CBS's one-half of A Tale of Two Americas on 60 Minutes...

[Ilsa]

It was obscene. Morley Safer (edited to correct name) was visiting people (quite a few in Texas) who had obscenely large homes, like 11,000 square feet, 15,000 square feet, etc. These people had moved from 4,000 sq ft homes. Usually only 3-4 people living there. These houses aren't just large, they are extremely expensive, with Versaille-style hardwood floors, indoor volleyball courts, etc.

My SO was asking me how I could watch it, and as a psychological matter, it was easy, like watching interviews with people who prefer Goth or something else outside mainstream. But after watching the whole thing, it became sickening. There was no longer a way to make rational sense out of what many Americans have become: materialistic aspiritual creatures.

[FormerRepublican]

1. While the rest of America moves into their new home: a cardboard hut.

[Radio_Lady]

76. Who was the author of the book on "conspicuous consumption"?

I read it in college, I believe. "The Theory of the Leisure Class"

Oh, yes. Here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption

Conspicuous consumption is a term introduced by the American economist Thorstein Veblen, in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899). The term is used to describe the consumption of expensive goods, commodities and services for the sake of displaying social status and wealth. The term is generally reserved for those forms of consumption that are motivated by societal factors and is not used to describe impulsive behaviours associated with personality disorders, such as as binge eating or compulsive spending.

[slor]

2. That was disgusting...

That man that had that adorable white house, and wanted to tear it down to build a ugly mcmansion. And those freaks in texas, wanted a bigger "eating area" and "gathering space". Good grief, it was revolting!

[MrMonk]

34. How large are these people?

[tridim]

42. Obviously the goal is "show off" value

He said he wanted a larger gathering space so he could show it off at parties. Head-shakingly pathetic.

[Radio_Lady]

75. Yep. I'm definitely in a down-sizing mode. We raise the five kids

in a nice house, backyard pool, almost an acre of land. That was in Boston. We were amazed at the large homes they were building there -- and that was in 1998 when we left.

We're living in a home we built that year in Portland. It's very nice, but easier upkeep. I'm 66, my husband is 71. We'd like to find something smaller with reduced upkeep and taxes. However, this place still has 2500 sq. ft., three car garage, etc. and I guess we'll keep it until we decide where to go from here.

It ain't gonna be one of those McMansions, either. I'd love to visit those people about twenty or thirty years from now, to see where they're living. The funniest one was the guy with the big home who is now living in a "BIGGER HOUSE" -- he went to jail. I didn't catch his name!

[Ilsa]

3. Conversing further on my thread...

I bet homeless people could move into one area of the house and they wouldn't notice it for weeks.

[Fridays Child]

7. What an idea!

:)

[ldf]

63. my partner said, when he saw the woman with the cat

in that huge house that had 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms...

"our cat could disappear at will in a nyc apartment. imagine, their cat could disappear and it could be weeks before they ever find it..."

:shrug:

[ComerPerro]

4. They worship money and they worship themselves

[Avalon Sparks]

5. Not showing on 60 minutes in Dallas Texas

They are showing some tennis player...

[castiron]

9. it was right before the tennis player segment: not very long

[Fla Dem]

77. That was the last segment.....the McMansions was the 2nd. n/t

[BuelahWitch]

6. That woman carrying her Yorkie dog around...

:eyes:

[castiron]

12. and her fake tits making that weird shape on her chest that

you get with falsies.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

59. I hate to say it....

... but I noticed that, too. I guess buying an oversized house is next on those folks lists, after buying oversized breasts.

[captain beyond]

71. Ya could not help but notice,

do'nt kick yourself.

[long_green]

107. and if you didn't notice, they'd tell you

some friends of mine spent a lot of time in Houston after Katrina. The people there, while quite nice, are so materialistic it's unreal. Actual conversation:
Houstonian: Do you know Sherry?
Friend of Mine: Don't believe I've met her yet.
Houstonian: She's my best friend. She's just wonderful. And beautiful, too! She's had $85,000 of plastic surgery!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Little pocket dogs are the latest fashion accessory.

