require solar panels on those behemoths (third ‘homes’, six fireplaces, etc), but no. These people let others furnish their places, they have no taste of their own, and the botoxed ladies with faces like masks cannot even decide which butter to buy, without having a consultant.
Just now, two minutes ago, I came back from a walk and saw another long driveway outfitted with heating coils before they pour the concrete. The locals are whoring for the out of town money, and the businesses cut wages to way below living wage.
The outer facade may be pretty, but this whole year I have encountered a shocking lack of sopbhistication.
puppethead, I completely agree with you.
Seems as though MSM long ago wrote off the workaday demographic for their news audience.
Not enough purchasing power.
puppethead @ 10
Ah, for the good old days, when Imelda Marcos was considered excessive. Her quaint little pile of shoes seems a minor eccentricity now, for those who remember.
At what point do liberals, progressives etc. that work for reform only to be thwarted by an ossified power elite become revolutionaries?
Obama portrays an aura of a man who knows the fix is in and he is certain he will be the next president. I’m sure he’s a great guy but I won’t vote for him. Nor will my son.
kirk murphy @ 33
In a survey taken several months ago, they found that only 12% of the people who work in San Francisco can actually afford to live there.
New money is always really stoopid and conspicuous.
ccmask @ 36
Unlike, say, Clinton?
Please.
The irony of holding the Dior show at Versailles seems to be lost on the authors of the article Jane quotes. As for Shrub being detached, he couldn’t have better demonstrated both his pathological lack of empathy and his ignorance of the world outside his own little Western Versailles when he complimented the legless Iraq war vet by saying “that’s great, we’re going to get you some new legs!” No, Mr. President, he will get prostheses to slide over the stumps that were his legs, if he’s lucky he wont get a peg-leg like Ahab. That, and the President saying that we have no health care crisis “If you have a problem, you just go to an emergency room!” Have we no workhouses, Mr. President?
I don’t get the MSM marketing strategy. Their market isn’t the rich; they sell to the poor. At some point the income gap is going to be so visible, and the class acts are going to rub people so much the wrong way, that a populist market will emerge again, as it did in the 1930s. This is a very egalitarian country — at least for white people — and while most of those white people don’t have any problem with darkies working below the minimum wage for rich people, they don’t like it one bit when they get treated the same way.
The change will show up first on HBO. It already has, in the Paris Hilton type on ‘Lost’. The writers are the first to sense change like this.
The last quote from the NPR story above made me laugh. A magazine with the title “Unique Homes” is marketed to the über-rich, inspiring them to run to their architects, contractors, and decorators: “I want my house to look exactly like page 56!”
That’s unique, all right.
The new money crowd make the Barbary Pirates look like pikers. Especially the “activist investors” and hedge funds…those guys make Tony Soprano look tame.
Pachacutec @ 38
You don’t really mean that, do you?
Knut Wicksell @ 41
They are selling a fantasy. If trash like Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise, Brittany Spears and Lindsay Lohan can have it, then anyone can. And that is what is the toxic idea–the idea that we are All entitled to live like those people. It is also the fantasy pushed by Martha Stewart and Oprah and a thousand other “life-style” gurus.
I recomend Barbara Kingsolver’s latest book as an antidote.
Is Edwards the William Jennings Bryan?
Is Populism reemerging as class warfare ensues?
Marx would say it was the consciousnes of the masses. Frankly, I do not see that yet.
Actually–speaking of Barbara Kingsolver. She would be a FANTASTIC addition to the FDL book club.
Jim Clausen @ 46
Be careful with the WJB comparison. You’ll stimulate a George Will column on the subject.
When are the MSM facilities going to be stormed and taken down brick by brick. When are the states going to have their Bastille moment.
Woodhall Hollow @ 45
Enthusiastically seconded.
Woodhall Hollow @ 28
My sentiments exactly.
Pachacutec @ 38
But I thought Paris Hilton was OLD money?
peg @ 31
Ah, dear Peg, I don’t think any of us would claim to be learned…just loudmouthed. ;-)
Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, it made me sick. Edwards is right-there are two Americas.
