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The broken promise of America: betrayal by America's rich
Who's paying the price for America's growing income gap? In the United States it is the richest among us who are most assuredly and solely benefiting, while the U.S. economy consistently fails over 30-million hard-working Americans primarily with substandard wages.
The U.S. government rigs the tax codes and contorts the laws specifically to over-burden the working classes while making the wealthiest in the United States more and more wealthy. The top one percent garners about 80% of all income gains. It is an extremely "lop-sided" system designed by the rich of this nation to benefit primarily the wealthiest top one-percent of our nation--particularly the top one-tenth of those wealthiest "one-percenters."
The working classes are simply and efficiently over-taxed to sure economic death working as much as 6 months out the year to pay "their" taxes, while the rich pay (as a percentage) MUCH less than their fair share. Is it fair that the wage earners are held to report literally ALL their income while the rich are exempted? Is it fair that American "corporations" (which the rich control with iron-clad fists) are shipping jobs, assets and intellectual property off-shore just as fast as they can?
The insolence and audacity of the rich to frame their own ideas exclusively in terms of purely "raw commercial value," serves as the primary excuse avoiding very real and generations-neglected social obligations and responsibilities to this nation--namely "to make society a more valuable place, to create involved participants...to form a more perfect union, to promote justice, to provide the common defense, to provide domestic tranquility, to provide for the COMMON wealth (the general welfare)--those are the reasons we created this country, and those should be the focus of our policies...but if our policies are merely pecuniary...then we're going to go down the wrong path." [quoting David K. Johnston, New York Times]
A devastating cast-like system is materializing in the United States at the behest of the rich who would have us remain ignorant or intentionally misled and deluded from the startling reality that is befalling hard-working Americans today... Who's paying the price for America's growing income gap? In the United States it is the richest among us who are most assuredly and s... more -
New Celebrity Tribes
Once upon a time, it was all about the Primrose Hill set. But now there are new kids on the block.
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Businessman puts divorce details online to stop rumours | Money | guardian.co.uk
A millionaire businessman has posted his divorce settlement on the internet to stamp out rumours that he was "tight" and trying to fleece his wife in order to keep up his champagne lifestyle.
Gary Dean, 47, who runs his own advertising company, divorced Helen Dean, mother to his four children, after 19 years of marriage.
When gossip began circulating around the village of St Michaels on the affluent Fylde coast in Lancashire where the couple lived, Dean decided to reveal his £3.7m payout. A millionaire businessman has posted his divorce settlement on the internet to stamp out rumours that he was "tight" and trying to fle... more -
World's most expensive house!
Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich's new home has become the most expensive house on earth, after he paid a whopping 250 million pounds for it.
The Russian billionaire recently picked up the majestic hilltop villa overlooking the French Riviera after falling in love with it during a private viewing along with his girlfriend Daria Zhukova.
The villa, called La Leopolda is know not only to have the best sea views in the south of France, but it also sits on 10 acres of immaculate grounds that run right down to the resort of Villefranche. Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich's new home has become the most expensive house on earth, after he paid a whopping 250 mil... more -
Hundreds of super rich under investigation
Hundreds of rich Americans whose names and secret foreign bank account information were turned over to US tax authorities could face criminal prosecution. A Senate committee is scheduled to convene tomorrow and among those called to testify are foreign bank account holders, including one of the wealthiest men in Los Angeles.
Are America's wealthiest citizens cheating the government out of billions?
48 year-old Peter Lowy and his family own the giant Westfield shopping center fortune and will control the retail space in the rebuilt World Trade Center in New York. Bob Bennett, a lawyer for Lowy, who is a prominent contributor to both Democratic and Republican candidates, told ABC News that Lowy's name was on the list of secret accounts from a Liechtenstein bank but that Lowy did nothing wrong.
Bennett said Lowy is out of the country tomorrow and will not be available to testify. Hundreds of rich Americans whose names and secret foreign bank account information were turned over to US tax authorities could face c... more -
Happy birthday Haiti: 'Robin Hood' millionaire shows his birthday guests a 'poor' ...
American property tycoon Frank McKinney showed the world just how the super-rich *should* behave when he surprised guests at his 45th birthday party by taking them to the slums of Haiti to see how the other half lives.
He first took party guests on an extravagant tour of his latest construction — a $29 million (£15 million) building in Manalapan, Florida, with glass staircases, fish swimming in the ceiling, indoor waterfalls and two wine cellars, one for red and one for white — followed by dinner and champagne at his beachfront estate near by.
