The Left's Ongoing Obsession With Wealth
A recent Gray Lady piece on how the noveaux rich (more diverse, meritorious vs. hereditary) cope with social stigmas on wealth and conspicuous spending is an interesting read. Many of them, in fact, are politically liberal (what I refer to as modern/social liberal, vs. my being a classical liberal, in the context of low government footprint).We have seen some stories of a related nature with Warren Buffett, who had been known to drive nondescript cars for years and living in an ordinary 2-story house he bought in 1958 for $32K.(he's probably added on to the original structure). Although he once owned a beach-front vacation property in California, he considers it absurd to collect homes around the world like postage stamps; there's a lot of overhead to doing that: you need to employ people to maintain the properties, make sure that tax payments and utilities are paid on a timely basis, etc., and Buffett just doesn't see the marginal benefit of a home portfolio worth his time and effort. He sees a home in functional vs. investment terms. Warren, who drives maybe 3500 miles a year, doesn't see the need to buy the latest and greatest cars, he'll go down to McDonald's to grab a quick, cheap breakfast, and if a friend, like fellow billionaire Bill Gates comes to visit, Buffett often personally goes to the airport himself to pick him up.
In fact, Ms. Sherman's op-ed is hardly original in its theme. For instance, in this book there are similar observations, e.g., how fewer than 1 in 4 millionaires buy a new car within every 2 years, that Amazon's Bezos had driven the same Volvo station wagon for years, the "new rich" are likely to prefer a Bud to an exotic microbrewery offering, chips and dip over fancy fondus. Bloomberg liked to show being like everyone else taking the subway in NYC.
As for me, my income has been up and down with the business cycle. (I've never been offered stock incentives, etc.) I've often been in an industry where you can find yourself laid off after the end of an expiring contract. But if the challenging work is steady, you can make a decent income. I certainly could have afforded a better car, and to eat out more often than I have (and for the most part order whatever I liked on the menu), maybe like my brothers, or go on annual vacations, cruises. I pay off credit card balances, am never late on paying rent or utilities, etc.
My being frugal goes beyond driving cars for 10 years or more (I've driven my current one since 2000), Internet price checking and coupon savings (I even used a coupon on my Lasik surgery years back). I've been frugal with my company/client's money as well, e.g.,
- I worked for an IT software company headquartered in Malvern, PA; generally speaking, we did most work remotely or at colleges (our clients) on the road. So occasionally we had to do training at Malvern, and we could expense our travel expenses up to per diem limits (hotels were sometimes a challenge). But I remember one night a group of us went to a sports bar, and this one guy literally looked for and ordered the most expensive item on the menu (a ribeye steak). Sometimes the clients would stipulate, for example, that I have to make use of the college cafeteria for lunch. But my eyes almost popped out: this one client's cafeteria was in a different universe than when I earned my undergraduate and first Master's as a resident student: this place had a breads and dessert island, a fast food like island (like burgers, pizza, and fried chicken), multiple buffet lines (one of which focused on organic and/or veggie cuisine) and the usual beverage and salad islands. One client was a NYC area community college; I think the state limit on dinner was something like $28-32. And I ended up going to Boston Market with roughly a $12 tab.
- I worked initially as a subcontractor at a computer memory testing equipment subsidiary in Santa Clara, CA. I was commuting from Chicago. The CEO's secretary asked to meet me and told me I was authorized to bill them for hotel bills up to $199/night. I just couldn't do that. I found a Morgan Hill (outside San Jose) Extended Stay for about $43/night, even though I had to fight traffic on infamous Route 101. I found a budget airline from Chicago to SFO for seats at roughly half the cost of a major airline. I would book subcompacts rentals for as low as $19/day. Rather than eating out, I submitted (much cheaper) grocery tapes. It's not just a matter of being frugal: I hate waiting for a table, waiting for a waiter to take my order, waiting for a coffee refill, and waiting for the bill. [On at least 2 occasions, I've walked out a restaurant because of unreasonable waits (> 15 minutes) for waiters to take my order.] To me it's just easier and faster to throw something into a crock pot or onto my Foreman grill; I don't have to worry about whether restaurants carry my preferred salad dressing, the limited menu suggestions, how many carb grams are in the meal. I don't have to get dressed up, etc.