BigMitch @ 51
Why did they keep doing shots of Hillary from behind? Or is that a silly question?
My friend has finally told me who, after viewing last night’s debate with me, she thinks would make the best next Democratic president in 2008. And she has given me substantial reasons for her view.
David Halberstam’s contempt for BushCo wrt Iraq resonates in this article.
“The History Boys”
The same contempt should apply for their class-ification of America
What? You’re sick of me posting this link? Have you read it yet?
Know thine adversary. Nothing will ever dissuade or change Bush/Chee-knee. Not on Iraq. Not on health care. Not on the environment. Not on abuse of DOJ. Not on shredding the Constitution.
The only way to defeat a bully is to stand up to him.
Ed*ard Teller @ 52
New money is (almost) always really stoopid and conspicuous, and old money sometimes is.
From Love and Rockets’ updated version of The Temptations’ Ball of Confusion:
Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors,
Solid gold in demand, population out of hand, suicide, too many bills,
Everyone moving to the hills. People all over the world are dying in the war.
And the band played on…
(Funny how songs from Reagan/Bush the Elder era resonate so strongly today under Bush the Lesser.)
Speaking of today’s stock market.
-GSD
Oklahoma kiddo @ 55
Don’t leave us hanging.
I’ve heard people talking about ‘affordable housing’ in ways that made it clear that they thought it meant ‘housing for the undeserving poor’. I’m sure they’re GOoPers, although they prefer not to say so. One of them works a second job – he’s upfront about it – so I’m not sure what kind of delusions he has.
Reading about the anti-McMansion proposals yesterday, I was wondering what kind of people think that 2500 square feet is too small; what do they have that they need 4000 square feet or more in their houses? (I won’t even touch the plasma-TV-in-every-room – that’s just excessive consumption.)
And then there’s the wannabes…those who will not survive the increase in interest rates. I own a lot outright in a development, chose not to build on it when I saw that there was going to be a downturn in the housing market. As a member of the development, I’ve become privy to inside information about some of the other properties.
Of 30 to 40 houses and lots, 12 of them are going back to the bank, and they have houses valued at more than 500K (minimum 2700 sq. ft. in the development). Comparable homes in Florida would be worth a couple million.
And yet there’s no outward indication that anything untoward is going on, save for the one home that dispensed with grass cutting a couple of weeks ago. An invisible implosion.
These houses will eventually be snapped up by the uber-rich as investment properties once their prices have completely collapsed and been written off by the banks. Just another opportunity to widen the divide between haves and have-nots, and ensure the wannabes never bridge the gap.
Cash only, gang. If you can’t buy it outright, watch your back.
Ed*ard Teller @ 52
Best reason in the world to ratchet-up the estate tax.
It’s time to bring back the 70% tax bracket. They asked for it.
Times are so good for the ruling elite that 80’s retro chic is back in style.
-GSD
Jim Clausen @ 46
I hope not. William Jennings Bryan lost.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 55
So, OK, Who? Why?
BigMitch @ 60
my guess is that would be al gore
At this point, I’m afraid that I have to use the C word.
In today’s Richard Cohen extrusion, we have the following morsel,
in connection with the famous $400 haircut and the alleged inconsistancy on Edwards’ part: the haircut is a
The chattering class is deathly afraid of Edwards.
cleter @ 66
Thanks. My point exactly
Frank Burns @ 64
I see your 70% and raise you 10%
Re: Abu in SJC today.
I just heard Shumer try to pin down AG^2 on whether the meeting with the gang of 8 was about the TSP (terrorist surveillance program.)
It was painful to watch. Like nailing jello to a tree. Like fucking a snake with a limp dick.
I still think that Abu has succeeded in misleading the committee. He differentiates between “other intelligence activities” and the TSP. I believe he is talking about other intelligence activities within the TSP that were excised after the Comey conference with POTUS. But Shumer doesn’t seem to get it.
Those appears to be a very nice driveways to march up with the torches and pitchforks in a few more months.