They must be carried with you at all times, like a small, panting handbag. If this fad continues, eventually these animals will evolve into something like the Tribble from the old Star Trek series -- something roundish, hairy and legless (since they never have to walk), with little beady eyes and long pink tongues. So when somebody from 60 Minutes comes by to interview you about the eleven Carrera marble toilets in your cavernous new home, you don't have to worry about your trendy pet running off.

[Ilsa]

18. I think we should introduce some bogus absurd fad, like

wearing your pet in a litter box hat.

[Skittles]

61. they don't even take them for a walk to pee

they just hold 'em off their balconies and squeeze

[Lydia Leftcoast]

93. Giggle

:7

But seriously folks, portable dogs have been a fashion accessory for wealthy women for ages. Marie Antoinette had one.

[FreedomAngel82]

82. They call them teacup dogs

Cause they're so small.

[Stephanie]

105. Yup >

[FreedomAngel82]

80. That always kills me

When people carry their little dogs. I don't mind the little dogs, they are cute, but they aren't your babies. They're little dogs. If I'm going to have a dog, no matter what it's size, I want it to be able to run around and play and have fun. Not be proper.

[erinlough]

110. My dog is about 10 pounds, a mutt, and

I let her run around and get filthy every day. She is however most definitely my baby, but then so are all my animals (even the 129lb lab I lost two years ago). I agree, they still have to be dogs first and foremost.

[MarsThe Cat]

8. what's wrong with being aspiritual?

or as i like to call it- "reality-based"...

and like it or not- our economy is materialism-based, and that isn't going to change, until the climate does, and it's too late anyway...

so-
"...We'll take the most from living, have pleasure while we can (2-3-4)
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today
And don't worry 'bout tomorrow, hey, hey, hey
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today
Live for today..."

[Ilsa]

16. You're right. I picked the wrong word.

I was erroneously equating spirituality (not the fake stuff) with concern for humanity. I apologize. The two are not synonomous.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

94. Just plain "shallow" in the sense of never thinking of anything beyond

yourself and your immediate wants would work too.

[TomInTib]

10. I am embarrassed to admit it took 2 18wheelers to move us from

Houston to Dallas.
After a few monster homes I thought "What the hell am I doing and just how much do I need?".
After some serious soul searching we now live in a small house on SF Bay and I want no part of large house living again.
Houses should only be as large as needed.
Life, on the other hand, should be large.

[Don Claybrook]

58. You're not missing a thing, Tom

Ten 18-wheelers full of stuff in the largest house in Texas couldn't hold a candle to a shack in Tiburon. Once upon a time, when I was a kid, I lived in Mill Valley. It's always been my dream to live in Tiburon and ride the ferry to work in San Francisco. That dream may never come true, but it's nice to keep it tucked in the back of my consciousness. I may have to go with a lower-cost fallback option, like living in Mendocino. :)

In my estimation, you live in one of the most desirable spots on the planet. Please enjoy thoroughly.

[TomInTib]

112. Thanks, Don

I just got around to reviewing my posts and your reply was at the bottom of the page and about to expire.
You know what is even better than living in Tiburon and ferrying to work in SF?
That would be living in Tiburon and NOT working at all.

I live on the hill in Old Town about 60 feet above the Bay. I can see the Ferry Landing from my veranda. My sole view from every room in my house is Angel Island to the left, one of the finest cities on the planet directly across the Bay, and the Golden Gate on the right.

Do not let go of your dream Don, it just might come true.

Mine did.

[FreedomAngel82]

83. My aunt and uncle

have a bit larger house than us but they use all their rooms since they have people who sometimes stay over. The house is pretty nice and not a mansion or anything like that. Just bigger with more space. Some of the rooms are about the same size as the rooms in my family's smaller house.

