Rich Americans growing more confident - survey

[sabra]

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http://today.reuters.com/investing/FinanceArticle.aspx?type=economicNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20050808:MTFH43413_2005-08-08_04-00-30_N05669238:1

Rich Americans growing more confident - survey

NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Consumer sentiment among wealthy Americans rose in the latest quarter as U.S. economic prospects appear to brighten, a survey published on Monday showed.

McDonald Financial said its Affluent Consumer Confidence Index climbed to 52 in a poll undertaken in July, up from 50 in the survey conducted in April.

....

"In a reversal from last quarter, affluent Americans in the survey are more concerned about terrorism, safety and security and the war in Iraq than they are about the national economy," the report said.

<</SNIP>>

[jojo54]

1. Of course they're going to feel more confident.

They've got B*shco to thank. :sarcasm:

[napi21]

2. Surprised are ya? I'm not! I'm still hunting for this great economy!

Someone posted Shrubs quote here the other day, and I said...if only he'd tell me where it is! I keephunting it, and it's just not anywhere around me!!!!

[Wetzelbill]

3. don't you know the tax cuts are the reason things are going so well?

Surely, you're more prosperous because of them. That's how it works. :)

[napi21]

5. Uh, no! YA see, I don't get any capital gaines or dividends, and

I'm sure not in the right tax bracket, so damn, I still can't find that great economy!

Maybe I sould starrt looking under the furniture and stuff like Shrub was looking for the WMD's. YA think???

[Wetzelbill]

37. let me know when you find something

I'm looking too. :)

[okieinpain]

59. and yet it's only 52% up from 50. so that means that 48% of the q

wealthy are only so-so on the economy.

[Union Thug]

4. Geez, I'm so happy for them...

Must be nice to be free from concern over where your next buck is coming from.

My summer wish for the rich; Go F*** yourselves and may the dream of a new revolution find you tearfully begging for table scraps and bread crumbs on the filthy concrete and asphalt.

[cliss]

6. Well, they better not be feeling too confident..

This country, which has been so good to them, is teetering at the edge of the abyss. We've got huge problems.

There are still corporate scandals waiting to be exploded. Our balance of trade deficit is killing this country.....think of a noose, tightening.....tightening....

Our federal trade deficit is in the stratosphere.......so high, I've lost count.

So -- while these slobs are clinking their champagne glasses together, let us send sympathetic thoughts to them.....they're going to need them.

[primavera]

46. Oh hell, that's no problem!

When the rich have looted and pillaged this country for all it's worth, they'll just retire and move to Monoco to spend their billions. So there's no problem, you just abandon the sinking ship when things start to get hairy. Of course, the hundreds of millions of victims left behind will have a tough time of it, but hey, we never gave a shit about them anyway, right?

[orleans]

7. hell, i know if i was rich i'd feel more confident

about a lot of things in my life; i'd feel confident about paying my bills, student loans, my child's college education, my retirement, the new car i'd be driving.

damn! I'd be so confident i'd be one of those 80 rich liberals helping to fund that new think tank!

[MissMarple]

24. There are some what more than eighty, but they are somewhat hard to herd.

And the DLC does not inspire confidence. And in this fight, we have a hydra as an enemy. And only one of the heads has " evil rich" on it. The culture warriors are going berserk, the evil rich think they are "so the thing", and the uber power guys are standing in the sidelines smirking and laughing at the pawns. The religious freaks are sure their time is now.

I think it will take a bit before the liberals coalesce into any cohesive force. Sad to say. But our base is in disarray, and has marbled off into other camps.

It is time to clean house and bring the children in, but there is a carnival down the road and they want to try the all fundie rides. Too bad the carnies haven't kept the equipment up. It would have eaten into the profits.

[reprobate]

49. MissMarple, not to argue, but may I offer a slightly different view?

I believe that we are not far from the trigger point that Russia found itself in during Oct 1917, when the military was ordered to fire on the rioters and the next day mutinied and turned against the government.

