This is another contribution to my frequent practice on Saturdays to run articles about our fellow citizens of the One Percent (actually .01 of the 1%, or one out of every 10,000 of us) hoping that by doing this that we don't lose touch with their world and their concerns--you know, to promote understanding. It is important that we become better acquainted so that we can serve them better and make it easier for them to carry out the daily burden of making important decisions, decisions which affect whether we go off to war in foreign lands to kill their enemies, if we have jobs, if we live in a home or under a bridge, if we can afford their health care services, education, etc.
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. We should not let that deter us.
I think that this piece, which is from one of the favorite publications of the New York rich, describes very well some of their leisure time activities and supplies us with a number of quotes from conversations that gives us a rich understanding of their views and concerns.
My first impression was from the sub-headline which expressed feelings of not being liked by us in the 99 Percent simply because they live in a certain area. ("10021" refers to a zip-code where the rich live in Manhattan. The Hamptons on Long Island is another such place he refers to.) They are a aware of the existence of "haves" and "have-nots", but they resent being blamed for this development. As one friend of his explains:
“This weather really has me down,” he shivered, wrapped in a khaki wool coat and a Russian-style military hat. “And then you realize you’re out of favor and that everyone hates you,” he complained.The rest of the article points to other people, particularly an Italian friend named Bella, who are bothered by such feelings, but mostly I think they are understated. I think that they don't want to be seen by us as wallowing in self-pity. After all, they are our masters and we must look up to them for leadership.
“How can you say that?” I asked in disbelief. “Who hates you?”
“Them,” he shivered, eating the lonely saltine left in the cellophane wrapper, crumbs pouring onto his rough, woolen trousers. “We used to run this town. Now I feel like they want to run us all out.”
My second impression was that they are very modest. I'm referring to Kirshenbaum's introduction of his first pal as only a "Wall Street friend". I imagine that he is very likely a hedge fund manager who has to toil daily over his office computer making huge bets using money from pension funds, insurance companies, municipal funds, etc. I think this must be very nerve-wracking. What if he lost a lot of these bets and wrecked the economy? He would feel embarrassed in front of his colleagues and be seen as a loser. This would only further aggravate his feelings of being disliked, this time by his own rich set. And with regard to Kirshenbaum's background, we only learn at the end of the article that he is a CEO of some new venture firm. With further research I learned that he is also a co-founder of this firm which is a major ad agency.
Other people are only identified as a "financial whiz", people from Italy, and a friend who happens to have multiple homes in several countries. Well, of course, these people have global investments that they must look after. What do you expect--that they should be homeless when they visit these countries?
Besides learning what they do to enjoy their free time, we get to sort of listen in on their conversations which are similar to ours--you know, about the weather and other such trivia. For example, our hero the author...
...goes to a swanky bar and meets a woman friend.... “These days, I have to wear a reversible fur when I go downtown,” [I guess this must be a comment on the cold weather] one of the queens of couture sighed with disbelief, knocking back a cosmopolitan at an uptown hotel bar....
“I mean, the very fact that I would be jeered at and pilloried in my own backyard for wearing a sheared dyed mink,” she droned on. “Well it’s just unconscionable. I don’t jeer at them for not showering and shaving and wearing patchouli oil, which I find equally offensive.”