Angry rant: CEOs and greed.

NY Times article.

Lets start at the top, shall we?

Private school. Not a necessity. There are a lot of good public schools out there. Perhaps it would be good for your children to be surrounded by a diverse population of kids anyway.

I went to a public school. I turned out alright. So, there's a way to cut $32,000 out of your overinflated budget.

Mortgage/Co-op maintenance fees. I'll give you that one, but I'll also give you this. For the cost of the mortgage alone ($96,000), I could buy an entire house here where I live. If I wanted a nice upgrade, it would probably pay for at least HALF of the house. So... move somewhere cheaper.

Nanny fee. Most likely, your wives don't work. So, I suggest making them be mothers. My mom raised me and worked full-time. So, if your wives *do* happen to work... I suggest a daycare. There are some really great ones (just like the public schools), so you could easily cut that bill, at least a little. I understand that daycare is also fairly expensive... but like I suggested above. Exposing your children to a diverse population of kids will only make them more rounded and likable.

Now, the thing that is most irritating.

Barbara Corcoran, a real estate executive, said that most well-to-do families take at least two vacations a year, a winter trip to the sun and a spring trip to the ski slopes.

Total minimum cost: $16,000.

A modest three-bedroom apartment, she said, which was purchased for $1.5 million, not the top of the market at all, carries a monthly mortgage of about $8,000 and a co-op maintenance fee of $8,000 a month. Total cost: $192,000. A summer house in Southampton that cost $4 million, again not the top of the market, carries annual mortgage payments of $240,000.

Really? They need this salary because they, um, take vacations? Ok. So I suggest this. Don't go. Or go somewhere different. My family, if we are lucky, takes one vacation (as in traveling away from home) a year. We usually end up at Ocean City, MD. It's always a ton of fun. We don't go skiing. If we would, however, it would probably be to Ski Roundtop. Not exactly Colorado, but hey... it's snow and it's skis. Vacations are what you make them, you should be able to have fun regarless of where you are.

So, don't BUY a vacation home. Rent a beach house for a week. Go mingle with people. I have absolutely no sympathy here because my last vacation cost me approximately $500 and I still managed to have fun and make memories.

More suggestions?

Drive yourself.

Don't hire a personal trainer (just buy a gym membership, the local Ys tend to be affordable). You can take one or two PT sessions and then work out on your own. I work out on my own. It's fulfilling.

Don't buy $15,000 dresses. I bought a fantastic red dress recently for $20. I look just as good in it as I would look in a $15,000 dress. (Besides, I clicked on the link in the article (something about a social diary) and none of those dresses look like they're worth that amount of money. I'm just saying. I could dress myself better than that for much less.)

I'll concede on the tutoring, if you feel it's necessary. Education is important.

Eat out less (just like the rest of America tries to do). Buy store brand rather than name brand foods where you can. You don't need summer camps, or spas, or fancy salon treatments. You don't need god-awful fancy drinks (the ones at Starbucks can easily satisfy a sweet-tooth, for half the price).

What I'm trying to say is... stop whining and start living.
It turns out that living costs less than this ritual you feel you "need."

Get over yourselves.

I can't believe this article was supposed to invoke sympathy.
My parents are up to their necks in debt. They also only make approximately $50,000 a year. Combined.
If they made twice that, they'd be estatic. They'd be fine and they'd be a lot less stressed.

Give them $500,000 and they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. In fact... they'd probably not know what to do with all that extra money.

Maybe they'd donate to charity.
Maybe we'd take an extra vacation.

But I can tell you this, we'd appreciate that a lot more than you apparently do.

It seems that...

... no one in this godforsaken town I live in knows about:

1) The definition of socialism (i.e. Obama's not a socialist, I know enough to know this)
If you really want to talk socialism though, you may take a look at the definition: "An economic system in which the basic means of production are primarily owned and controlled collectively, usually by government under some system of central planning." Hmmm, I don't know about you, but those bank bailouts are probably closer to socialism than any other government aid. (Oh, also, it's still not socialism. It won't be. Really, this argument is lame.)

Unless, of course, you want to give your money away to corporate America so they can pad their pockets more. That's fine... but then I don't want to hear you complain about the next thing you know nothing about.

Moving on...

2) History. "Handouts", aka: Welfare, has been around since the 1880s in some parts of the world. Anyone who thinks "handouts" are wrong -- I hope they lose their job and are denied aid. Then they can lose their house, a way to feed themselves and sleep on the cold streets. Also, I hope they contract the bubonic plague, because they'll have a hell of a time getting medical treatment. Enough said.

3) Respect. Calling one another dumb "townies" and "whores" makes you look stupid, ignorant and immature. Go back to Kindergarten and learn some manners and social skills. Otherwise you will die alone and miserable with no friends. When you act as immature as the person arguing with you... well, you look just as stupid as they do. Also, sending out racist text messages is not respectful. (I'm one of those dumb "townies," but even I know that racism is ridiculous. I'm not intimidated by someone's skin color, therefore I'm not racist.)

4) Humility. Be humble. You are not King or Queen Shit. In the words of Ben Folds, "There is ALWAYS someone cooler than you." Usually those people are the ones who you think are "below" you.

5) Being open. Change happens. Politically speaking, before today, it happened 8 years ago and another 8 years before that.

Also, I have a feeling that racism is at the root of some of the rants I'm reading (not all, but some -- for example, racist text messages which I mentioned above).

Ok, so... let's approach this. He's got darker skin. This is because of the different combination of pigments in his skin. Most people are darker skinned than me. I'm ok with that. It's just a matter of genetics and/or sun exposure. No one can do anything about their skin color.

You can do something about your intellect though.

What I'm trying to say is GROW UP and get over yourselves.
No one likes a little whining idiot.
No one likes an ignorant prick either.


More of this country likes this latest presidential pick than they liked the last one.
And everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves. I mean, haven't all you had a chance to prove yourselves? Aren't you continuing to get the opportunity?

Yes. Everyday. We Americans are quite spoiled by the fact that we get the opportunity to prove ourselves each day. I only hope that with this latest change, more people get the opportunity to get a job (because currently, it's next to impossible (this is where "handouts" are a good thing, so that people don't starve or commit suicide)), get an affordable education, make a life and be happy.

This is the end of my angry rant.