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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
 Posted - 09/19/2008 : 13:41:09
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Ok, so you're the big CEO of a major financial institution (or insurance company) making 100's of millions while simultaneously sinking your company.....which then gets bailed out by the Federal Government!
This lead me to this question. WTF are these people actually doing with all the money they make/take/scam? Seriously, were is it going?
What I mean to say is if I was worth 750,000,000 what the hell would I do with it? Sure I'd have a nicer home and couple more cars, travel more, maybe a few other extravagances....but that's only going to touch maybe 5% of my net worth. What does one actually do with 100's of millions?
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I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 14:37:48 [Permalink]
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Like most other people, rich folks spend up to their income (and then some). They don't have "a nicer home and a couple more cars," they have mansions which require maids and groundskeepers, and they have limos ferry them around while they're making phone calls to keep the money coming in. They have spouses who, with all their needs met, have no basic challenges to face and so nothing better to do but spend. They have kids who need hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal defense, because they know that daddy will get them out of whatever trouble they cause. They have to hire a full-time CPA to keep track of all the money.
Most big lottery winners get back to their pre-win economic state within five years, too, after they've burned through all their winnings. They buy a big house, but forget that the tax bill comes every six months, and the power bills come more often. They buy fast cars, but forget about the massively expensive insurance needed to drive them. They buy boats, but forget that just having them tied up at the pier costs big bucks.
It's extraordinarily rare that you'll find someone with millions in net worth living in an apartment or condo that'd be affordable for someone making $50,000. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 14:43:09 [Permalink]
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It's a question I've wondered about: at what point does aquiring wealth merely become keeping score?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 15:18:26 [Permalink]
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When you hit the billion dollar mark.
After that its about who has the most, because at that point you can live in full excess (in Dave_W's scenario) with no real concerns about running out... (well, I guess in an extreme case you could find a human that stupid...but)
That is just me arbitrarliy picking a number though.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
 Posted - 09/19/2008 : 15:49:57 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
It's a question I've wondered about: at what point does aquiring wealth merely become keeping score?
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When you hit 99,999,999 Sporebucks and complain you can't get more.  |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 16:34:21 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by pleco
[quote]Originally posted by filthy
When you hit 99,999,999 Sporebucks and complain you can't get more. |
Hey, now! I had plans for that money! |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 16:36:11 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Like most other people, rich folks spend up to their income (and then some). They don't have "a nicer home and a couple more cars," they have mansions which require maids and groundskeepers, and they have limos ferry them around while they're making phone calls to keep the money coming in. They have spouses who, with all their needs met, have no basic challenges to face and so nothing better to do but spend. They have kids who need hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal defense, because they know that daddy will get them out of whatever trouble they cause. They have to hire a full-time CPA to keep track of all the money.
Most big lottery winners get back to their pre-win economic state within five years, too, after they've burned through all their winnings. They buy a big house, but forget that the tax bill comes every six months, and the power bills come more often. They buy fast cars, but forget about the massively expensive insurance needed to drive them. They buy boats, but forget that just having them tied up at the pier costs big bucks.
It's extraordinarily rare that you'll find someone with millions in net worth living in an apartment or condo that'd be affordable for someone making $50,000.
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I guess......I certainly wouldn't live that way. Don't get me wrong...I'd love to have the money, but I'm a blue jean guy and always will be. |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 16:41:08 [Permalink]
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Well, let's look at Tiger Woods. His home in Florida cost him $54 million. That's just the house and the land. Furnishing it? Many millions more. The article says that he's doing major renovations on the propety to one of the houses on the estate. I'm sure that will cost a few million more.
The property taxes suggest that every year, he's paying over 5$ million.
He also has properties in California, Wyoming, and Sweden. We can imagine something similar for these. Maybe not $54 million, but perhaps they come to that total!
But this is just basic housing. We haven't even started to cover the rest of his lifestyle. this article suggests that he has a yacht that went for $22 million. His wedding costs ca. $2 million. He owns at least one car that goes for about a half mil. It's probably not the only one.
He certainly doesn't fly like the rest of us; I'm sure what wherever he goes, it's with private charters. Hell, he may even own his own plane.
There's no way to know how much he spends on clothes, or eating out, or even dining in. (What's in his wine cellar?) But clearly, all of this adds up. He makes ca. $120 million a year before taxes. It's just a crazy rich life style that's hard for us to imagine. But they do it... |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 18:29:57 [Permalink]
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Astropin.....
Find a copy of:
All the Money in the World
Peter W. Bernstein and Annalyn Swan
Alfred A. Knopf
© 2007
Library of Congress ISBN 978-0-307-26612-5
Amazing stuff! It will fascinate you, I guarantee it!
I have been fortunate enough to make and invest a reasonably good sized chunk of change since I graduated from college. I am desperately trying to spend it all before I die so I don't leave much to my kids. (The last few days have helped a bit in that endeavor) But I feel like a street schnorrer compared to the super rich!
There are folks that own fleets of airplanes, including 747's. Many, many multi-million mansions - twenty or more - owned and maintained all over the world. Fleets of automobiles, some of them costing over a million apiece. Five thousand dollar suits and gowns going up in the five figures.
The Really Rich are truly a different species, when you peek into their world. Makes you reflect on how little you really have experienced in a material way!