Our citizens are almost as desperate as were the russians then, and when the food riots start here (and it's inevitable that they will), the fascist junta in charge will order the military out against them. The same thing is destined to happen here. Our military is becoming fed up with the use they've been put to, and being ordered to fire on their own brothers and sisters will be the tipping point.

It is at that point that we as progressives, and I started to say 'liberal's but the fascists have ruined that word, must be ready with alternatives like the Leninites and Trotskyites were in russia. At that time the republicans will be seen as 'enemy' and it will be up to us to provide an alternative.

Unfortunatly, I beileve that you are right. Our forces are in disarray. It will take a new American Lenin to arrise and lead us into the lite.

[raccoon]

39. I'd add "getting medical care" to your list. nt

[nookiemonster]

8. Translation for the ones of us not so.......confident

eom

[montana_hazeleyes]

9. "A picture is worth a thousand words!"

:D

[progressivebydesign]

15. Thanx for the visual aid!! hoo hoo! Too funny!! n/t

[Doremus]

10. And why wouldn't they grow more confident?

They have installed their very own manservant in the highest office of the land. He and the rest of the toadies fulfill their every desire.

If you're rich in America in 2005, life is indeed bliss.

If you're middle class in America in 2005, open an umbrella. Those are golden showers.

[heidler1]

12. They should be worried.

They get their way on tax cuts. They helped * start his war. Now the war ia going badly, the interest rates are going up, this will cause the stocks to go down, more low pay jobs and body bags are hurting the enlistments, how they go-na find cheap soldiers to protect them from all of the enemies they have created?

[Joebert]

13. Where do you get cheap soldiers?

export all tech jobs.

export all manufacturing jobs.

Make it so the only job available, is being cannon fodder.

[heidler1]

54. Exactly

Also I believe the police, firefighters, teachers, and nurses are sucked into this mess as well. This is considering all of the dangers involved with those occupations. That's why the big push to award them with patriotism and hero buttons.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

34. LOL!

operation golden flow-

[raccoon]

40. Great image--I'd add "if you're poor in America in 2005" nt

"If you're middle class in America in 2005, open an umbrella. Those are golden showers."

[alfredo]

11. "affluent Americans in the survey are more concerned about terrorism"

Was it Muslim terrorist that concerns them, or an angry US population that has them on edge?


Patrician stew, YUM!!

Corporatist Quiche Delicious!

[AndyTiedye]

18. Nah, Way Too Much Chlorestorol

Patrician stew, YUM!!

Corporatist Quiche Delicious!

Usually comes out way too fatty.

[alfredo]

44. the McClellan burgers should be avoided then.

they're mostly fat and very gassy.

[progressivebydesign]

14. If I hear one more stupidass rich person blather about granite counters...

..I'm gonna blow!!! In my line of work I have about had it with this nouveux riche obsession with granite fucking counterops. THEY DON'T MAKE YOUR FOOD TASTE ANY BETTER, nor does it improve your sex life, make you prettier, or make your breasts bigger.

Sorry. Just had to get that off my chest. I've just tired of the wealthy living like it's the Reagan 80's... Don't EVEN get me started on 90 lb. housewives driving giant Hummers with only one little child, or a yoga mat as cargo. They dont' haul groceries or grass fertilizer, the hired help does that. This is the 80's, folks.. all over again.

[nookiemonster]

20. Hmmmm, let's see.....

By parsing your message, I have discovered the use of offensive terms:

blow
fucking
sex or "sex life"
breasts
Hummer
grass

I am now forwarding this to Homeland Security. Thank you. Have a nice day.

Ben Dover
Granite countertop industry representative

LOL.
:wow:

[progressivebydesign]

43. Hee.. hee.. hey, I LOVE granite.. really I do!! : ) d.

[Joebert]

22. Since when do construction materials have brands?

I keep seeing commercials for home builders out here, and now they drop names on the wood, counters, etc.

Appliances? Branded, fine.
Carpets? Branded, fine.

