US Economy Changes Spending Patterns For Majority, But Not For The Super Rich

Everyone from Alan Greenspan to Billionaire George Soros and less endowed politicians like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are uttering the "R" word these days. The AP has a report today on how a growing number of Americans are so affected by the economy that they "won't buy a home anytime soon." But the rich, as they say, "are not like you and me." The New York Times has a report on how the ultra-wealthy are still signing their checks away to private jets, hummers, $40K weekends in Miami, and much more. First read the excerpt below from the AP article on how people are reaction to the housing crisis. Then read about how the wealthy are still living it up.

AP Poll: More Avoid Buying Homes:

A growing majority say they won't buy a home anytime soon, the latest sign of increasing pessimism about the nation's housing crisis, a poll showed Monday.

In a vivid sketch of how the sputtering real estate market is causing distress throughout the country, the Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance poll found that more than a quarter of homeowners worry their home will lose value over the next two years. Fully one in seven mortgage holders fear they won't be able to make their monthly payments on time over the next six months.

NY Times: Ultrarich Still Spending Lavishly, Despite Tough Times:

Who said anything about a recession? Sometime between the government bailout of Bear Stearns and the Bureau of Labor Statistics report that America lost 80,000 jobs in March, Lee Tachman spent roughly $50,000 last month on a four-day jaunt to Miami for himself and three close friends.

The trip was an exercise in luxuriant male bonding. Mr. Tachman, who is 38, and his friends got around by private jet, helicopter, Hummer limousine, Ferraris and Lamborghinis; stayed in V.I.P. rooms at Casa Casuarina, the South Beach hotel that was formerly Gianni Versace's mansion; and played "extreme adventure paintball" with former agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Comments

[MetalCanuck]

We are going to see people selling more drugs...even people you wouldn't suspect. I would never but I may be in better shape than people facing the prospect for the first time sleeping in a tent on the outside of a city.

Check out Tent City on youtube.

[amanda85]

Yet more proof the US is rapidly becoming a third-world country, where 99% of the people toil and suffer to make the 1% of ultra-rich even richer...

[BOfever]

Are you on drugs or do you really believe 99% of Americans are suffering financially right now?

[bumpersticker]

"I was disappointed as you all were in Obama's comments." - Hillary Clinton

HA HA HA. How many are fool enough to believe Hillary was, "disappointed?"

How ironic that Hillary's scheme is to make voters in Pennsylvania and Indiana bitter, and create a bitter harvest of votes for herself by cultivating bitterness..

[LibsRway2funny]

I just bought a sweet HumV with a matching Rolex to boot!
GOD I love America!!

[thegreatgiginthesky]

In a way this is a good thing. This credit crunch is causing people to learn about the importance of saving money. It is more important to save for tomorrow than live in the moment from paycheck to paycheck. If you can set aside even a $100 a month it is worth it. We cannot always say that things are going to go great. We have no way of knowing when something bad happens. For those times we can only be prepared.

[BOfever]

I agree, this is why I don't want Gov bailouts for foreclosures either, if you do that all you do is teach people that they don't have to be responsible.

[BWonka]

Ah, the ultra rich - like the $109 Million dollar Clintons.

[rh654]

This is TRULY an outstanding report - so the super rich are not affected by a downturn in the economy - WOW that is a fantastic bit of news...

Let me guess - next you'll have a story that the very poor don't benefit greatly in a boom economy...

[Blurp]

eat the rich

[amanda85]

"eat the rich"

Eeeeww.

They're good to make excellent bio-fuel though... ;)

[EspritDeVoltaire]

Fatty, greasy and too high in cholesterol. Good for dog food though.

[ProfessorDuh]

The class of ruling billionaires that the Republicans have worked so hard to create is no longer tied to the mere nation-state. Beyond the reach of citizenship and law, the ultrarich stand astride the world with the serf class (i.e. the vast majority of the human population) beneath their boot heels. Now that they are transnational and routinely hoodwink the public through their corporate media propaganda, they can buy and control all the governments they want, extracting the wealth from countries like the US through no-bid contracts and unending, highly profitable wars. And when the nation starts to collapse as the middle class and the working class stagger and fall, who cares? There's always the mountain resorts of Switzerland, or the vast estates of Paraguay, or the fleshpots of Dubai, where they can watch the chaos they've created from a safe, lofty distance. And there are plenty more serfs where the Americans came from.
And for the ultra-rich, "national defense" is just a con artist's code for looting the public treasury. They only need the Pentagon to supply them with no-bid, no-performance contracts, now that they have private armies like Blackwater to protect them and kill any serfs who might get in their way, just the way they did on the streets of Iraq.