[castiron]

11. wretch-inducing, though funny in a helpless way.

While I plan my dream home of the future which features photo-voltaic panels and straw bales and is under 1,500 feet with a big organic garden in back (which may never get built because I'm fucking broke), for the coming food armageddon, of course, these assholes are walking around in place nearing Taj Mahal status.

[BuelahWitch]

14. That developer said that the number of people making over

$100,000 has significantly increased. Where? How? I mean, I can see this story running maybe 5 or 7 years ago, but now?

LOL, I did like how they said that Worldcom guy was in a "bigger house": the state pen.

[PassingFair]

69. Prolly Haliburton...

or Enron, or Chevron, or, well, you get the idea.
We're talking Texas...

[jarnocan]

15. They tear down

most of the smaller homes here, in NJ, and build what I usually call monster homes.
I've even heard stories of people putting money into their houses to fix them up and get ready to sell, but when they sell their house they are just demolished.

[Lorien]

27. It's happening here too. 1920's craftsman bungalows being demolished

in "historic' neighborhoods in favor of gigantic, featureless tissue box McMansions. It's disgusting; the historic neighborhoods became popular in the '90s because of the brick streets, Towering oaks and charming historic homes. Now the developers are buying up all the smaller homes to wreck and build their condos and McMansions (and the chop down the century oaks in the process). Soon my neighborhood will look like every other new development in Florida. :-(

[zippy890]

17. Disgusting excess

I work everyday at a housing authority where I have to tell homeless families there's nothing I can do for them because there's not enough money, no housing available and the shelters are full.

The other day a women with 2 small children asked me "What am I supposed to do? I'm being evicted because I can't afford the rent increase & I have no place to go?"

I gave her an application, knowing there was nothing available for her for years.

That 60 minutes show about those massive houses made me sick, and very angry.

[Ilsa]

21. They should take the home of the worldcom guy that is going to prison,

and place the homeless there for awhile. I suspect there might be a few homeless people related to that debacle.

[kineneb]

65. Hubby wants his section of that house

as a former WorldCom employee who lost his job 1 May 2002. Some small part of that mansion belongs to us. :mad:

[Ilsa]

84. Here, here! I move that we tear out the

appliances in what is probably an overdone kitchen, and pass them over to kineneb's SO! And take the granite while you're at it.

What drives me insane is that from what I could tell when I was in banking (a large collecting bank), these people rarely lost their personal lifestyle. They gave up some cash flow, but that was about it.

[WinkyDink]

19. I thought it was Morley Safer I saw!

And his chuckles and general amusement were also obscene.

A "gift-wrapping room"? Oy.
Dubya's tax cuts at work.
I know somebody in one of these type homes who has an aviary. Can't have too many homeless birds.

[Ilsa]

22. Sorry. I typed the 1st CBS name that came to my head. It was Morley. eom

[Kolesar]

33. He was a reporter for CBS in Vietnam

Bitchin' dude

[julialnyc]

20. Not to mention how ugly those homes were.. money can't buy taste

You can spend a billion dollars and still look cheap.

The woman with the fake tits was the personification of having money and being cheap (what was it 6 plasma tv's, but laughed at the fact that they really don't like watching tv).

It seems like a miserable life to be surrounded by props.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

38. I have only kind thoughts for her.

In two or three years, she will be replaced by a newer model, as will the house. :nopity:

[Zen Democrat]

55. I think she probably is "the newer model".

They didn't show her husband -- he's probably 75.

[Fla Dem]

81. My thinking too...a trophy wife. But, she'll get a hefty settlement.n/t

[Democrats_win]

23. Link: 60 minutes Living Large

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/22/60minutes/main1067145.shtml

snip
The Joneses, that mythic family America vainly tries to keep up with, are setting an impossible standard. It’s not just their fancy vacations and designer clothes, their swimming pools and their growling SUV’s. It’s the house.
--more at the link.

Their souls, however are living microscopically.

