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Where are the rich coming from?

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posted on Mar, 7 2008 @ 03:34 PM
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Let me preface this. Some of you may have seen google ads on here about a place called 'Revelstoke".

We are a small town at the head of the Columbia River in B.C, we have the first two dams in a chain that extends down to the united states, and supply most of the power for western Canada and the states below us.

This winter, a multi billion dollar ski resort opened on the mountain above us. The resort was installed without much furor, although many people in the town were worried about what its effect would be on us all.

We had no clue.

Since last july, over 2000 people have been forcibly evicted from the town itself, due to rents increasing from $500 a month to over $1800 a month, landlords selling their houses left and right, and the apartments in town either being sold, having their tenants evicted to be renovated into condo's, or being slated for demolition.

The towns resident population has become saturated with 20 y/o ski bums with a disturbing amount of cash, and as a result businesses are having to start closing because there is nobody to work there.

Now then, that sob story aside, i have to ask you, where are these wealthy kids coming from? I read the thread about the state of affairs in the states, and it makes it sound like everyone there is going bankrupt. Well, almost every town outside of Vancouver is becoming a resort for the rich, and i have to wonder: Where are these rich coming from??? When you have a 22 y/o buy a mansion on 12 acres for over $8 million, that was appraised the year before at being worth $900,000, isn't there something wrong?

I'm rambling, but it leads me to another thought, Why the push in BC for everyone to go to the cities? All of the small towns are dying very fast right now, as Revelstoke is a case in point of, and it seems like in this case especially Revelstoke died because of malicious intent.



posted on Mar, 7 2008 @ 03:37 PM
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I'd say these are trust fund kids of CEO parents, with the occasional drug dealer sprinkled in. Are the newspapers saying anything about this?



posted on Mar, 8 2008 @ 01:21 AM
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Why would they say anything? The public image of this catastrophe is that our town is "Being pulled out of recession by the multi million dollar investments from abroad". Meanwhile, we're becoming a new Whistler, BC, in under a year.



posted on Mar, 8 2008 @ 03:39 AM
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Ya know D.E.M., at the minimum, it sounds like terrible planning. Eventually somebody has to service those estates & rich-folk. Local wages will have to increase, or housing costs will have to moderate. Typically, an affordable zone is designated...usually somewhere across the tracks, isolated in the least desirable location. Modern day version of the slave compound.

I live in the land of the trust-funder myself. Ski resort, golf courses sucking-up our limited high desert water supply, multi-million dollar homes that sit vacant half the year etc, etc. In our case, mobile home tracks abound on the affordable "Southside". Other service personnel and trades people commute-in from nearby bergs.

Sad state of affairs really. Hopefully your local economy will consolidate & adjust. Sorry to hear about your loss.



posted on Mar, 8 2008 @ 10:03 PM
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Heh, thanks. Its a disturbing trend indeed, What is going to happen when all the small towns are resorts? Surely there aren't enough rich people to keep ALL of them afloat.

And yes, the economy is already adjusting, Businesses are either closing or in the case of restaurants and such, importing workers from the Philippines and china. When a town of 8,000 people imports workers from China, there is something wrong in the world.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 12:05 AM
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reply to post by D.E.M.
 


Even though things seem awful in the US, and they are, circumstances certainly aren't dire for everyone. When I went to university I was surprised that 11,000 undergrads could afford to have their parents pay the $40k/year tuition and pay their bar tabs for them, send them shopping, rent them nice apartments, etc. I was just naive about how much money a lot of people really do have. When you don't come from that kind of money it doesn't seem like there are tens, hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions (who knows) of people who can afford to be ski bums, beach bums, or just bums in general yet still wear designer clothes.

My point is, the bottom is falling out for the middle class, working class, and poor, and not the upper class.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 02:48 PM
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Originally posted by sc2099
reply to post by D.E.M.
 


Even though things seem awful in the US, and they are, circumstances certainly aren't dire for everyone. When I went to university I was surprised that 11,000 undergrads could afford to have their parents pay the $40k/year tuition and pay their bar tabs for them, send them shopping, rent them nice apartments, etc. I was just naive about how much money a lot of people really do have.


No offense here, but you would be naive to assume that the parents are just dropping the cash for these kids. The likelihood as that they are financing themselves to the hilt and it will be a matter of time before they join the increasing number of individuals destroyed by their debt. Of course, that is not to say a fair number of those kids' parents were dropping the cash; but its more likely that the parents were financing to provide those luxuries.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 10:39 PM
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I know it is quite common to play the doom and gloom game on ATS but I know many people, including myself, who are not having a financial crisis. I read people complaining about maxed credit cards and badly financed investments. These people are looking for everyone to blame except themselves. I received a college education, I started several of my own businesses, I have traveled to many parts of the world and my income grows every year. I live a good life. I bought my first house at age 20 using the profits from the sale of my first businesses. If you are smart and responsible you can make solid profits even in the worst economy. In a terrible housing market I have sold rental properties and kept others that are in more profitable locations. Financial education and responsibility go a long way. Too many people want to sit on the Internet blogging that the system is unfair instead of getting off their butts and doing some positive to change their life. Do not assume that just because you see someone with money that they had that lifestyle handed to them. Although, sometimes I think it is easier for people to think ill of others with money because it allows them to continue ignoring their own apathy and position in life.

I can't say that it sucks that your town is being overrun by 20 year old millionaires. A smart entrepreneur would see the opportunities that provides.