2x4s?
Sinks?

Come on.

[barb162]

47. LOL

ANd don't forget when they are in the hummer, they have a cell-phone attached to their ear.

[leftofthedial]

16. we need to fucking kill and eat the rich

or maybe restore some tax fairness.

we need a "maximum wage." It should equal 20 times the minimum wage.

And an inheritance tax of 95%.

Get rid of the fucking aristocracy. They are sucking the world dry and contributing nothing but problems by hoarding capital.

[Joebert]

19. Inheritance tax.

I just want something that lets a family keep their parent's house when they pass away.

The one house. Under a certain value.

My grandpop just died, my grandmom has had enough strokes that she can't walk or talk.

They have a small place where they'd retired.

Now the state is trying to take the house to pay for my grandmom's stay in assisted living. All of the investments could be gone, and as much as that would suck, I can see them using that to pay for her care.

But when they're going to take away the house we always used to go stay at during the summer, it's depressing.

[leftofthedial]

21. yeah. your family should get to keep the house

but money and assets over a certain amount--$500K?--should not accrue generationally.

I didn't used to think this, but the aristocracy and executive greed are two "pumps" feeding evil into the capitalist system.

[Joebert]

23. Absolutely.

I don't know where that number is, but you can't be passing zillions around, without some of that going to help other people.

Corporate greed has to be fixed. The people that are making bundles by firing people, granting themselves infinite stock, getting out of paying taxes, these guys need to go away for a long time.

How it is acceptable to screw hundreds to millions of people and not have everything seized, is beyond me. None of this, you took $12 billions (that we've found out about) so give us that $12 billion, and another X dollars, and we're cool.

I would like to see corrupt CEOs rooming with child molesters.

[Gormy Cuss]

42. It is depressing but keep in mind that without Medicaid, the

family would need to find the means to support her. Which is more important to you, keeping the house or knowing your grandmother is in a safe environment for her final years? If the other assets are exhausted, wouldn't the family sell the house rather than have her suffer? I know what it's like to lose the treasured family homes of memory. It is depressing, but a house is just a house.

Medicare doesn't support assisted living or nursing home care and perhaps it should. We would be a better society if old age coverage included senior care facilities and subsidies to allow families to care for their elders at home with nursing assistance. Until it does, the options for paying are the family and its assets, and when exhausted, the state Medicaid program. State Medicaid programs are underfunded (thank the Feds) and cutting services and eligibility. Requiring liquidation of assets before paying for elder care extends the coverage for all Medicaid recipients. It feels harsh when it happens in your own family, but on a broader level what it comes down to is making the best use of limited resources.

[CAcyclist]

58. If We tax the rich

to pay for medical care for all of us, your grandparents wouldn't be needing to sell the house.

You're right, families should be able to keep the family home, but these multi - multi-million-dollar estates should be put up for auction to stop this slide into a new landed aristocracy and the rest of us holding on by our fingernails to overpriced shacks.

[CAcyclist]

57. I'm Right There With You

A maximum wage and a 90% tax bracket for the billionaires.

A wealth tax for all the corporate CEOs that get paid in stock.

I'd be a bit more generous with the estate tax, but not by much.

[Straight Shooter]

17. No shit, Sherlock.

Wasn't that the plan all along?

[Iowa]

25. The article doesn't define affluent...

I'm probably too late in that this article has probably dropped off the radar, but if anyone sees this, what net worth would you consider to be affluent? I'd say a million or more - home excluded. I'd be interested in hearing what other DUers think. Would you consider yourself to be affluent if you had a million bucks and a house free and clear? More? Less?

[patdem]

30. I think that sounds about right-one home....of course the argument will

be-one million per survivor, which I would not agree with. Any home except the main home would be included in the million, or have to be sold.

[GoBlue]

26. Their confidence is false...

reality.

[Delphinus]

27. Well good for them!

What about the rest of us - the majority of us? How are we feeling?

