We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Want a luxury jet? Steve Varsano has built a showroom that can help

Click here to access article by Russell Hotten from BBC News.

I've recently re-started a practice of posting lifestyle articles about the rich that I formerly ran for a few years starting in October of 2010. The thought behind this effort was to increase our understanding of our fellow citizens in the One Percent (actually .01 of the 1%, or one out of every 10,000 of us) hoping that by doing this that we wouldn't lose touch with their world and their concerns. Unfortunately, for some reason they tend to hide their lives from the rest of us behind walls of secrecy, literal walls of guarded gated communities, private clubs, esoteric publications, by traveling with private jets, etc. 

Hopefully, you weren't so naive to believe that the rich are bothered by standing in line for humiliating security checks at airports and be inconvenienced by having to wait around airports for their flights. Of course not! They are smarter than us--they fly in their very own jet aircraft. 

Today's article reports on one of the best places in the world to buy the luxury jets they use to commute to their homes scattered throughout the world, and to attend various gatherings where the elite meet and socialize. The locale is appropriately in London where reportedly most multi-millionaires reside