How Poor Are You?

"How poor are you?" That's what formerly rich guys ranging from hedge-fund kings and tech pioneers to bankers and trust-fund heirs are now asking each other at dinners around town.

This group doesn't care who ends up buying Wachovia. That's all background news; just one more sorry piece of detail in the carnage of a lost battle that's left them ruined. None believes US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan or its revisions can stave off devastation.

For a society that has pretended not to talk about money, while caring about little else, suddenly the experience of being nouveau pauvre is all that's on everyone's lips.

Startlingly, Manhattan bankers who once flew private, had yachts, homes, wives and servants, and owned art worth hundreds of millions, are not afraid to say: "We've lost everything."

Some of them even compare themselves with workers in Detroit: "At least I'm not as badly hit as that," they say.

Well, thank goodness for the reality check.

Last Friday night at a birthday party given for 200 of the former rich at a downtown circus where socialites wore jeans and the bar was open one financier asked about 10 other men in turn: "So how much have you lost?" All said: "Too much or enough to be ruinous."

People are even openly asking: "Dumped the wife yet? If not, why not? You hate her; she hates you. Now, you've nothing to lose ..."

On Saturday, I was invited to a baby shower. At the last moment we were called to be told: Absolutely No Gifts, Please. Social liberation is the upside of what many fear will be the most harrowing few years anyone under 80 has experienced. One financier was so troubled not just by the fact that he's lost his millions but also by the effective collapse of government that he told me he is planning to retire to study government and to develop a think-tank to ensure we never see a breakdown like this one ever again.

There was talk of the end of America as a superpower. "We're done. Watch China rise," people are saying. Yet a few loners weren't about to quit. "This is the time to put our thinking caps on and innovate," said a Silicon Valley overlord. Well, let's hope he's thinking hard. With Wall Street in tatters, Silicon Valley may be our last hope.

This article was originally published by the London Evening Standard .

Follow Vicky Ward on Twitter: www.twitter.com/VickyPJWard

Comments

[kirkland]

Poverty becomes topical when it hits the middle class. Poverty holds no interest for society when it speaks to the state of Americas disabled. Most disabled people try to house themselves/ LIVE on less than 1K per month. Many of Americas disabled once had nice homes, nice jobs. Americas poorest, the "indigents" all have 1 thing in common. NO family. Or, no family that will help them. Disabled people do not choose their poverty--misfortune visits them. Most of Americas poverty ridden disabled would LOVE to work. The EEOC laws and commissions have no teeth, do no enforcement and this population is among the most discriminated against in the workforce. They are considered *liabilities*. ( One woman who had undergone a back surgery after a broken back- college educated-good resume- was told at the Post Office when she applied for a job that "the PO does not hire people coming off disability ". ) America- I HOPE- will learn compassion and develop empathy I hope in light of what will most likely become our common poverty.

[AZBunny]

"The EEOC laws and commissions have no teeth, do no enforcement "
So true, this was a BIG shock to me to learn this. American has become nothing but the BIG lie as in "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"

[windyYooper]

maybe.... just maybe ...
another depression would be good for this country
americans have this belief that they deserve to surround themselves with useless crap
spend more in gas going to work than most world citizens earn all week or all year
filling their trashcans with enough food to feed a whole other family
mabey you don't deserve to waste the way you do
mabey a bit of suffering will bring some compassion back to the u.s.a.
maybe it would make us better

[boogiewoman]

Michigan has been bad for about 4 years now, so I have been feeling poor for a while. We live layoff to layoff, not pay check to pay check. I have a car from 1992 with 193,000 miles on it.. But I still care about folks who have lost everything, and for the folks who never had anything. Poverty for children is the heart breaker. To see children whose teeth are so bad it hurts to eat.

[DuganS1]

Children of poor families qualify for Medicaid and other free government healthcare programs. If something is wrong with a child's teeth, it's because their parents haven't bothered to take them to the dentist or made the kids brush and floss their teeth.

[NebulaNoxx]

Food stamps don't pay for toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss, DuganS1. Does Medicaid pay for dentists or only doctors?

[dgscol]

Many incomes were slumping and the easy credit made the situation seem normal. In fact it seemed people were buying fantastic homes and I wondered where they were getting the money!

NOW I KNOW!

The great stimulus package is to stimulate JQ Citizen into not complaining about the fiscal environment, when in fact they should be screaming about the crimes being committed in Washington and Wall St.

[phylliscooper1]

My mom is 80. If you can believe it, she remembers much of the depression fondly. She says to this day that there was something kind of wonderful about parity. She said that many times her mother of 8 children, in the middle of a Minnesota farm would make sandwiches for former workers, many teachers and former business owners who were wandering the farming communities looking for work. And they really did work for food! Through all the bad times they used their rations, baked and cooked daily and went to Mass together as a family on Sundays. I thank God for my mom every day and what she teaches me about dealing with my own financial hardships.