We're seeing the separation of the classes a whole lot more clearly these days.

[SoCalDem]

28. What a surprise...not!

It's easy to be confident when you can write out a check for any bill you get..without having to play "payday roulette" wondering what the latest date is that you can mail something, and have it not be l;ate, but not beat your paycheck to the bank..

or to be able to say "yes" when your kid says he/she needs money for something or other..

or to be able to replace the sputtering lump of metal in the driveway instead of continuing life support at $300 a crack at the auto repair place


or to take a vacation because you want one, and can afford to go

or to put stuff into the grocery cart without looking at what it costs..

and so many other reasons to feel confident..

[raccoon]

41. and be able to pay for medical care, vision care, dental care nt

[dbt]

29. Today's recommended reading: "Masque Of The Red Death" by Poe.

While a Plague ravages the countryside, rich folk gather at the house of a nobleman to wait out the disease as they feast and enjoy a masquerade party. An unexpected guest brings a macabre twist to the proceedings.

Recommended Listening: "Effigy" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Ship Of Fools" by The Doors.

:freak:

[Mountainman]

31. I'm not going to waste a bunch of energy dwelling on negative thoughts

about the wealthy, There will always be those who smugly drive around in their hummers. I saw one yesterday in the grocery store parking lot. This woman in a huge black hummer was driving across the cross walks and you had to get out of her way or be hit.

What I want to spend energy on is working to create opportunity for the middle and lower classes. You do that and things will turn around. We need to get back into power and rewrite the tax code and take back those tax cuts. End spending on wars and nation building. Get jobs, education, homes, health care for all.

I want to see manufacturing in this country started by government to create jobs then when the products are successful, turn the ownership over to those who work there. Like building fuel efficient cars and alternative energy and consumer items that have gone oversees.

[maxrandb]

32. Napolean Said it Best

"Religion is what keeps the poor from killing the rich"

[ckramer]

33. ...to ask them focus on the after life

He's right.

[BiggJawn]

35. Well, what's preventing me, then?

I'm an Atheist.

[ckramer]

36. Meanwhile I see more and more young people

became homeless begging on the street.

[JerseygirlCT]

38. They needed a survey for this? nt

[Javaman]

45. Well, we all know how special rich folks are...

You know, I'm really, honest to fucking god, glad for them that their fucking future is just so fucking bright!

It's amazing how the MSM now glorifies this level of do nothing rich fucks. There are whole sections of society in this country that don't do a damn thing. Don't contribute to the national welfare or for the greater good. They just sit at home collect money then spend it on nothing, other then to justify their shallow lives.

I'm a liberal Democrat, but when I read shit like this, It makes me want to start taking a closer look at various forms of communism and socialism.

[Canuckistanian]

48. The middle class is dying...

Pretty soon, "middle class" is going to be a temporary state existing between very rich and very poor.

All is going according to the Bushco plan.

[reprobate]

50. From reading these responses I sense a certain restiveness among us.

Let me suggest that anger at the rich expressed on these boards does absolutly squat to change anything.

Let me suggest that there are enough of us here to start an effective whispering campaign. Spread words around such as:

The republican enemies.

The current republican chaos.

The coming revolution.

The people's anger.

Starving american children.

Etc.

Come on, join the fun and make up your own, but it's time we started to frame the conversation.

[mike923]

51. Am i rich?

I need to know if i should be mad at myself.

[RandomKoolzip]

52. Yes, you should.

[mike923]

53. Darn*

[genieroze]

55. Well the rich better remember this, the poor have nothing to lose.

I remember this from the Honeymooners. Be kind to people you meet on the way up because you are going to see them on the way down. There is more of them then there are rich people.

[nolabels]

56. "Throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" is their mantra

Like hello already, "2%" statistical difference is not a discernible difference. So how does this even rate as anything :shrug:

[Felix Mala]

60. Sounds like an Onion article: For 60,084th Straight Month:

Rich Get Richer Again in July

String Extends Back to Beginning of Western Civilization