- Probably one of my more interesting experiences dealt with a small DC-based consulting company I jointed after leaving Oracle in 1998. A technical manager (I never met) hired by the company had negotiated a lease for his use of a Mercedes. The scuttlebutt is the CEO discovered that the manager was hanging his own shingle at Oracle OpenWorld (which, by the way, I've never personally attended). So the manager was fired, but the company was stuck with the lease. I think my boss' intent was to use me on a prospective Philip Morris project in NYC, but there were delays in the project and then a company DBA got walked off a project in Glen Burnie (a south Baltimore suburb). So I was staffed into the duty-free shop subsidiary and quickly got the project back on course. The CEO's assistant called me into a personal meeting to discuss the company's decision to scotch my plan to rent a subcompact for my next Chicago round trip. It turned out they wanted me to use the Mercedes. I don't think to that point of my life I had even driven a Cadillac, never mind a Mercedes. What I first noticed was the smooth drive; it felt like I was driving on a cloud; and the soundproofing was also quite impressive. One of the clients saw me driving in one morning and enviously asked, "Does everyone in your company drives Mercedes?" I eventually had to return the Mercedes as I was subsequently assigned to projects at Virginia Beach and Chicago. I enjoyed the experience but I didn't want a prospective girlfriend to judge me by the car I was driving (or prospective car thieves).
- Just before last Labor Day I was working for a well-known defense contractor. I had to do training in the Ft. Walton, FL area (along the panhandle). I went through the company's travel vendor to look at available hotels. I found rooms further away from hotels with beachfront views were significantly (like 30-40%) cheaper and booked one of those; none of the other trainees checked into the same hotel. Multiple people (including the trainer) asked, "Why are you staying there? So what if these other hotels are more expensive? It's not even your money!" They don't get it. I don't need to pay for a beach view using other people's money. I have a decent bed, I've got Internet, I have a lot of restaurants to eat at within a 2-mile radius.
So Sherman talks about how some new rich have sought to obfuscate say, designer labels so any household staff might not realize how well off they are, have denied conspicuous wealth as in flying in private aircraft, they aren't like THOSE 1%. etc. There are some sudden realizations like, "How the hell did we spend $600K last year? They are seen as defensive, almost apologetic over their relatively outsized income or wealth, how to reconcile their material well-being with their generally egalitarian perspective.
The Sherman post quickly trended on Twitter, with of course most people not even bothering to read the article. Of course, people who live paycheck to paycheck are going to say "Cry me a river!" You spent $600,000 in one year? That's like the income of some 10 or more households! I don't think the fact that you are a mere multi-millionaire vs a multi-billionaire isn't going to wash under a morally corrosive Politics of Envy.
Let's be clear: the poor of today enjoy arguably a better standard of living than the most wealthy of 100-200 years ago; they often own cellphones and computers along with the massive learning and other resources available on the Internet, live in homes furnished with indoor plumbing, major appliances and air conditioning, have access to meds and vaccines and medical treatments and innovations, access to a wide variety of cheap food and household goods, etc. Whatever economies of scale exist mostly benefit the lower 99%. Global poverty has decreased to less than 10% for the first time in human history. We need to stop obsessing over whether our neighbors own a flashy car, a bigger house, or whatever. We need to stop focusing over the conspicuous spending highlighted by Sherman and focus on their investments in the future economy which ultimately benefit consumers and future job seekers.
I Posted a Product Review on WalMart.com
https://www.walmart.com/reviews/product/21667828
Antartica Guarana is worth the price!
Customer review by RAGPerspective
Antartica is the brand of guarana I drank and enjoyed during 2 business trips in Brazil. I wish Walmart or Sam's Club would stock it; I would buy it regularly. It's hard to describe the taste--like a fruity ginger ale. It's a little pricey at roughly $3.50/2 liter bottle, but this is seriously good soda, and I would choose it over any soft drink you can think of.
Let's me note, first of all, I don't have a financial interest in either the producer or vendor. I will point out that when I searched on Google for vendors selling 6-packs of 2-liter bottles, the other 2 vendors were selling for over $30, over 50% more; do your due diligence.
I vaguely recall Sam's Club carrying it briefly maybe 5-6 years back and I remember buying it every time I saw it. That wasn't the first or last time Sam's Club suddenly discontinued something on my regular shopping lists. (I would gather they weren't big-selling items, but this is something perfectly suited to the practice of product sampling.)
I've mentioned multiple times on past posts I made two business trips to Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1995. My employer at the time, a privately-held marketing research company later acquired by Equifax, had a contract with the largest credit card company in South America, a subsidiary of Citibank. I had to ramp up on my rudimentary vocabulary on Brazilian Portuguese, because although Citibank required its employees speak English (which wasn't really enforced, but I knew more Portuguese than the clients thought I knew, which has its advantages), most restaurants, taxi drivers, etc., I frequented rarely spoke English (and seemed proud of that fact). I must have had some success because I put on almost 20 lbs during my first stay which spanned several weeks. I learned to love feijoada and churrasqueiras, and it was not long before I was introduced to Brazil's favorite, distinctive flavor soda pop; from the first sip, it became a steady beverage choice with my meals.
I've radically cut soda pop from my regular diet for health reasons, but even when it was more regularly part of my diet, I rarely drank more than one serving a day. I mostly drink pop while on travel or moving. I generally prefer to drink iced tea. This won't necessarily by a subscription-style purchase, but it is a legitimate purchase I made with WalMart, and I'll likely reorder every 4 months or so (assuming the price is comparable or better).