[NJCher]

24. I had company and the tv was on

I can't count the number of times people said, "Ewwwww!"





Cher

[applegrove]

25. Imagine paying for extra space. That used to be free - space!

[castiron]

26. How long till one gets their own Starbucks?

[castiron]

28. Keep in mind: free market worshippin' Repub response to our

bellyaching would be: "you're jealous and resentful."

[BuelahWitch]

40. Isn't that what that one Moran said?

The one who couldn't get his McMansion built because Chevy Chase, MD nixed it?

[Democrats_win]

53. They might say that. Live simply so that others may simply live.

They might also say it's a free country and I can build whatever size house I want.

No matter to them that they're driving up the price of land, construction materials, and heating. We all must pay higher prices because of their indulgence.

[moondust]

29. Huge waste.

Wasteful to build, wasteful to furnish, wasteful to maintain, wasteful to heat and cool. If you believe in supply and demand capitalism, the demand these guzzlers create pressures prices upward for everybody.

Also wasteful to insure. Pressures insurance rates upwards for everybody.

[Kolesar]

31. Can't walk to the bus stop either

We are living in a weirder world than anything I ever read in science fiction.

[moondust]

47. Buses?

Yes, doubtful that PUBLIC buses even go near with poor people on board and everything.

[Kolesar]

50. Yeah. Junior gets a Lexus on his sixteenth birthday.

"We need more storming of the Bastilles in this country"--Jon Stewart

[MissB]

66. Or BMWs.

Seriously.

[slaveplanet]

85. That's the first thing I thought of

Also wasteful to insure. Pressures insurance rates upwards for everybody.

Right before the 60 minutes piece the local news just ran a piece on insurance sticker shock. This poor fellow in Florida was complaining about his new $2100 annual premium. They were talking about the sqeeze about to come because of Katrina.

You see, due to the mass exodus of jobs from the rust belt to the more temperate union hating regions, they now want to soak all the rust belters and everyone else who chose to settle in disaster free zones, for the enormous costs increased by all that pesky weather down there.

not to many Mc Mansions being built in the rusty belt... and when they do they try to keep them in somewhat hidden enclaves so as not to enrage the serfs who are increasingly becoming the new homeless due to predatory lending.

[julialnyc]

30. a nice thing I thought of while watching this

I work for an architect in a very wealthy town where McMansions go up all of the time. My boss is wonderful. She buys some beautiful homes through her company and re-sells them under contract that they can't tear them down for their land (or ruin the historic architecture.... sort of like historic districts do). Some of these homes are not large at all (in a town where the only new additions are disgusting flashy homes). While some of the things in this business are (for a lack of more poignant words) gross, it is nice to see that she really really loves architecture and preserves things that would have been torn down and flipped for a profit by many.

[castiron]

32. that's really cool: good for her. The people who tear down

are after the best of both of their high-falutin' worlds. Wanna live in town close to amenities and do it in over 4,000 square feet of vulgarity. Austin's one place where this is endemic.

[Warpy]

35. Take the tour of Newport, RI, some summer vacation

It's a real eye opener and will put the current gilded age of robber barons into perspective.

I dissolved into silly giggles shortly into the tour as I tried to envision these guys going to Europe, approaching impoverished nobility with cash in hand to purchase and demolish rooms of the chateau, bring it here, reassemble it, and then use it to impress the decadent gentility who'd owned it in the first place. The results were the summer "cottages" that were made of marble, encrusted with gilt cabbage roses and carved cherubs, and utterly cold and unliveable. Even the private apartments within these monstrosities were chilly in such a way that not even acres of silks and velvets could not warm them.

I think it was probably a relief for the heirs to turn those heaps of masonry over to the Newport Historical Society. They were things that were meant to impress people whose worth lay in what they were, not what they owned.