Ed*ard Teller @ 52
Barely of age.
The irony is that the rich will have enough money and assets to
always stay above inflation and afford to travel overseas no matter
what the exchange rate will be. In the meantime everyone else is
getting shafted big time ——-? wake up folks there is no light
at the end of our economic tunnel. It is going to get far worse.
Better start reading on how to survive on rock soup etc….,
We are fast heading into a failed economic system with the coming
crash of the dollar on the world economic scene. Bush could care
less. Edwards and Ron Paul are honest enough to give us straight
talk about this.
Eat the rich!
There is a company called Bag, Borrow, or Steal. It’s like Netflix, only instead of video’s, you get purses.
Woodhall Hollow @ 28
I liked Edwards before and I liked him even more after the Q&A (not really a debate). Thought Hillary was pretty darn good, and as some of you know, I’m not a HRC fan.
Hillary took full advantage of the fact that Obama went first on the diplomacy question. Score one for her, and Obama lost a point only through comparison to her answer.
Biden looked pretty good, except his video made him seem tired, not relaxed or whatever. He wiffed on the education Q though, you could tell he hadn’t thought about it beforehand and gave a standard answer.
I liked the YouTube format and even the fact that CNN kept in some whimsical stuff without making Americans look too silly.
I hope this pushesEdwards ahead.
Sam!
Thought of Jake just yesterday when reading the introduction to Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors story collection.
Don’t need his skills to read the economic future.
You are spot on all by your lonesome.
Fossilhippie @ 76
It would help with the hunger problem *g*
I, unfortunately, am intimately familiar with the fucked up housing market. We’ve been trying to sell a standard 3BR2BA house in a regular middle class nighborhood since May and have had only a trickle of prospective buyers come through. And definitely no offers.
Now I realize I should have bought a $3.2 million mansion on the lakefront with a dock. How could I have been so stupid?
janda @ 80
I’ll be swift. This is a modest proposal.
Bearpaw @ 50
My favorite and I found out she lives near me.
OT
Wolfie and Kelly Arena just did a story on the hearings today. The big story is that Gonzo denied pressuring Ashcroft, then straight to senators warning him to recheck testimony with an eye to changing it to prevent possible perjury.
No mention of the testimony he was warned about, (2nd intelligence program), and no mention of OVP.
Was she at the same hearing? She’s their justice department reporter,fer Chrissake. It’s no wonder the voters don’t have a clue.
do-si-do @ 78
So do I. He is the only one who is consistently pushing the debate into what really matters. The others seem to follow (not such a bad thing), it’s like he goes out there and tests the waters, and when they see it resonate, they jump on board. Except, it seems, for Obama, who seems to be worried that Edwards is a clear rival for 2nd spot in the polls and tries very hard to differntiate himself from Edwards. Speaking of Obama, I think that he has the Faux crowd hogtie him with all the Osama/Obama insinuations, and he seems to think that he can overcome it by being a kind of Lieberman-lite when it comes to a lot of issues. I don’t trust him.
As far as the Hillary/Barak thing, neither of them is my favorite, but Hillary is the only candidate in the Democratic race that I absolutely WILL NOT vote for under any circumstances.
I bet I’m not alone.
I live in a state that doesn’t have it’s primary until after everything is decided so I never get to voice my opinion of who should be the Democratic nominee, but I’ll vote for Ralph Nader or a ficus tree before I’ll vote for Hillary.
So consider that everyone in states who’s primaries matter. Hillary will not get a single Republican vote, she probably won’t get any independents and she’ll even lose some of the Democratic base.
I don’t understand how all the polls have her leading the pack, because I don’t know one person personally who doesn’t feel about her the same as I do. But apparently there are a lot of you out there.
With the exception of Kucinich and Gravel I’m not absolutely certain any of these candidates won’t sell us out the first time big money interests come calling, but Hillary is the one candidate I KNOW will sell us out every time our interests get in the way of big money.
As far as Obama’s answer on political meetings with all the popular boogey men, I think he had exactly the right answer.
And I love his defense after Clinton attacked him.