But there was barely time for the maverick millionaire’s 55 guests to sleep off their hangovers before they were whisked away for the next phase of his $5,000-a-ticket birthday experience — a sobering trip to the festering slums of Haiti.
The Tour of Extremes took them from Florida’s Palm Beach County — among the nation’s wealthiest communities — to Cité Soleil, the poorest suburb of the poorest city in the western hemisphere’s poorest country.
There, McKinney has built more than 500 homes for 4,000 people living in abject poverty through his charity, the Caring House Project Foundation. His guests’ ticket money will fund the construction of 55 more houses.
“It’s not everyone’s idea of a birthday, but it is mine,” he told The Times. “I’m a modern-day Robin Hood. Here I am providing property to the world’s most wealthy; should I not be providing it to the world’s poorest and homeless too?”
Doesn't this restore your faith in humankind a little? It just goes to show, the super-rich don't have to be super-aresholes. Hooray!
American property tycoon Frank McKinney showed the world just how the super-rich *should* behave when he surprised guests at his 45th ... more -
Turtle Island Project Director Some rich view Indigenous Peoples as "expendable co...
TIP Dir. Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard:
I think we have here two different forms of religion. Ands its this religion of my ancestors that I participate in that I think really has been the problem. I think we have to come to understand that religious consciousness evolves just like anything else does. It's not just the material world that evolves but also our cultural world evolves and the realm of the concept evolves. We are going now, as a people - there was a time from prehistorical religions to historic religions. the religions of the book Judaism, Christianity, Islam to this historic period. Now I think that is transending to this transrational understanding of spirituality. And as part of this transrational understanding of spirituality is an appropriation of this knowledge and spirituality of Earth-based cultures. I think we have to be open now to what John Trudell called ‘spirit making and escape.’ I love this idea. My spirit needs to make an escape from my religious consciousness. The racial and cultural genocide that still goes on today inside this country . Judaism is an inherently ethical religion except you have to be a Canaanite. You may get your ass kicked or your head cut off but basically it's OK. But sky Gods and cultures that worship sky Gods are traditionally barbaric - Read the Old Testament - Wow! Talk about patriarchy. But we are in a war. It is not a war of my choosing.But we are in a war I truly believe that - a war fore our hearts and our minds. We have to continually fight.It's multi-generational. We fight against great principalities and powers. It's amazing. If you stick your head up out of the foxhole just a little bit and you start speaking on behalf of the poor. Those bullets are flying. I said something about a corporation. I said we created these corporations and political structures that aren't moral entities because you have to say things like: ‘I'm sorry. I made a mistake.' You have to admit your humanness. When's the last time your heard a politician ever admit a mistake unless they were forced to? ‘I did not have sex with that woman - I did not inhale - yes I smoked but I did not inhale' And I said corporations are liked this too - they are not moral entities because they cannot do these things like apologize. Well, good Lord that's attacking a sacred cow - there's a guy in my congregation who just went ballistic - who quit the church because he had spent his entire life benefiting from, working for, a non-moral entity. I did not say all corporations were liked this - I just said some corporations are like this. Well that's all you have to say. Rev. Hubbard said Americans and all people who call Earth home need to protect the environment. He said we have lost the sense of the sacred - a lesson that can be learned from Native Americans and other Indigenous peoples. I understand this because I feel desperate. What John Trudell was talking about is the same way. We've lost our way. We do not have any spiritual sense because we have lost any sense of the sacred. A great historian of the religions Mircea Eliade who was at the University of Chicago where I for many years - I did his funeral. Mircea Eliade had this notion that in order to have a hierophany, an experience of the sacred, you have to have sacred space. If this Earth is not sacred to you, which it isn't to Mickey Mouse, then you can't have an experience of the sacred. I deal with people every day in my congregation who have lost or are losing any sense of the sacred. And it's not only - like you were saying this relationship between Earth and women - and the earth and man. If you do not have power in a capitalistic society, you become part of and you are thought of in terms of the Earth. Women who have less economic power, children who don't have any power at all unless somebody gives it to them, Indigenous communities, you are all thought of as expendable commodities. TIP Dir. Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard: ... more -
How we can help the 'Bottom Billion'
Economist Paul Collier lays out a bold, compassionate plan for closing the gap between rich and poor.