[atlantajoe]

Yes, those evil rich republicans like the Kennedys, Rockefellers, Herb Kohl, Corzine and Pelosi to name a few of those evil rich bastards. Those rich repubs don't know what it is like to scrape by like the common man democrats.

[BOfever]

Don't forget 90% of Hollyweird.

[Beachrunner]

Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.

[BOfever]

Yes! Start the movement, quit your job tomorrow!

[BOfever]

Another interesting theory . . . let me guess you're a 9/11 conspiracy guy too?

I really haven't figured you guys out yet, you call Bush the dumbest man ever but many of you believe he can somehow pull off some great conspiracies without anyone getting a shread of evidence on him.

[ProfessorDuh]

You confuse the monkey with the organ grinder.

[ResidentChimp]

I guess we need to thank the super rich for keeping our economy afloat.

[BOfever]

Have you ever worked for a poor person?

If they all just packed up their stuff and went home it would be funny for all of these "redistribution of wealth" people to react to the disappearance of all goods/services.

[neocon43]

While you are at it.Thank them for paying majority of taxes!

[CC1]

True :)

[hjfraser2002]

I think when you make a large part of the money, you should pay the large part of the taxes. How much money do you need to be comfortable. Its about time we start putting priorities where they need to be. If your money was made straight up with out manipulation because you have alot of money, then more power to you. If you want to pay services just like the average guy, i think the average guy should have an equal say with the rich. Please don't tell me that is so. The manipulation and tom foolery that greedy people do because they have money stands out. The aversge joe does not have that power. I have worked hard all of my life and served my country with honor. I have always moved upward in any job i have taken. I payed 325.00 for one basket of groceries yesterday nad i was being frugal. That is ridiculous. We have to older ladies that live near us and they can barely feed themselves at these prices. You have to be blind not to see the culture of greed that has become the norm. If we are a country at war (occupation), why aren't we, as a nation, tightening up our belts. I'm sorry i can't afford my own lobiest.

[francoise]

It's was a very interesting reading. Thank you all.

Even the trolls were articulate ;-)

Well, from the enviromentalists' angle of vision, 1 % economic growth is always bad news for the planet.

So good side of the bad news is, current recession is good news for the planet and the future generations !

Good night all !

[BOfever]

Did anyone in here who is for "redistribution of wealth" ever attend college or have a job? I have never heard such whining by people who are jealous of what they don't have.

I encourage anyone to go speak with a grandparent and ask if they felt entitled to other people's money. Where did this entitlement idea come from? You people are basically promoting theft from those that have to give those that don't have.

[hjfraser2002]

OTHER PEOPLES MONEY. Hmmmmmmmmm

I think alot of people have no issue with people that work hard and make good money. It's the ones that do it under the current ways. The accepted norm of GREED. A good Neocon friend of mine asked me once if i wanted to be rich. I told him i wanted to be comfortable not rich. If i happened to be rich along the way, i wanted to do it on my own with no special interest help. It used to be that people would manipulate the system under the guise of good. Now it is right in the open and rampant. It is bad when 5% of this country are paying a price for an unjustified occupation and 1% are reaping the profits. The rest are just trying to get by. We need people who lead by example. Not this current group that feel that if you do good, you will be as well off as they are. Distribution of wealth in a fair system is good. This system is not fair to the average person. And i am not talking about taxes.

[BOfever]

Let's say everyone in the country only makes 50k a year no matter what you do, work or no work. What do you think the quality or productivity of Americans would be?

[only1Demvoter]

This ought to put a ' hitch in their giddyup '...Isaiah Poole nails 'Em but good, on the nail head !

http://ga3.org/ct/g7xum8p1tEdQ/


-ralph

[SupremeIdiot]

NIce one.

-CJ

[Beachrunner]

Well, why shouldn't they?

[hark]

No problem as long as the ultra rich are still spending. We get the tinkle down, remember?

[atlantajoe]

can you name any time in the history of the world that the ultra rich have been hurt by a couple of quarters of slow growth?

[MikeDu]

Unfortunately, everything they buy has been manufactured in Indonesia and China these days. And many 'domestic' retailers are in fact foreign owned. So trickle -down has turned into trickle-out. Heck, working class Americans can't even manage to land menial jobs as nannies and gardeners anymore! Like someone wittily remarked recently on the radio, would you REALLY allow a 'lower-class' American to take care of your child?