The same is true of the people the present administration has smiled upon and lavished with wealth stripmined from working people. I think people who are children now will eventually be able to take tours of whichever of these new monstrosities haven't been turned into hotels and marvel at the witless excess that the robber baron mentality always creates rather than helping their fellows enough to forestall disaster.

[Vinca]

36. And didn't one of the builders say the houses were going up

because people now made $100,000 a year? HUH? Who could afford these faux palaces on $100,000 a year? When that lady was showing off her 3 story bathroom, all I could do was wonder how the heck you might clean such a thing. Give me a little cottage in the woods any day.

[castiron]

37. They're mortgaged out their asses, just like the people who make

$38,000 a year. Credit cards, too. Their one little lay-off or down-size away from ruin.

[Warpy]

43. I just saw that part

It's marble. She can call the fire department and have them hose it down.

[mondo joe]

39. In defense of the apriritual and materialistic...

As a completely aspiritual (atheist) and materialistic (what else is there?) person, I'd just say the problem is not a lack of spirituality - it's the lack of decency and fairness and ethics.

[Marr]

44. If you have any concern for decency, fairness, and ethics, you're

a spiritual person in my book. I'd say that's the very definition of spirituality, in fact.

[pschoeb]

64. No spirituality is

believeing in non-material entities.

Materialism is the philosophical theory that physical matter is the only reality and that everything, including thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena. this meaning originated in 1748

Sometimes materialism and materialistic is used as a slur, for interest in worldly possesions, but this has no real relation to materialsm as a philosophy, this meaning came about in the 1851's probably as a slur against non-spiritual believing(philosophical materialists) persons as being greedy person, despite many philosophical materialists being ascetics.

Ethics does not require spirituality.

[mondo joe]

67. Well since as an atheist I think spirituality is a fairy tale, but I am

very concerned with ethics, fairness and decency, we've got a bit of a conflict.

[Marr]

90. I'm an atheist myself.

But I do consider myself a spiritual person in the sense that I believe we're all part of something greater. Not a personal god or anything like that, but we have a place in the natural world and we have responsbilities to one another.

[Ilsa]

86. I retracted my language.

Please check here on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5462141&mesg_id=5462273

No offense was intended.

[sbj405]

41. Funny thing - Many of the McMansions around here actually have boarders

Many of them rent a part of their house, usually the basement, out to afford it. How weird is that. All that space and you don't even have access to it all. I'd rather live in a house I can afford on my own.

[KharmaTrain]

45. 20 Years From Now...Subdivided, Blighted

My BIL is a contractor who worked on many McMansions and he constantly complains about how garish, yet poorly constructed these places are. To get that nice flooring, shortcuts are made in materials in the infrastructure...good quality woods, roofing, pipes and so on...plus the rush to get these things built leads to lots of shoddy work. He's already pulling apart some of these place built a decade ago and they're already structurally a disaster...and a real money drain on the owners.

Big houses are neat to impress the "Jones" at the country club or show off how "you've made it"...but maintaining it is another deal. Especially in open areas where wind, cold and rain will tear hell on the exteriors...and replacing and fixing up will be an endless and expensive job. Talk about house poor.

Eventually, the owners of these homes will either lose interest or money or both...move on to "bigger and better"...and will leave the neighborhood to slip into economic decline. I suspect one day we'll have new neighborhoods like the ones in many inner cities...the mcmansions of 100 years ago that eventually were subdivided into apartments, allowed to rot away and now are vacant lots.

[readmylips]

46. My complex has huge homes, only two people live in them....

We live in one of the smallest homes (3 bedrooms) but still big for two retired people. We needed to buy a larger home as an investment to sell it before we move into our final smaller retirement community. The house next to me, has six bedrooms owned by a young couple with a small child. It's like a small hotel. There are only six children in my neighborhood. Most of our neighbors had to buy a large house, for two people, as an investment since they were losing their retirement money on the stockmarket.

