Posted on 01/28/2007 11:48:56 AM PST by BronzePencil
It sits on top of a hill, overlooking a busy road -- a big, pink stucco house that dwarfs all the houses around it. It is conspicuous consumption at its worst, or at its best, depending on your point of view.
It's not the biggest house around. There are many bigger -- one just a few miles from where I live, not on top of a hill but practically on the offramp of a highway. So many smaller houses have been knocked down to make room for these Goliaths. This is called progress.
I don't understand who lives in these massive homes or who can afford them
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
"MILLIONS are living on the streets?"
Yeah, that's a howler all right.
At the same time, since I returned to the US in April after a long absence, I have been seeing the trends she's speaking of...or so it seems to me.
I in no way endorse class warfare or the redistribution of wealth. However, this article and another entitled "You Can't Afford a House in a Blue State" show that others also see this trend.
The last time I posted to this effect, knee-jerk posters absurdly and foolishly reviled me as a class-warfare leftist. I am nothing of the kind. However, I do begin to suspect that the free market is not being allowed to function as it should, and I think that is an appropriate topic for discussion.
Unfortunately, every time someone brings it up, he is immediately slimed by conservatives-acting-like-liberals (CALLs), as seen above.
This is the point I made in my post on this thread. I say go ahead and build the mansion but don't put it in the middle of a modest development like some looming tower that prevents all sun from shining down on the little people.
It's ugly.
"I do and I do. It's called property taxes (big time)."
Isn't it the truth.
Boy, I'll bet John Edwards chased a lot of ambulances to earn this monstrosity.
b. $50! Where do you live? Here in Cleveland to eat in a really upscale restaurant it would cost you way more than that for 2 people - about double, if you don't have alcohol.
Drivel.
Agreed.
Oh woe is me. I can barely afford the dog food to feed my family after I pay my cable, SUV, 27 credit cards, download tunes from iTunes, go to the movies, beer, buy things I don't really need, bills.
I wish for every one the level of success they desire and are willing to work for.
For some people that will mean a upscale apartment near all the trendy hot spots, for some that will mean a huge house with a speck of a yard and for some people that will mean a tiny house with a big yard. Whatever makes them happy.
My dream place about an acre with fruit trees and a garden and about 1,200 square feet of house.
How did you get that picture?
Flame away if you like.
No, it sounds pretty tacky to me. Military Road, in the Chevy Chase portion of D.C., is a great example of this: one housing style after another, all proudly maintained as if the surrounding houses were the ones that got it all wrong. You can guess what political persuasion the majority of those homeowners are.
As to the point of yours I didn't quote, I too am suspicious of anyone who has big plans for my money.
Heck I would not flame. I agree with you.
Excellent point.I was thinking about a back road (wish I had a picture) in East Tennessee, one of the most beautifully naturally landscaped curving road I have ever seen. Some dufus built a Mcmansion castle, complete with the stone fence out front (in an awful clash with the split rail fences along the road). Terribly tacky assault upon God's creation and the neighborhood.
Seeing the Edwards monstrosity reminded me of seeing pictures of Garth Brooks' home in Oklahoma a few years back. It, too, was a monster, but tastefully designed. The Edwards house appears to be designed by dairy farmers who don't want to walk outdoors to milk the cows.
I live in Florida. In an area where an expensive meal with wine averages about 50.00 a person.
I don't mind spending money on a very good meal but nothing torques me more than an overpriced meal. You know the $10.00 burger or the $20.00 chicken ala taste of hotel banquet.
As for the author's parents I bet to them a fancy restaurant was Howard Johnsons and a deluxe seafood dinner was the all you can eat clam strips.
...so now the government needs to regulate house size?
Do they still call it a "free" society? Free in what way?
Oh. I have another one for you. There's a nice suburb here in Cleveland (Westlake). Some guy (my friend finally gave me the scoop that he's a middle eastern MD and has two kitchens in the place and it's big enough to accommodate all the distant relatives when they come in to get all the free medical tests they'll get done at the Cleveland clinic - this is another thread though....)built this HUGE mansion complete with giant portico and a huge fountain out front - like one you'd see at a Las Vegas hotel. It looks like a funeral home. I even jokingly thought of pulling up and asking if it was XYZ funeral home? ha ha. Anyway, beyond hideous and on a main road too.
We've have a crapload of McMansion Subdivisions built here.
6000 sq ft....$500,000+ butt-ugly monstrosities sitting within 75 feet or less of the next butt-ugly monstrosity.
brickface fronts....vinyl sides and backs
When I enlisted in the US Navy in '61 it was all the way up to $88.00! But I did use my GI bill for a few terms in community college and a home.
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