I’ll still probably vote for Edwards in the primary – not that my vote will matter.
Of the candidates currently running, I think the GOP is most afraid of Edwards. They are very afraid that if the economy sours, his economic mesage will really resonate.
I noticed two things last night:
Hillary is better at the political big picture than the others, and recognizes and exploits mistakes of others in a very skillful way.
The “would you meet with Castro” question has a lot of resonance with south Florida primary voters, and Obama gave exactly the wrong answer for that segment. She gave exactly the right answer for that bloc, AND pointed out that Obama did not. She is attuned to the nuances of south Florida politics in ways Obama is not. Bill put a lot of effort into wooing Florida, and she recognizes that.
Hillary is very scared of Gore entering the race. She is not scared of anyone up there on the stage, though.
Jane,
I could say, as you have, that my family escaped poverty by dint of “the educational and housing opportunities available to GIs after WWII.” However, we must recall that part of the boom was due to the fact that Europe had been decimated by World War II.
Is it so surprising that there is a generation that believes war is a good thing? Shameful, yes. Surprising, no.
I will say this much. Lahoma (my friend) is pulling me closer to her position on who should be our next president.
Rayne, look at this story:
Home foreclosures hit record in California
Riverside County at a new high. In addition, there’s a year’s supply of houses on the market in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, up from a three-week supply at the height of the boom.
By David Streitfeld, Times Staff Writer
11:23 AM PDT, July 24, 2007
[snip]
I know people who put their house on the market in May of last year, and it still hasn’t sold. That’s in one of the nicer areas of LA – working-class people, older houses (many with additions), but not bad. The houses there were running about $500k, which is typical for that age and size in the LA area.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 89
I thought you liked President Gore.
More of the effects of the Bush administrations “compassionate conservatism”
P J Evans @ 62
The AstroDome is both quite spacious and comfy I hear.
My girls are consistently on the lowest end of the TVs per household poll some teachers like to do. We had only one until this year. Most families in their classes have at least five…I insist that they learn how to share before leaving for college. But that’s just me.
cleter @ 87
Hillary is very good in Red State areas. She tried it out in upstate NY (and by that I mean up toward Buffalo and Plattsburg) and it worked out brilliantly for her. I would not underestimate her in Red States for that reason, esp in an era when so many died in the wool republicans are totally disgusted with Bush, and are not all that enthusiastic about ANY of the rethug candidates.
You do not want to eat the rich. Too much mercury in their
flesh from all that sushi consumption and gorging on tuna and
swordfish steaks. Cannibalism is a rite of honoring the strength of
the enemy through eating. We do not want to be like the rich.
Nor do we aspire to consume in McMansions.
Jake tells me to tear up my Costco card.
Quite a few of us here, still live in what most would call poor to very poor conditions. But we are proud to be Oklahomans. And most of have jobs and work hard.
Bluetoe @ 35
Good question.
P J Evans @ 90
What people need to realize is that, so far, the disintegration in the housing market and the explosion in foreclosures has been largely confined to the *adjustable* subprime market. Over the next two-three years, as many prime adjustable mortagages get adjusted upwards, the foreclosure virus is going to start spreading up the socio-economic ladder.
cleter @ 91
I do. And he is my choice. On that nothing has changed. ;0)
cleter @ 87
If Gore chooses Feingold as his running mate .. I will donate the max .. plus go door to door .. as much as I possibly can.
Woodhall Hollow @ 94
I live in a red state and Republicans think she’s the anti-christ. Independents agree and most Democrats find that’s one of the few things we can agree with Republicans about.
Seriously. If she’s the nominee it’s about the only hope Republicans have of winning in 2008. (well, okay, voter caging and electronic voting machines give them a lot of hopes… but you get my point).
Sam @ 95
Can we at least feed them to the dogs?
Fossilhippie @ 76
Soylrich Green
Fuck the lobbyists upstairs
Elliott @ 103
Oh, I thought it was a plug for Pork: the other white meat. ;
hey, this is getting so gross!
Bad do-si-do!! Bad!