[Patiod]

49. A friend calls them $1 million dollar doghouses

both parents work and the kids are in school or day care, so mostly the only one who is ever home is the designer dog

[AspenRose]

91. A friend of mine from Britain thought they looked like Disneyland

castles. He wasn't impressed at all.

[eallen]

48. I'm an aspiritual creature, and our house is only 900 square feet....

I don't know what spirituality has to do with common sense vs. the kind of foolishness that leads on to create a personal mansion.

[Ilsa]

88. I erred in my choice of words...

I hope I redeemed myself here within this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5462141&mesg_id=5462273

[jbnow]

51. I found it disturbing too

somehow made worse that they talked about the older homes being torn down. I realize the neighborhoods wouldn't want big foster care homes or homeless people there, but that waste of resources just hurts.

It is worse then tons of good food being dumped. Food is more quickly renewable, less labor intensive.

I'd understand it better if...it was a HUGE extended family, anything. It's just a stupid keeping up with the Jones'

They explain it by how much income has gone up for the richest people. That hurts too, considering how hard times are for so many and who the tax breaks are going too. Poor rich people, they don't know what to do with their extra money.

Not like those silly poor people who moan about not having food or medicine or heat.

[mmonk]

52. Viacom wants

CBS to appeal to the right. That's why they didn't stand by Mapes. Funny, though, the people they want to appeal to don't watch them because they are the "liberal" media.

[ailsagirl]

54. I'm reading a book called "Get a Life" and it's about the

simplicity movement. It says:

>> Between 1949 and 1993, the median size of a new house built
in the U.S. nearly doubled:

1949: 1100 square feet
1970: 1385 square feet
1993: 2060 square feet

Also

>> As family size has decreased, the square footage of living
space per person has skyrocketed:

1950: 312 square feet
1993: 742 square feet

This is obscene. No mystery why the U.S. is the biggest
consumer on the planet. We.just.don't.get.it

That is one reason why we don't have neighborhoods anymore--
not the way we used to. People don't have time to get
involved because they're too busy working so they can get
bigger and better STUFF. It's a trap!!

[NashVegas]

57. I Don't Think 1949 Is a Good Year for Comparison

Mid/late-1950s might be better, or 1920s.

In the few years after WWII, a lot of housing went up to specifically cater to returning GI's and their new families. These places were *tiny* compared to the architecture that was already around.

[ailsagirl]

68. Have you ever noticed how (comparatively) small rooms in older

houses are? How, when they're renovated, walls are often
knocked out to make way for a larger area? And expanded
in general?

Everything has expanded, from houses to cookies (cookies
in supermarket bakeries are as large as saucers now).

SUPER size, indeed!!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

95. Not only that, but their McMansions go up in former rural areas, farther

and farther from the city, so Mom and Dad have to drive an hour to work in their respective cars, then drive an hour back, then cart the kids around to activities that will look good on the college application, then drive some more to buy stuff.

[ailsagirl]

111. It's all linked-- the more we have, the more upkeep, the more

driving, the more consumption (consumerism?), the more
the planet suffers...

I didn't watch "60 Minutes" because I found the teaser
too nauseating.

:(

The lust for comfort: A stealthy thing that enters
as a guest, but becomes a host, and then a master.

--Kahil Gibran

[AgadorSparticus]

56. I just saw this and had to come online and say how disgusted I am

after seeing this trainwreck. The only words I can think of that comes to mind are pure gluttony. An 11,000sf home for 4 people and when asked if they could do anything different, their response was essentially, MORE FUCKING SPACE??!!?!!:wtf::wtf::wtf:

I want to slap them silly. What the hell is wrong with people that they feel the need to have such monstrosities?? You couldn't pay me to live in one of those things. It truly is gluttonous and disgusting.

I am just flabbergasted at how out of control our society has become. I know there are miserable, empty people out there. But it's always shocking to SEE HOW empty these people are that they need that large of a home.

And that stupid bubba guy called the palace of versaille, the house of versaille. Morley Safer had to correct him. ughhhhh....

