Besides, a reputation for great wealth might have gotten a person kidnapped while traveling in certain South-American, African or Asian circles. Better safe than sorry.
Today, every self-respecting bank and trust company has a wealth management department, named in the well-founded belief that them that got it like to flaunt it.
In An Audit of Affluence at FT.com, Chrystia Freeland sees signs that the pendulum may start to swing back again:
In some New York circles, certain types of luxury consumption might even be becoming gauche. If, for example, you belong to Nora Ephron’s literary coterie I suspect you won’t be showing off one of the $2,600 handbags she gently mocks in her bestselling new collection of essays. A few executives who are still of the Bonfire of the Vanities school have found their habits to be worse than a faux pas – they turn out to be a sacking offence. This week’s scalp was Citigroup’s Todd Thomson, whose lavish office was nicknamed the “Todd Mahal” and included a wood-burning fireplace.What do you think? Is the U.S. plutonomy about to provoke a backlash?
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2 comments:
I think that it might. Although it is true that the highest 1% of income earners are paying a higher share of income taxes than ever before, it is also true that vast wealth is being concentrated at the highest end of of the wealth spectrum.
I don't think that too many people seriously think that they have a chance to be the next Bill Gates--far more believe that they will be the next American Idol. But in fact I've heard or read that a majority of Americans now believe that they can only achieve financial independence by winning the lottery. Under the circumstances, the rich will do well to maintain a lower profile.
The pendulum is definitely swinging back. Watch the Democratic Congress raise taxes and control CEO salaries. Also note the campaign of John Edwards, which is based on a "war against income inequality." (Edwards' new home is the largest house in North Carolina. Oh. well. as LaRochefoucauld said: "Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.")
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