Gotta blog it...

From http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/107575/rise-of-the-super-rich-hits-a-sobering-wall.html: Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall

"In 2007, the top one ten-thousandth of households took home 6 percent of the nation’s income, up from 0.9 percent in 1977. It was the highest such level since at least 1913, the first year for which the I.R.S. has data.

The top 1 percent of earners took home 23.5 percent of income, up from 9 percent three decades earlier."

One gent went from $100 million to $4 million. I know... cry me a river. There is some comfort in knowing I won't need a gaggle of lawyers on commission spending years haggling over my estate when I pass. I will be leaving someone a good-sized headache if I keep collecting the way I have been, but that's an inherited genetic defect. I CONFESS - I now have 4 - 5 if you count the old motorless - lawn mowers. Two 'are worth fixing,' the $5 one from the auction works, and the electric is back up even if the wheels are exceedingly bad (runs, cuts - kind of.) I only need one about 4 months out of the year to keep the mosquitoes down, but hard to know which one will start when, and I hate to take wheels off 'a good one' for the electric, but darned if the $5 (mismatched handle, cables cut but still attached) mower isn't the running-est one! No lawyer will touch my estate, I rest my case.

Back to the topic: Interesting article, really, and worth a glance if you wish to browse it.

Comment One: This is pretty much what Richard Kotlarz addressed and predicted. Most of the 'paper assets' on the balance sheets had no real financial backing, anyway.

Comment Two: If any of the super-rich fall great heights and need a hand up, I can show them a thing or two of surviving closer to the bottom edge.

Comment Three: When the super-rich fall, who do they fall upon?

Comment Four: How does one feel sorry for someone that is forced to sell their private plane and fly coach instead? I can see how dropping a diet from superb culinary delight (prepared by Cook) to scraping peanut butter on bread for yourself would be painful. But then, I actually 'made' supper the other night: spaghettio's, cottage cheese, and baked beans. Layering these together is an interesting flavor combination, but I doubt the finer restaurants will be serving it any time soon. :)

Comment Five: As long I don't get to the point of 'fine dining' with mice on toast (old England, if I'm not mistaken), I'm doing okay. If I think I might be dining on the mice... then I best not use poison to control their population?

Comment Six: "The state of the nation" economically can be seen in the charity auctions; the weathier of us are not 'trickling down' - this is creating a shortage of used appliances and such! Not sure what I'd do if a private passenger plane 'trickled down' since I couldn't afford to fly it or house it, but one could gut it and remake it into a cabin-type thing? Or put it on floats and use it as houseboat in the summer.

Same time, panic is panic, worry is worry, and the size of it is within the individual's perception. I'd bum too if I lost $96 million dollars - but I wouldn't 'lose' it. I'd go broke getting something done while I had the chance, and be delighted at the opportunity to gift it out. I don't exactly live high on the hog; more like on the tip of it's hairy, curly tail. It makes for a wild ride, but not a lot of competition.

How many of us think we, collectively, can hang on this way until 12-21-2012? And what if the dreaded / desired transition doesn't occur... anyone betting on making it to 2025? Me, I'm hanging on the hog's tail - wither the hog goes, I follow, but when I fall, I won't get trampled.

PS - I have no idea what I just said. I've been 'working' long and hard the last few days, though I haven't made a cent doing it. There's a reason I have a blister that was caked with tar, dyed purple with chokecherries and cracked open while hammering - I earned it. I have 'been doing' and I feel good with what I've done. Some of it is for sharing with others, and that is its own delight. True, a ton more stuff to get done, so if Becky's ready for her annual (ahem, it could be, if you came down this year, too) vacation, I can keep her entertained. Not well-fed, but entertained.