Bush is the perfect symbol for this age. I hope that his nonwealthy voters have learned by now that he really doesn’t want to have a beer with them.
allan_in_upstate @ 98
Thank the gods, my partner and I chose a fixed rate mortgage when we decided to refinance, several years ago. Finances are tight at the moment, but my mother is moving in with us, and expenses will be split three ways…
SufiLizard @ 101
Ohio is no longer a problem since Blackwell is gone.
Edwards has the right idea going.
History has shown that when too much money is in the hands of too few, the nation goes to hell.
Bush may have a bit of money, but look at him. Listen to him. No thanks. By design, or sheer stupidity- if that is privilege, no thank you. Ewwwwwwwwww.
Why, with the market around 1400, does the US have an unprecedented amount (in the past 15 yrs) of foreclosures in the housing market? And, if things are so great, why does China basically own us given the debt they carry for us?
I am beginning to think that it almost doesn’t matter that the GOP hard-core thinks Hillary is the antichrist. I think they think that about ALL the top tier Democrats. I don’t think they would be less harsh to another candidate. Did they honor John Kerry’s military service? Did they cut Al Gore any slack? I used to believe the “Hillary galvanizes the enemy” idea, but I’m starting to doubt that that matters.
1,587 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen cleter and the Firepup Patriots:
(First of all a correction from post down stream, it should be “Ervin Committee” not Irvin…)
“Hillary is very scared of Gore entering the race.”
Indeed, the entire oligarchy is scared to DEATH of Big Al…and for pretenders like Mrs. Clinton, the name “Al Gore” ends a pink slip out to all political aspirations. For Mrs. Clinton, Gore also closes the window on her aspirations to get her family accepted into the privileged class. For the oligarchy, Clinton represents an opportunity to consolidate all the gains and profits made in the last 6 years and ensure that those who control the oil and nuclear resources will control the distribution of the alternatives to oil and nuclear. This is why Mrs. Clinton must never be allowed anywhere close to the White House again.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION…ALL THEY GOT IS OUR MONEY!!
janda @ 102
I think Jake would resent that thought.
But he might find a use for their entrails.
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 108
Please do not underestimate the dangers of electronic voting. We must push for paper ballots. Fool me once…fool me a third time…
P J Evans @ 61
My husband summed this “affordable housing” statement right up. It is about builders being able to build affordably (plenty of profit.) They’ll sell at the market rate.
WHAT!?!?!?!???
No free toothbrush!?!?!?!???
JML @ 113
Oh yeah, Abu said “I can fix that” and deleted chunks of voter fraud prosecution guidelines from the DOJ manual. Any else objectionable? Just deleted it from his brain.
All better.
Frank Burns @ 64
Why stop there? It was over 90 under Eisenhower.
Don’t forget, this country, for the majority of its history, has been a two class society. The only time we have had a strong middle class was around the time of the revolution, for a few years post Civil War, and post New Deal until Nixon. Equal opportunity and justice are not the normal state of affairs.
more money than taste
and this proves it
the story about the instant houses proves just how tacky these “new rich” are
you can’t pour your soul into making a house a home if you don’t have a soul to begin with
and only the most insecure can believe that a disgustingly obnoxious opulent home can impress anyone who is worth impressing. the only people who are impressed by that are the fellow soulless and the kind of friends that you rent by the hour.
and don’t even get me started on the blood diamonds…
time to make the phrase
“easy come, easy go” more than just an adage
Oklahoma kiddo @ 55
What’s with the annoying vanity post ?? Make a point or dont bother posting – this little teaser (and all the subsequent ones you posted) is annoying – what’s the point ??!?
Ooooh, someone you know has substantial reasons to vote for someone, and its important enough in your mind that it should be noted to the rest of us, but shhh, its a secret… gee, you have a secret, isnt that fun ??? High school beckons for you…
It’s white trash, all the way. I know of a family that, with five children, can’t scrape enough together to buy a home.
They rent a little cracker box not big enough for three people. Rural America is taking a big hit, especially in the rust belt.
