even more quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a new rolling new york times thread

like my man puff say

afaics, American families with wealth have a very anxious relationship with their money because no one told them what money is for.

omg this article, i can't even

And that leads to uncomfortable surprises. Ms. Allred recalled a young inheritor who had finished graduate school and was sitting down with his family’s accountant and lawyer. When they told him how much he was going to inherit — the first time he heard the full dollar amount — he excused himself to go to the bathroom and never returned to the meeting.

Worse, she said, are children who end up going into professions they would not have gone into otherwise because their parents led them to believe that they would receive nothing. She knew of one who went into the military; another got a business degree when she would rather have done something artistic. Both resented their parents’ mixed messages.

fuuuuuuuuuuck youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

irl lols

In his 40s and retired for more than a decade, he appears to be a model client for any trust and estate planner: he has already put more than $10 million in various trusts.

I do get that there is a basic concern that if despite having money you are not a worthless douchenozzle, and you would desire your children aspire to something other than that, it is probably not good to tell them that they can buy small islands on a whim.

http://i.imgur.com/8jpirFf.png

he looks really old for a 24 year old

;)

if i were rich, i'd want to support my kids if it turned out that they had artistic talent or decided to pursue an academic discipline that wouldn't make them well-off (like philosophy or comp. lit.) or a religious vocation. if the kids wanted to go into business or become corporate lawyers, then i'd be less inclined to be so generous b/c i'd assume that they'd make their own money soon enough.

but i'm not rich so what do i know?!? though i suspect my attitude may be more common among old-money types than it would be w/ the current breed of wealthy Ayn Rand-loving assholes.

rich people kids are the most disgusting savages full stop

Dr. Eric Dammann, a therapist who is treating the stress of the current economic times.

basically if you lie to a rich ppl kid and they don't know they're a rich people kid there's a chance they won't grow up to be horrible, but maybe they find out they were secretly a rich person kid and become doubly horrible because now they're pissed they didn't know all along? its a crapshoot.

double indemnity

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/nyregion/lessons-found-in-the-mud.html?smid=fb-share

Recently, she wrote a book called “Become a Time Millionaire: 100 Ways to Gain an Extra Hour a Day,” spending her own days on “high dividend activities.”

example of a high dividend activity: write a BS book, rake in cash, become an Actual Millionaire

“I told him that this isn’t about ‘accomplishing’ anything,” Ms. Holder recounted. “That it’s about slow living and sitting down and being present and eating the bread I baked with my hands. And not the bread I baked with a bread machine.”

when i think of the poor, unwashed masses who have only ever tasted bread baked with a bread machine

because you surely want to know

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/31/nyregion/31BIG_SPAN/31BIG-articleLarge.jpg

http://haiku.nytimes.com/

that photo really looks like he has a a stick with a toddler attached to each end. Impressive that he can carry it in one hand.

those branches look very artisanal

photog probably had them switch out the dirty ones for some prime branch shots

Mmmmm I think possibly the writer made that couple sound bad for kicks. Playing with sticks in the woods and stuff is pretty great. The Georgetown crack is the author's, and the quote about oppression and poverty is pretty otm.

I do get that there is a basic concern that if despite having money you are not a worthless douchenozzle, and you would desire your children aspire to something other than that, it is probably not good to tell them that they can buy small islands on a whim.

The former owner of my company, an honest-to-god billionaire and philanthropist (who sold the company to another billionaire and philanthropist, Warren Buffett), told both his daughters, "You'd better get good educations and good careers, because I'm giving all my money away. I earned my way, you earn yours."

if i were a billionaire i would be fine with giving my kids money but only if they used it to become cool artists and musicians

Too low of a ROI.

Yeah, you might accidentally get The Strokes.

attention any rich parents i am available to live in brooklyn & make art for a nominal fee

Haha check out that guy carrying branches, what a pretentious asshole

“It’s a big thing in Waldorf schools for children to remain in a bubble,” Ms. Holder explained as we were entering the park with a group of children. “The bubble! When I got to college” — Georgetown, because you surely want to know — “I spent a lot of time crying because I was learning about poverty and oppression really for the first time — things that, frankly, you should know about before the age of 17.”

that's quite a bubble

Beginning in September, the school will house 40 children, ages 2 to 5, who will move from classroom to classroom for 35 hours a week to study math, science, reading, piano, dance, art, jazz, percussion, ballet, drama, singing and Spanish.

Isn't this pretty much a pre-school Montessori?

tbh, I was kind of edified to read that part, bc H and I have occasionally fantasized about how "If only we could afford it, wouldn't it be nice to send K to a Waldorf school?"

xp pre-school montessori exists and is its own thing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Waldorf_education

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-secrets-of-princeton.html

second half of that is mostly otm?

yuhp

I know it's dothat don't be scared

first time in forever that doutat wrote something I couldn't even quibble with.

quibblety anxieties of the reading class

i'm having such strange emotions in response to this article. "like watching a dog play the piano."

quiddities and agonies and leisure time delights of the creative class

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/travel/professional-conferences-double-as-vacation-venues.html

what is wrong with people

ughhhhhhhhhh x 1000

then again ppl who meet at TED deserve each other

keep them away from general population

Love the idea that this is in any way new. Anybody who's ever worked in the hospitality industry, especially at a shitty hotel bar, will tell you that they see more affairs cook up when a convention's in town, whether it's ''creatives'' there for TED bullshit or contractors there for this year's exciting rollout of next-gen cement admixtures for paving and interior floor applications.

confirms my long-running suspicion (that now everyone seems to just acknowledge) that these aren't actually like conferences or anything, but just places to hang out and party and feel awesome. spring break for marketing consultants.

i mean true yes this probably holds for all marketing conventions/conferences as opposed to more researchy things but nonetheless...

xxp OTM.
IIRC Dallas used to use strip club density and proximity as an enticement for convention business.