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The World's Most Expensive Home
A mansion in London is set to sell for £117million ($230 million US) – making it the world’s costliest home.
The palatial residence, on a street dubbed Billionaires’ Row, is believed to have been bought by Britain’s richest man, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal...
A mansion in London is set to sell for £117million ($230 million US) – making it the world’s costliest home. ... more -
Is Los Angeles a third world city?
A new study from the Migration Policy Institute reports a third of the immigrant population living in L.A. doesn't have a high school degree, and 60% don't speak English fluently. According to the study, these immigrants can't access the city's fastest growing job fields, like computer engineering and nursing.
So the question is, will L.A. become "a Third World city with an elite group on top and most on near poverty wages?" A new study from the Migration Policy Institute reports a third of the immigrant population living in L.A. doesn't have a high school ... more -
Russian billionaire to set up magazine for snobs
Russia's super-rich love to flaunt their wealth. Soon they will have a magazine called Snob to help them.
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The interiors of the hotel. Burj Al Arab Hotel.
the profits from oil
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How do rich women (perhaps famous) pose in front of a Photographer to show off the...
This book, physically has an amazing display of rich women showing off really hard why they are rich, lions included.
Looks very theatrical and staged, but sadly it is the unknown society habitat to the rest of us in Mexico. Here is the best on-line friendly display I found, but if you are really into photography books, this is a fascinating one to check out by this Mexican Photographer (currently resides in Mexico City.
"Daniela Rossell: Ricas y Famosas: Mexico 1994-2001"
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here's a more ifno if you are interested:
http://skelemitz.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/daniela-rosel...
http://art.progressive.com/rosell.asp This book, physically has an amazing display of rich women showing off really hard why they are rich, lions included. ... more -
World's rich shrug off credit crunch
The ranks of the world’s rich swelled to 8m during 2007 as the wealthy proved immune to the strains across global economies in the latter half of the year... The ranks of the world’s rich swelled to 8m during 2007 as the wealthy proved immune to the strains across global economies in the lat... more
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How do rich and poor people live in Shanghai (46 photos)
Photos taken in apartments poor and the rich residents of Shanghai, one of the largest cities in China.
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The politics of debt - who owns the world?
The world has $54.31 trillion of external debt: exactly who is the world indebted to?
Wealth is Debt
The concept of using debt as leverage has been used by many to accumulate assets. The theory behind the practice is that proceeds acquired through a loan “are reinvested with the intent to earn a greater rate of return than the cost of interest.” However, this practice only works under certain conditions: when there is access to cheap money; and when there is a way to reset ones debt obligations through bankruptcy restructuring if the burden of repaying a loan becomes too overwhelming. This concept of leverage through debt has long been the standard for corporations. However, it is no longer a viable strategy for the individual.
Read the rest at http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1679 The world has $54.31 trillion of external debt: exactly who is the world indebted to? Wealth is Debt ... more -
The most ludicrous breasts?
"I think society has forgotten what real boobs look like, and women like me end up thinking our boobs aren't nice because they disappear into our armpits when we lie down."
--Reason given for getting 32GG-sized boobs by glamour model Jodie Marsh
Ghkfffphtth.... your thoughts? "I think society has forgotten what real boobs look like, and women like me end up thinking our boobs aren't nice because they disappe... more -
Rich-poor gap linked to heart disease
Their findings supported the hypothesis that income inequality has harmful effects on heart disease, which may be partly a result of its effects on risk factors including obesity, according to Kim.
Their findings supported the hypothesis that income inequality has harmful effects on heart disease, which may be partly a result of i... more -
Money buys happiness (arguably)
OK, that's disputed. A new study claims to rebut the old study that said that richer people aren't any happier than poor ones. Income does matter, the new study says.
"Economic growth can also pay for investments in scientific research that lead to longer, healthier lives. It can allow trips to see relatives not seen in years or places never visited. When you’re richer, you can decide to work less — and spend more time with your friends."
OK, that's disputed. A new study claims to rebut the old study that said that richer people aren't any happier than poor ones. Income ... more -
What $315 billion looks like!
Ever wondered what loads of money looks like stacked up? One dollar is roughly 6 inches long, and 2½ inches wide. See how $360,000 dollars forms a mountain of the size of a normal person but look at what $315 billion looks like! Ever wondered what loads of money looks like stacked up? One dollar is roughly 6 inches long, and 2½ inches wide. See how $360,000 dol... more
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