[topkatnc]

At this time I am poor also. It gets harder each month to make ends meet. It will take a long time to get this country back on it's feet. Alot of people will lose everthing before its fixed. My prayers for the posters here. Some way we will get through this. I don't know about my cats. They look a me funny when I open that cheap cat food!

[sophieozz]

Even having pets might be a luxury. You probably know how high vet bills can go.

[JBS]

Luxury or not, they're also an obligation. You took it on, you owe them to figure some way to handle it.

I'm also dealing with reduced income and having to give up doing a lot of things I could do before.

Feeding the cats ain't one of 'em. They'll get theirs.

[Stoyver]

Wealth and poverty are relative. Perspective determines whether we are looking up or down.

[WgS]

I was just sitting here talking with the family about this article and it occurred to me, "Perhaps we just aren't poor enough?" I mean if poverty is the new vogue, like being thin, maybe globalisation means you can't be too poor? By our measures, we all still love and support each other, get along well and still find reasons to smile everyday.

Looking around la-la-land, I see that the beacons of the future still beckon us with ads proclaiming, "Mortgage rates dropped as low as 5.47% APR." $225,000 for $1,242/mo. No SSN required." Plus, I got a spam today entitled, "Quit Your Boring Job and Be A Google millionaire!"

I am pretty sure these folks can help us achieve our financial goals this time.

[hypnotoad72]

Good luck with the "still love and support each other" tripe. Many that claim to be in a community have yet to realize the "community" is a nominal value.

I have some reasons to smile, and none of them involves cynicism either. For some communities are more than mere nominal tokens, for which the media delights in hyping up.

[WgS]

My family and I were discussing it and we feel rather rich - I mean we all love and support each other's goals and aspirations, get along well together and don't mind poverty much. In fact, this article got me to thinking, perhaps we aren't poor enough yet? Perhaps it's the new "hot"?

Now that I think about it, I am not so sure there is anything different about the economy. Why just look at the beacons of the future right here in la-la-land. Both Google and Yahoo still plaster ads all over saying things like "Mortgage rates dropped as low as 5.47% APR." $225,000 for $1,242/mo. No SSN required. LendingTree® Quickmatch."

Yeh, they could just about help us with our financial goals. I'm sure Yahoogle is just the messenger, like the anonymous flyers from The Grapes of Wrath.

[joebaggadonuts]

Silicon Valley our last hope? For what, a technological miracle? What we need is a social miracle, one in which we all feel that we are in this together and work for each other. We are our brother's keepers. Cain was wrong when he asked sarcastically, What am I my brother's keeper?

Obama may help us get there but we all need to go there. McCain offers nothing to help us change. And giving our last best hope to Silicon Valley means that we want the machines to rule over us, right? I thought that people were the leaders in a democracy. They are not under Republican rule, and they will not be if we are subservient to our machines. Someone pointed out here on Huffpo that because of the computerized nature of the derivative and stock markets, we are already lost in our battle with machines.

So it is heartening to hear that the titans of the financial industry, now on the street, feel human pain of loss, and that some of them want to contribute to the system to see that it survives for all of us--- If indeed that's what I am hearing.

[PDXKevin]

Maybe all these crybabies can get a job installing solar panels or maintaining wind turbines through Pres. Obama's green economy initiatives. Hopefully they don't crab too much about doing REAL work!

[pegsterdtown]

I am very poor also. My hours at my job were cut back to less than 10 hours per week. The job market is very very ugly. No jobs, no hope, no luck. I pray that Barak can help people like me with possible education in exchange for community service. That would be right up my alley.
On another note, the food situation is not too bad for me but I am really limiting myself maybe to lose a few pounds. I really feel for all the others and my best thoughts go out to you.

[DuganS1]

How can you afford the high speed internet then?

[Rimser]

Consider that pegsterdtown might be at the free local public library before you go all high and mighty.

[itolduso]

I guess now we'll get a demonstration of how you can just "pull yourself up by your boot straps", right? Isn't that what they've been telling us since the 'Reagan Era'? Let's see how well they do now that it's their own 'bootstraps' that are cut.

[drsmc41]

At the present time, I am very poor. However, I am alive, so that can and will change.

In terms of examples of the degree of my "poorness," my rent is $1,339 per month. Currently, my only source of income is the income I receive from Unemployment Benefits, $307 every Wed. Those funds will, soon, end, but not before I have a job...I pray. :)

I have Ramen noodles and four pieces of chicken that I got from the grocery store, water, and Pepsi in the 'fridge. Financially, I am behind way before I get ahead.

Due to my disability, I am on meds, but I have not gone to the doctor, since I no longer have insurance or the funds. On a positive note, I am alive...and I can still communicate with others! No one wants pity; I certainly do not. I'll be fine, and I am fine. For now, this is just my reality, and I am sharing it with you. Thank you.

[PDXKevin]

If you are drinking Pepsi and not shasta cola, you are livin' large!

[drsmc41]

Good point. I'd drink that, too!

[kirkland]

The irony ! The nouveaux riche become the nouveaux pauvre.