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 19:46:06 [Permalink]
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Filthy.....
| It's a question I've wondered about: at what point does aquiring wealth merely become keeping score? |
Never, for the Really Rich. If you Really learn How To Spend, there ain't enough money in the world.
I could give you a plan on how to spend one trillion dollars in less than ten years without giving away a cent - I mean buying things and places and people! Because almost everything in the world has a monetary price, all you have to do is figure out how to buy it, and have enough money!
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 22:09:06 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by bngbuck
Filthy.....
| It's a question I've wondered about: at what point does aquiring wealth merely become keeping score? |
Never, for the Really Rich. If you Really learn How To Spend, there ain't enough money in the world.
I could give you a plan on how to spend one trillion dollars in less than ten years without giving away a cent - I mean buying things and places and people! Because almost everything in the world has a monetary price, all you have to do is figure out how to buy it, and have enough money!
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I disagree.
Oh, no doubt it's true that everything's for sale, given the bread, but at some point, aquisition in and of itself becomes meaningless. I mean, how many mansions can you live in at any given time?
The same number of airplanes, cars or motorcycles that you can ride, at any given time: exactly one. With maybe some more if you happen to be a collector of classics.
I think that extreme wealth, if I had it anyway, should be used as a tool. With it, one could set up foundations for the betterment of communities and/or aid those who need help, or to gain political leverage toward those or some other ends. One could do any & all of this and still be flush with cash to squander a bit when the urge hits.
So yet again, all of these possessions becomes keeping score -- I got more than that piker, Trump!
I find the bonuses that CEOs are getting preposterous, so where's the line? How much would it take to live in reasonable luxery, in a excellent house and grounds with a modest serving staff, perhaps a boat a tad smaller than the USS Wisconsin, a new set of wheels every couple of years, and a vacation cottage in Vermont. 20 mil, perhaps? More? Less? Wisely invested and adjusting for inflation, of course.
I dunno.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2008 : 08:48:59 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by bngbuck
Astropin.....
There are folks that own fleets of airplanes, including 747's. Many, many multi-million mansions - twenty or more - owned and maintained all over the world. Fleets of automobiles, some of them costing over a million apiece. Five thousand dollar suits and gowns going up in the five figures.
The Really Rich are truly a different species, when you peek into their world. Makes you reflect on how little you really have experienced in a material way!
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But that's what I'm getting at.....WHY own a fleet of planes and multiple mansions? I just don't get it and wouldn't do it even if
I had that kind of money. Like I said...I would have some nice things...but not more than I and my immediate family could reasonably use. The rest?.....I guess I would put it where I thought it could do the most good. In my case I would give towards nanotechnology and A.I. research. IMHO those technologies will do more to help the sick and the starving then any thing else I could do. |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2008 : 09:02:25 [Permalink]
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Compensating for small genitalia?
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by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2008 : 22:53:02 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by pleco
Compensating for small genitalia?
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You mean; like the Trump tower? |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 09/22/2008 : 12:57:10 [Permalink]
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Astropin.....
| (If)I had that kind of money. Like I said...I would have some nice things...but not more than I and my immediate family could reasonably use. The rest?.....I guess I would put it where I thought it could do the most good. In my case I would give towards nanotechnology and A.I. research. |
Astropin, you're just not exercising your imagination enough. Imagine.....
1. That you had a personal fortune, that you could fully access, of one hundred billion dollars. (It is rumored in Forbes circles that such individuals exist. Gates' assets hover around 50B depending on the market) There are a lot of rich folks in the world that Forbes doesn't even know exist!
2. You give one billion to nanotechnology research, sparking a revolutionary new research and development tsunami in that field! You are honored and thanked in a thousand tiny technical ways!
3. You give one billion to AI research, the discipline flourishes incredibly, robotic miracles begin to appear and you are gratefully presented with the Turing Totem, a ten-foot tower of microprocessors made of pure gold. You place it on your mantle (the one with the really big fireplace!). Bill Gates and Marvin Minsky both show up offering fellatio, and the ghost of Herbert Simon provides manual servicing with three spectral fingers!
4. You already have purchased all the nice things for you and your family that your puny imagination can conceive of (far less than one percent of what is possible to make your life a material paradise, but you still feel like there is nothing else in the solar system that you want to own or use) These paltry toys have cost you another billion, and it took years and a staff of advisors to suggest and provide most of the exotic pleasures you have purchased.
5. You still have ninety seven billion dollars burning a hole in your checkbook!
6. What do you do with this considerable chunk of change that is earning nearly one million dollars per hour, 24 hours a day and adding 647 million dollars a month - that's seven and three-quarters billion a year - to your assets?
Gotta do something - can't just let it sit there and grow obscenely until it becomes a problem! Give ten times as much to your pet technologies and indulge yourself, your wife, and your kids with several billion apiece.
You'll still have about seventy billion to try and get rid of!
You could always start a war in Iraq!
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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
Posted - 09/22/2008 : 19:18:22 [Permalink]
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| Oh I have quite the imagination....I just couldn't stomach "wasting" hundreds of millions (or billions) on "stuff". Especially while most of the world is living in squalor. I'm no saint. I make a better than average living and have some better than average stuff as a result. But at the level we are talking about I simply could not live with myself if I spent that kind of money on multiple mansions or a fleet of cars and jets. |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
| Edited by - astropin on 09/22/2008 19:19:05 |
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What do they do with it?
