Posted on 08/18/2009 3:46:24 AM PDT by Daisyjane69
HARRISON, N.Y. -- The live-in nanny is the first downstairs. She packs the school lunches at a kitchen window, overlooking three acres of velvety grass and little streams that slope toward a gate with a sign that says "Birch Hill."
Upstairs, three children begin to stir.
In the midst of cheese omelets and Honey Bunches of Oats and vitamins placed next to folded napkins, the lady of the house descends.
"Morning," says Laura Steins, 47, wearing a dark Armani suit and take-charge heels. Her blue eyes are lustrous and her skin is golden, and even with wet hair and no makeup, she radiates confidence.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
So is there something wrong with being successful?
I missed the mention of a husband in the article.
Not me. I just hope that TARP isn’t part of this! I see the mention of bank jobs in this and I get nervous!
Capitalism is a fine thing. We need more of it, not less.
But taking money from the long suffering taxpayers to prop up the investment banksters is not cool.
The article is clearly written to stoke the flames of class envy...I admit I find it very difficult to muster a lot of sympathy, but one of the things that has always made this country great is that we respect the law of property and property acquisition. (it seems, no longer)
Bottom line, as an American, there was always the hope you could earn enough to have a three car garage and send your kids to a private school. The fact that this is true is borne out by the people who have earned enough to do just that, and do it.
But another thing we as Americans have always valued is thrift, and there isn’t much of that here.
Can’t wait for the letters to the editor on this.
I saw something about $75,000 in some kind of support. I believe she is divorced.
Hmm. This story reads like the author lifted it from a section of “Bonfire of the Vanities” where Tom Wolfe details the yearly expenditures of the main character of the novel and how the character has a hard times making ends meet on a million a year.
I missed the mention of a husband in the article.
In the article at the link it says she’s divorced. She would have been much better off letting HIM have the danged house and getting herself and the kids a nice little condo.
There's nothing wrong with living well but pride goeth before a fall..
Living on the edge of a hyper-comsumption lifestyle due to inertia is just silly.
All I know, is that when I saw $ 35,000 dollars in taxes (property taxes I think), I could feel myself getting lightheaded. My hands were starting to sweat.
$ 35,000 in property taxes? What the hell? I wanna know why the people in that town are not in full RIOT mode.
She could be living very nicely well below her income, and putting aside large sums of money to deal with anything that comes up.
Um... downsize and live within your means?
Man, from your lips to God’s ears, my friend. I sure hope so.
Those are some scary obligations. I’d have trouble sleeping at night.
Divorced. $75,000 a year in child support and lives in Manhattan.
Agree.
I don’t see the woman complaining. The ex is paying $75K and she is working. She is happy with her kids’ school.
She seems intelligent. The thrift will come by necessity as she decides what to cut back on. The $40K nanny costs will be outgrown. Kids can do yard work and shovel the driveway clear of snow if need be and their $115 jeans can take a back seat.
She is making decisions and she is not asking Obozo (in other words, you and me) for a bailout.
I have some obvious advice for Steins. FIRST - Sell the house. Downsize. SECOND - Try living without a nanny. As difficult as that may be for someone who has the self image that she obviously does, it can be done. THIRD Sell the dog. FOURTH Buy her whiney brood less expensive and trendy clothes. In short spend less on lifstyle and put more to saving.
Making 300 large per year and whining in public that it's not enough to support your chosen lifestyle is not what I would term successful.
I agree with each word you have said.
But I’m a bit suspicious. How many people OTHER than, oh I don’t know, executives of investment banks the taxpayers have bailed out, could possibly pay $ 75,000 in support? In this economy? This seems fishy...on HIS end, not hers so much. I just have this nagging feeling (and I’m prepared to be wrong, btw) that her former turkey works for one of those firms we (you know, we taxpayers) have bailed out.
I’m not a detective, but if I didn’t have to go to bed in the next ten minutes, I’d spend some time finding out who her ex is. And then determine if he is one of Obama’s favorite charities.
