The Haves and Have Nots

[deathb4disco]

Two very different articles I stumbled onto recently:

On several pages, Canadian socialite (the American dream gone international), philanthropist and billionaire's wife Suzanne Rogers, aged 40, is into shoes and Hermes handbags, photographed at home in Toronto in 2010, standing wide-eyed and beaming in her "seasonal" closets. Every shoebox comes with a photo of the shoe inside for easy identification. Suzanne's style icon (in 2010 at least) was Truly Scrumptious from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." (And who am I to mock? How many men have fantasized about being James Bond, another Ian Fleming creation?)

The men flaunt their wealth in our faces. At a music awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 2004, rapper and record producer Lil Jon bares his teeth, central incisors wrapped in a diamond and platinum grill reportedly worth $50,000.

On holiday in St. Barts, 29-year-old Brett Ratner, director of the "Rush Hour" franchise, looks like he's just won the lottery, his grin is as wide as the platinum Amex card stuck to his forehead. His buddy fans a thick wad of $100 bills right in front of Greenfield's lens.

Making sense of America'''s wealth obsession - CNN Style

Ressy Finley, 41, was busy sterilizing the white bucket she uses to slop out in her tent in which she has lived on and off for more than a decade. She keeps her living area, a mass of worn mattresses and blankets and a few motley possessions, as clean as she can in a losing battle against rats and cockroaches. She also endures waves of bed bugs, and has large welts on her shoulder to prove it.

She receives no formal income, and what she makes on recycling bottles and cans is no way enough to afford the average rents of $1,400 a month for a tiny one-bedroom. A friend brings her food every couple of days, the rest of the time she relies on nearby missions.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...rteur#comments

[Fish on Line]

I read an article on line last night . there are hundreds of hurricane victims in south Texas living in tents. they did not Qualify for FEMA to help them for some reason. they might have been renting instead of owning what was destroyed.. FEMA is now in the process of getting rid of all the Trailers over 18 months old for any reason up to a scratch on the Paint and up for Auction.. Those Living in Tents have no access to computers or the Resources and have to continue living on the ground in a Tent ---- there can be no heater that uses a flame to releave this Freezing weather. My Brother lived in a Katrina Fema trailer that should have been sent to a crusher when he got a Divorce up until August this year. He said it was more Comfortable than the 18 Wheeler he lived in almost 18 years