[edit on 9-3-2008 by zerotime]



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 10:46 PM
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reply to post by zerotime
 

And you should be proud. Now, who financed your education? Parents or student loans? Did you have to work very hard to attend school? How long ago was this?
God bless you for doing well, but you are in the very minority. A middle class person just cannot make it today. You, my dear, have more than just a picket fence.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 10:57 PM
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reply to post by sc2099
 


And where does that money from the failing middle class go? It gets concentrated towards the top. We're looking at Capitalism's intended end game here. TOtal enrichment of the few, and debt-servitude of the many.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 10:58 PM
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reply to post by TheWalkingFox
 


Unsubstantiated Socialist rhetoric. Prove it.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:01 PM
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Originally posted by dgtempe
reply to post by zerotime
 

And you should be proud. Now, who financed your education? Parents or student loans? Did you have to work very hard to attend school? How long ago was this?
God bless you for doing well, but you are in the very minority. A middle class person just cannot make it today. You, my dear, have more than just a picket fence.



I financed my own education. I worked two jobs and took out a few student loans but it wasn't too expensive. I went to school at Kent State University.

I disagree with your middle class stance. I believe the problem is simply that most people in the middle class try to live beyond their means. They buy houses they cannot really afford. They get 4 or 5 credit cards and fill them up buying gifts they really do not need. They buy expensive, gas guzzling autos when they could have gotten a better less flashy car for less. For the most part the middle class has pulled the rug out from under themselves.

But all that being said, I know more middle class people who are responsible and who are making it, even right now in this supposedly dead end economy. A smart lifestyle of conservative spending can allow any working class the opportunities for advancement in society. If I gave away everything I had today I am most positive that within a year or two I would be back in the game. There are endless ways to make money in our society. The problem is that most people only look for ways to spend money.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:09 PM
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My turn: I beg to differ with you, you are talking about SOME TIME AGO, first of all.Second of all, dont look a gifthorse in the mouth. You dont know what twists and turns your life will take, today you're on top, tomorrow you may not be. Basically, you consider yourself above anyone who complaints. God be with you, and may you remain unscathed all your life, while i know big business owners who are complaining, huge stores that are closing, people with money, lots of money who are going thru hard times, you are well. Its a miracle.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:14 PM
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reply to post by chromatico
 


America.
The lower-income groups are expanding, with people taking double shifts at fast food joints to meet ends (which leads to claims that "employment is up").
The bottom of the middle class is falling out while we watch, with mortgage rates increasing exponentially, gas prices rocketing, and tax shelters and bankruptcy options shriveling on the vine.
The upper middle class is gaining a small boom as the money passes upwards. White collars are getting a very "new money" feel, but as typical with new money, it's simply passing through their hands as they spend it on luxuries - not services or goods, which would bolster the lower income sectors, but second houses, boats, pricey cars, etc.
The rich - that top 5% - are recording massive record profits during all this.

The money is hemorrhaging from the lower two thirds of the economic scale, rushing into the upper third. This is during what is probably the most deregulated, free-market period in American economics since 1928.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:18 PM
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By todays standards, just who is rich? You have to be a millionaire to consider yourself rich. If you are not a millionaire, you are simply "comfortable"



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:27 PM
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reply to post by TheWalkingFox
 


You quote no source other than yourself. Nice try.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:27 PM
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reply to post by dgtempe
 


No doubt, there are bull and bear periods in every business and in every economy. Maybe it is my entrepreneurial blood talking. I never use excuses or scapegoats for failure. I'm not trying to be egotistical but my success is not luck - it’s from a good education, hard work and smart decisions. I don't want to sound like a corny motivational speaker but ANYONE can do it. Everyone on this planet has a skill, a service or a craft that they could be turning into profit in their spare time. I worked two 'real jobs' in my life during college and I hated every single minute of those jobs. Since I graduated I have never worked for the man. I think sometimes the only thing that separates rich people from middle class is that rich people always think there's another way to make money and the middle class always think that someone is taking something away from them. It is a locked in mindset to failure.



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:40 PM
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Its slavery pure and simple. when somebody has to work two jobs to afford a piece of paper that lets them work just one job every day of the week theres something wrong. once your enslaved by debt they own you and if anyone here thinks its right that so many people spend most of their waking hours working just to survive while some people buy million dollar boats and eat a days wages worth of food in one meal all day every day they either dont want to admit the truth to themselves or their rich enough to not be affected by it all that much. by the time your old enough to enjoy life and retire your too old to do all the things you wanted to do in life, everything we own is made by us and then to survive we have to use all the money we earn buying it back and in the end we end up with less than we made while the rich live it up on the the money they steal from what we make



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:40 PM
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Zerotime,

Dude, you just dont get it. You sound as if your teeth are clenched when you speak, and you have the priviledge of having the brains and braun, and everything else that goes with good fortune to have made it. That is not the point i'm trying to drive home to you!

When the real # hits, you are going down just like the rest of us. Is that so hard to understand? You wont be privied anymore. Again, hard as it may be to beleive, i have a nuclear Physicist in my family, my uncle, i have medical doctors, dentists, one real estate mogul, a microbiologist who gives lectures at Woods Hole in Cape Cod, and their lives are changing little by little, and half of them are BUSHIES. That just makes my case stronger.

No offense meant but i just had to clarify how i perceive YOU. You are in denial, or in temporary denial, when it hits home, i am sure your posts will be about aliens and not money.

I would still like my question answered: How much dough does it take to be rich? How much does it take to be a millionaire, used to be 1 million, right? no more! Some excliusive clubs will not consider you a millionaire unless you have assets of over 10 million.
So which line do you fall into? Comfortable? If that's the case, strap on your seatbelt cause you're in for a ride.

Respectfully,
dg



posted on Mar, 9 2008 @ 11:50 PM
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reply to post by dgtempe
 



Hey, sorry, I'll back off. I wasn't trying to ruffle you up. I’ll keep to myself and I’ll keep doing things my way because it works for me. I hope your way is working for you. If it isn’t then I wish you the best luck in the future.

[edit on 9-3-2008 by zerotime]



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