“I missed the mention of a husband in the article.”
It says she is divorced right at the start. But I only read the first page, so I don’t know if there is more info later.
I couldn’t read the whole article because the tone of it seems to condemn her for having money. perhaps its just burnout from the constant move towards socialism.
living within your means is important. I guess I’ve never been so lucky not to have lean times that I feel a need to ridicule this woman.
Hey, she has her son in Cub Scouts and she sews on his patches. That is something positive.
“FIRST - Sell the house”
Probably can’t and where would they live once this was done?
In Harrison, that's the middle of the scale.
A modest 2000 sqft. ranch on 1/4 acre will easily be taxed 12-15K in lesser nabes in the area.
Bottom line is that she is doing all of this, keeping another woman employed, taking care of her family and not dependent upon the government. Worse than that, she is active in her church and in a church group providing support to others in need, providing unfair competition to the nanny state! That is her worst sin!
Webelos (sp) sew on their own badges
I personally wouldn’t waste the time searching.
Like rlmorel wrote, the article can be seen as one of causing people to attack the woman’s choices. If I were curious, I’d ask the motivations of the reporter, Anne Hull, in writing the story.
People make choices, and, unlike many on the Left with their big Man-hands out, most people learn to live with the consequences of their choices.
Granted, it’s not a life I’d lead, but people are still allowed to choose their how they live - - unless Obozo puts a stop to that, too.
There are hundreds of thousands of people like this, if not millions. God bless each and everyone of them. They are working and spending and raising their kids as they think best.
Why not?
and where would they live once this was done?
In a smaller house - obviously. That's what the word "downsize" means.
I’m not upset at this woman. The FReeper rules require me to post the precise title of the article. I know this because the mods have told me. That wouldn’t have been my own title. But I’m not allowed to change it.
Any mom that has her boy in the scouts is okay with me, whether she sews on the patches or not!
I can think of no reason to be upset with a woman who is well dressed and all the rest. Besides, if she has to put off a hair appointment, trust me, there is some middle class in her background. She clearly wasn’t born into the Kennedy clan.
She is not asking for a handout, but trying to manage. And let me say this: When divorce jolts someone financialy, it’s very difficult to keep all the balls in the air. I know, because I’ve been there. The pressure that your kids friends put on them is put on you and it’s hard. I felt sympathy for this gal just over the Ann Taylor sweater story.
I’m not mad over this lady. I’m not mad at all, in fact. I am simply suspicious, given all the bailouts, of where her EX is getting his dough. If it’s TARP, that will rile me.
*cough*
Not my former Webelo.
meh
Have you noticed the housing market, lately? She is one heck of a lot more savy than you! She understands that she must wait until the market changes.
This was a hatchet job by the left.
Now, your next point, the nanny. Sure, let's just let the kids go feral! Great idea! You are sure on a roll! Let the kids get into drugs and shoplifting...she deserves it...she is rich!
Third, sell the dog. Hey, why not just shoot it in front of the kids and blame it on those jealous folks in Georgia!
Finally, her whiney brood. Great, dump them on their Father, full-time. He is remarrying anyway and hey, what a better place to raise kids than Manhattan!
You know, you could start dealing with your own class envy, or considering switching to the left. This woman is trying to do what she can. Yeah, it is a hideously expensive life-style, but she isn't following your Hollywood script. Too bad! Let's see how she does. I expect she and her kids will end up well.
Yes, if there weren’t pictures, I would believe it was fake.
The writing is excruciating.
You hit the nail on the head. I was thinking the same thing. It is even written like Wolfe’s. I don’t begrudge the lady her money, but can’t say I admire her superficial lifestyle. Have to give her credit though for holding down the fort.
A for spelling, C for content. Most of the Webs have Mom do it.
bttt. Great riposte.
Pssst, Duke, you omitted having the woman committing seppuku on the front steps of her driveway in front of avid readers of the WAPO and writing in her will that all proceeds go to ACORN.