That’s one reason I keep my eye on Edward’s….the middle class is in dire straits. Reminds me of Steppenwolf’s song,America………anyone remember that. There sure as hell is a “monster on the loose.” Actually, think that was the album’s title.
P.S. TruthShark, may I reccommend you stop by a health food store and purchase a Bach Flower Remedy called Rescue Remedy………..it’s for stress and anxiety……Peace to us all.
kin @ 119
Kin, this thread is of interest to me because I have just made the decision to move away from this town, and your term ’soulless’ hits home. Soul and heart were, to me, missing ingredients. The surface was very pretty initially, but only skin deep.
I have been to houses where they told with great pride how they just took over all ‘furnishings’ from the previous owners, for about fifty or a hundred grand. They think it is a great deal.
The ‘rent by the hour’ is indeed very common here.
TruthShark @ 120
I’m in high school. That’s where I teach. You be sure and have a good night. ;0)
It’s soon going to be the Great Depression again–”the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”–unless we really do something drastic, such as elect John Edwards and turn him loose on the insurance and oil and other greedy special interest groups.
I thank God that I am old enough to have grown up in an America that was mainly solid middle class.
It’s very sad what has happened to us, the saddest part is that so few people see how bad it really is. That old story about the frog in the slowly-warming-to-boiling water is so appropriate for how most Americans are dealing with the rape and slaughter of all that ought to be dear to us.
And who might that be??
Kiddo…
“My friend has finally told me who, after viewing last night’s debate with me, she thinks would make the best next Democratic president in 2008. And she has given me substantial reasons for her view.”
And who might that be??
Ignore #125
Edwards is right – there are two Americas.
One buys handbags for $$$$$
And us – we have a decent life, but we sure don’t waste money on that crap. We have a beautiful home, great food, a lovely garden, cars that are paid off, affectionate horses and dogs, and our own business working with our customers who are our neighbors. I lived in SoCal for 5 years and wouldn’t go back at gunpoint. Talk about conspicuous consumption, and at the end of the day who really cares. Now I live in the most beautiful state in the west, and no one here cares about that stuff. We care about each other.
Jim Clausen @ 46
It’s not Populism as the Kingfisher might’ve understood it or LBJ practiced it. It’s Progressivism (aggressively solving the nation’s problems in a wholistic enlightened way). Class warfare is just MSM rhetoric.
It isn’t just giving money to the poor because Poverty is ‘wrong’. It’s ending the huge disparity in wealth to keep America united and to ensure Hope and the American Dream don’t die because so many people aren’t allowed to share in the tremendous wealth of America — wealth everyone is creating.
I’d love to hear some Conservative economists try to explain how the CEOs are really worth giga-zillion dollars of compensation and yet a fieldworker is worth about 6$/hr. Their immorality and stupidity becomes apparent the instant they open their yappers.
We live in the most prosperous country in the most prosperous time in human history and yet many people can’t get health care and many people go bankrupt and lose their homes. It is a sure sign our current system needs to be fixed.
P J Evans @ 61
I think McMansions are a symptom not of stupidity or greed but of a lack of other great sound ways to invest while enjoying one’s wealth. With a big house you invest and enjoy living in it at the same time (at least until you have a terrible health care cost that bankrupts you).
We need some reform in our vision of wealth for everyone. There need to be ways to invest and ways to enjoy wealth (home, car, entertainment, travel, etc.) which are more sane and allow better allocation of wealth back into the capital base for commercial use.
I don’t know how many people simply don’t trust the markets and prefer real estate, but it’s probably not just a few.
If you have $500,000 would you invest in the markets or buy a McMansion? Is the money better placed that way or in a bank or in a pension fund or in T-bills or in stocks (in terms of what might be good for the economy)? Somehow I doubt real estate should soak up all that much of the nation’s wealth. It’s a waste of physical resources for one thing.
GordonM @ 117
:-)
Those crazy Republicans…90% tax huh? He he he he heh.
Hey, the current tax system doesn’t seem to be stopping the uber-rich from getting out from under taxes, so it’s not just the rate you look at.