Did anyone here watch C-SPAN's Booknotes last Sunday? Robert Frank, "Richistan" was on

and I cannot get what he said out of my mind! His book is about how the rich live. He interviewed Millionaires/Billionaires for the book and some of the things Frank said are unbelievable!

He said his cut-off point for the Millionaire interviews was people who had $10 Million or more because $10 Million is the NEW $1 Million! Ten years ago if you had $1 Million, it was a big deal...you were RICH, RICH, RICH. One man told him that even though he had Millions of $$$$$$$ he was was ONLY middle class! Forbes latest "Most Wealthy" list was people who are BILLIONAIRES, not measly Millionaires.

Frank said he was sitting on a man's 100 ft. yacht, looked at the man and said, "You must be so proud to be able to afford this beautiful 100 ft. yacht." The man looked to his left, looked to his right at all the BIGGER yachts and said, "No, my boat is a DINGY compared to the rest."

Frank said he had to learn a completely different "language of the wealthy." He kept hearing the words "Shadow Yacht" and thought that it meant someone's yacht was so big it cast a big shadow. No, no, no! A "Shadow Yacht" is the small yacht that "shadows" the HUGE yacht. The shadow yacht carries all the cars, ATVs, helicopters, trucks...and whatever other toys they have. Another phrase he kept hearing was "Household Manager." Come to find out, a Household Manager is someone who manages all the wealthy people's mega mansions around the world. One man complained that his life was SOOOOOOOOOO complicated by his wealth (poor thing). He said he had a mouse in his house. He called his Household Manager and his Household Manager called the Household exterminator. The Household exterminator goes to the house, traps the mouse and then calls the Household exterior workers who then go get the mouse and remove it from the house and free it. The Household exterior workers then email the exterminator to tell him the mouse is out of the house. The Household exterminator then emails the Household Manager that the Mouse is out of the house and the Household Manager then emails the Homeowner to tell him the mouse has been taken care of and it's now safe to go back to that house.:eyes:

Don't you feel like weeping for the poor little Millionaires/Billionaires? Their lives are SOOOOOO complicated.:cry::cry:

I guess if $3-9 Million makes you Middle Class.....we're freakin' POOR, POOR, POOR and just don't know it? I guess it all depends on one's priorities, eh?

Another thing Frank said that I found EXTREMELY interesting was MOST of the wealthy people he interviewed were DEMOCRATS and all remembered where they came from and do feel compassion for the less fortunate in society. That one REALLY surprised me. It surprised him too.:)



Author Description
Robert Frank is a senior special writer at The Wall Street Journal, where he writes a weekly column and daily blog called The Wealth Report. He has been with The Journal for 13 years, with postings in Atlanta, London, Singapore and New York. He was part of a team of reporters that won an Overseas Press Club award in 1998 for its coverage of developing economies. He lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

The book can be purchased at B & N (a BLUE company) :):
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0307339262