It is obviously a shameless attempt at generating class envy and balkanizing this country. Notice how we differ.
The wealthy are different than most of us working stiffs. Where $5 is a chunk to many of us, it is a tip to the wealthy if you didn't do a good job. It is a difference of scale and there are a lot of us working stiffs who are dependent upon the wealthy for our livelihood.
I really detest the attitude of watching the wealthy get poor and "it serves them right!" That is class envy. Don't try and improve your lot, tear somebody else down! It is the manner of a Chicago Community Organizer! Think about it.
I hope she is successful. I hope as a single Dad with sole custody of his son, paying alimony to an abusive Mother, thanks to the legal system, I can succeed. I know I won't succeed by setting my sights low. She knows this as well.
Damn! I knew I left something out! Thanks for reminding me...but it would have to be the NYT! Turf, you know!
Thank you for (sp), (yay sp badge!) but ...
Let 'em sew! You're kidding aren't you?
Guess times have changed too much for even that.
Please pardon, no offense intended.
Spot on. It’s a question of scale, is all. We here in the middle of Middle America are changing our lifestyles, having recession ‘parties’, shopping at Sam’s and Dollar Tree. We’re doing fine. So will she.
I don’t think the woman has made any bad choices. It doesn’t sound like it to me. She is trying to keep the lives of her children along the lines of what is “normal” to them. That doesn’t make her a bad person; I defend her right to give her children stability to the extent she is able.
I think you are quite wise to wonder about the motivation of the writer. I didn’t post the article because I agreed with the “slant” but merely because it’s a peek in another part of our world. And as I said, the title wasn’t mine.
My sneaking suspicion (besides the whole TARP thing) might be the tossing out there of the “Rich, evil, Republican” notion, which is the meme of the left these days. Whether or not it is true (and most times, it’s not).
To fully confess, that is also part of why I am so suspicious.
What did I say, “crappy?”
one of my favorite words, I must admit. LOL
Here’s the response I got:
“Mom, what’s up with this? We got the whole needle and thing going? How ‘bout this. I mow our 2 acres and you sew the patch. Deal?”
I love that kid. LOL
......she has her son in Cub Scouts and she sews on his patches......
Except that for many years, patches are iron on
In the northeast making $300,000 is not that much money. A person would be comfortable but not wealthy. This is an idiotic article.
If you look at the pictures, notice picture 12. The new wife looks like a complete bitch.
Folks, this is what liberty is all about: your choice how you spend YOUR money. Would I trade places? NO, I would not live in that socialist paradise where taxes reign supreme. Again, a matter of personal choice and as long as the state is not paying for her perceived extravagances, so be it. BTW, she is also pulling about 75K off investments to live on. That implies to me she has a relatively large nest egg, perhaps a few Ms and seems smart enough not to have had it invested with the Madoffs!
What does disgust me is the attempt by the newspaper to ridicule her. Perhaps she was too dumb to see that coming or perhaps she was led on by the interviewer about how the story would be framed. Either way, it shows how the media tries to push public opinion with example by anomaly. I was surprised they did not mention the health care issue because more than likely, she has a company health care plan which is fully funded by the employer. Maybe that will be the follow on article: how she would be brought down by taxing this benefit.
Vince
I read two pages of this bosh before I had to go put my head in the toilet bowl. Only in America.
Selling the house is tough when you have kids. I have to defend her, here.
If she is a mom like 99% of the mom’s here on FReepers, she will hang on until the last dog dies. I suspect this gal will give up the nanny, and all the rest to keep her kids situated. When Mom is awarded the house via divorce, that is the first consideration...keeping the kids in their school, with their friends, settled. You’ll give up everything for that. I know because I did. The temptation to minimize the disruption in the lives of your children is very powerful, especially after a divorce.
“Why not?”
You might have missed it but the real estate market sucks. many many many people owe more than their house is worth.
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