[Ilsa]

87. More effin space so their parties can get bigger! eom

[Tactical Progressive]

60. That 60 Minutes was non-judgemental

but I really liked it because just in displaying the depth and breadth of that kind of excess, spreading across America, it implicitly explains to people how a Republican economy can be characterized as 'good' or 'strong'. It is that, for the people who can afford these McMansions.

Morley so obviously got a big kick out of the ostentatiousness of it all, though he didn't say anything to make them feel embarassed. He didn't have to; the excess of it all is self-explanatory, and I think, or at least hope, it conveys a much broader message of the unlimited desire to consume of the haves. These people need three trillion dollars in tax breaks to build their 14,000 square-foot testamants to success. And of course Social Security is a burden on their aspirations.

It isn't so much that the economy may not have tanked, it's that the benefits of what economy there is are going to ever-increasing excess of the top five or ten percent in affluence. These people's kitchens are more expensive than most people's net worth. Hence, a 'successful' economy.

[tishaLA]

103. The editing at the end was masterful

He didn't "end" the segment; instead, they allowed the woman in her gigantic, two-story bathroom to keep talking as Safer laughed. It was perfect.

I also loved the professor from Virginia Tech who called the communities in which those houses sprout up "Vulgaria."

[Tactical Progressive]

109. The whole piece was like that

Kind of a 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Ostentatious'.

And I loved that 'Vulgaria' too.

You know, unlike alot of people here, I thought some of those houses looked nice. Non-standard architectures, great landscaping, amazing kitchens and floors. I'd love to live in a place like that and don't really fault people for wanting to do so. Heck, it would be great if everybody had the option to be that decadent.

What I have deep, deep problems with; what I find vulgar is that:

- there are 50 million (million!) people without healthcare
- the middle class is being purposely destroyed with cheap-labor imports and outsourcing
- they are doing everything they can to destroy social programs for their wealth
- they tried to destroy Social Security for it, for god sakes
- they are skyrocketing the debt on everyone to pay for it
- they are giving tax-cuts to the wealthy to help finance it
- they are probably chewing up barrels of oil to heat and cool them

In short, they got the money in a deeply unfair, economically polarized system to live that way at the top. It's one thing if everybody's basic needs are met in a fair system. When that happens everybody's 'boat can be lifted'.

But this is a system where their boats are bought by the barely or not-even subsistence levels of everyone else. It is beyond unconscionable that this type of excess is now considered conventionally acceptable across much of the American mindset. It is sickening, not for the houses themselves, but for the system that provides for these houses to be built while tens of millions barely survive. That is the outrage to me.

And I hope people got that from just seeing the decadence on display. As luxurious and appealing as it may be to many, I sure hope they can put it all in context of the system it derives from. Otherwise it's just 'I wish I had that' with no broader social awareness.

[MissB]

62. It is very typical in this neighborhood

to have houses sell for $800k plus, and then see them being torn down. Huge houses are put up, complete with guest houses (most of which are bigger than my fairly large 2300 sq feet home).

It is fascinating.

[Johnny Noshoes]

70. If there are folks here on DU

who are thinking of building a new home you should check out this web site: http://www.enertia.com/

They feature very earth friendly homes that are quite nice.

"All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man, the air, shares its spirit with all the life it supports." Chief Seattle

[Lars39]

78. Thanks for that link!

We're wanting to build "smart" the next time. :)

[Johnny Noshoes]

98. You're welcome

I found it just by typing solar home in a Google search.

[Daphne08]

72. Just watched this segment of 60 minutes and all I can say is

The Gilded Age has returned. :eyes:

[Oeditpus Rex]

73. Hideous, self-adoring fuckwads

May their monuments to themselves burn, and may they be too far from an exit. :grr:

[Lengsel]

74. Who gives

Who gives a fuck? It's their money, they can do whatever they want with it. For all we know they could dominate millions of dollars to charities.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

96. Maybe, but maybe they're more like the Oregon businessman who

was upset because the zoning laws wouldn't let him build a Monster Mansion where he wanted it, and he complained because he had more money than he knew what to do with, so what could he do except build a Monster Mansion?

If all the would-be Louis XVI types were REALLY donating millions to charity, the charities wouldn't be in such a depleted state.

[Bridget Burke]

101. We're just stating our opinions.

Some of our anger is based on aesthetics rather than morals.

I've toured a few stately historical homes. Far too big for a family--although extended families & long-term houseguests were more common back then. They were often built by robber-barons--but remain stately & beautiful.

How many mini-mansions will still be standing in 100 years?

[Stephanie]

106. Sure, "they could dominate millions of dollars to charities."

But I bet they DON'T. And you know "who gives a fuck?" ME. I do. Because it's MY money they are wasting, picked right out of my pocket and given to these idiots in BUSH tax breaks.

[FreedomAngel82]

79. It is sad

My family and I just have a regular house. Three bedrooms and three baths (two halves actually) and just a regular backyard and everything. We do have a lot of personal items but only two cars (one is mine that I'm currently sharing with my Mom and brother) and we're pretty middle class. :)

[Patiod]

99. My parents benefit from the McMansions going up around them

The price of their nice little 3 1/2 BR - 2 1/2 bath house is skyrocketing. The taxes are going up, but the attitude up here in the northeastern city suburbs is that higher taxes = better schools and better schools = higher RE prices. So even though it hurts, they look at it as an investment in their property value. (The next town over from me has affordable houses because the school systems is so damned bad)

[omega minimo]

89. "Vulgaria"

[donheld]

92. Obscenity at it's finest

absolutely the most obscene people in america.

[TheUnspeakable]

97. That was so disgusting!..

I am so fed up with the media showing all this excess-it's all over the place. Nobody EVER mentions the flip side-that these people are so rich at the expense of the middle class and the poor. They'll talk about how there's more billionaires and millionaires than ever,
but never mention how a million people a year, for the last five years, have fallen below the poverty line. When they interviewed the economist, I thought, ok, he'll say something, but no, just that it's been a trend for the last twenty years, or whatever. So your typical freeper watches this crap and thinks "yea, the economy's really good-I'm gonna vote Republican" The real welfare queens are the idle rich women who live off their tax cuts!

[Patiod]

100. You NEVER see city people's everyday lives portrayed

On Wednesday, our local news ran a story featuring people standing in long lines outside a family-owned bakery in North Philadelphia (North Philadelphia is a large, poor, mostly-black & hispanic area of the city).

I was stunned. Except for stories about shooting and home invasions, you NEVER see ordinary life in North Philadelphia. And here you had ordinary working folks standing in line for pies and other goodies at a black-owned bakery. Why is that? Yes, they want an "desirable-to-the-advertisers" demographic, but why don't they EVER show the ordinary life of regular people?

What also bothers me is even when shows are set in the city, the living quarters are HUGE. "Rosanne" and "Everybody Hates Chris" are two of the only shows I can think of which show ordinary housing. Yes, you need a decent-sized stage for your actors, but it gives people the idea that everyone else is living in a McMansion or enormous loft.

[bleedingheart]

102. I always wonder how these people afford this shit...

cuz someone has to pay for the mortgage and those types of homes aren't cheap to buy nor are they cheap to maintain...

So what the hell do they do?

Or are they living on fumes...?

I have a cousin who lives in a fancy schmancy million dollar house...but the son of a bitch is salivating over his father's cancer because he might get a bit of spare change...so how rich could he be...his father is only a retired coal miner and there isn't that much money in his pocket...

[Stephanie]

104. They also discussed the transfer of wealth to the wealthiest

Obscene is right. They are picking our pockets to build those monstrosities.

[BigMcLargehuge]

108. Does anyone have it stored and a link? I missed it.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

113. Online video only has a portion of the story.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?channel=60Sunday