<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/fashion/01rich.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/fashion/01rich.html</a> </p>
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<p>And people wonder why many around the US have zero desire to work in the shallowist city on earth. Makes LA look like Florence.</p>
<p>This could almost come from the Onion.</p>
<p>I find this article as off-putting as can be, but barrons, it does bear remembering that the people in this article (and their cohort in general) aren’t necessarily the colleagues most of the people who work in NYC.</p>
<p>The article spotlights some pretty horrendous attitudes, but I don’t think it’s really an argument that NYC is the shallowest city on earth.</p>
<p>Have you watched Wall Street Warriors??</p>
<p>I can’t relate.</p>
<p>Well, I can relate to tightening the ol’ belt. But not belt-tightening that entails using a different kind of personal jet.</p>
<p>New York City is a great city… sure there are shallow people here, but I bet there are one or two in Seattle and in Lynchburg as well… </p>
<p>I must say that I do get defensive when people needlessly attack NYC. A story can be written just about anything here, because it is so big. As off-putting as this article is, and so many more like it are, it’s not fair to say we are a shallow city. Please come to visit us when you are on the Right Coast, and you will find that there is a bigger diversity here than maybe anywhere else on earth. And that is diversity in every single sense of the word.</p>
<p>:D Yes, I always look to tv shows for an accurate representation of reality. </p>
<p>Let’s see, Lynchburg. . . . Gee, if I remember correctly, the Waltons was based on a novel written by a guy who grew up around there. 
Seriously barrons, you don’t really think that the people in that article represent a significant portion of the working population of NYC, do you? I completely agree that they’re dreadful - but not that they represent people who work in NYC, in any kind of significant way.</p>
<p>It could be argued that this article, with its tone, shows that many New Yorkers are very well grounded and sensible about wealth. The New York Times can only sell newspapers if it doesn’t alienate its readers.</p>
<p>Easy to be critical of their attitudes, but I’m sure ALL OF US would need a major re-adjustment of our life styles, spending habits and priorities if we lost 75% of our net worths. Imagine if you just lost 3/4 of your household income; sure, these folks are not approaching welfare, but it still has to be a major fear in their lives (especially if they have to switch from Grey Poupon to some generic brand for their limo rides! )</p>
<p>I’m definitely not a city person, but when I think of the X-million people working their butts off in NYC trying to make a living, “shallow” isn’t a word that comes to mind. </p>
<p>At the same time I must admit I emailed the Times article to my husband this morning. We know plenty of people in NY, but have never heard of any like these.</p>
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<p>You must be kidding.</p>
<p>With equal validity, I could try to cite that comment as evidence that Lynchburg is the dumbest city on earth. But I’m too smart for that.</p>
<p>Yes, the wealthy can often seem very shallow to the rest of us. Wherever they live. News bulletin: the overwhelming majority of the people in New York City don’t have lives like that, and don’t have and never had that kind of money. And I’ve met people who do have that kind of money, who don’t think that way.</p>
<p>Still, though, I suspect it’s human nature to think that your own problems are monumental, and forget to think about how lucky you are compared to most of the rest of humanity. I know of a woman who lived in Greenwich, CT (a friend of a friend) who was devastated by the realization that after her divorce, she could no longer afford what it cost to maintain the $5 million house she’d gotten in the settlement, and would have to move to, say, a $2 million house.</p>
<p>Donna</p>
<p>"Her clients blame the economy for their out-of-control waistlines.</p>
<p>“The number one concern that they have is the state of the financial market,” she said. “There definitely is a correlation between the stock market and weight gain.”<br>
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/fashion/01rich.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/fashion/01rich.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1</a></p>
<p>Instead of raising capital gains a fat tax might bring in more revenue.</p>
<p>Wealth is a relative concept. I am dirt poor compared to those folks, but far wealthier than the vast majority of the world’s population. Doing without when I have never had it in the first place is easy. I don’t miss what I never had. I can live without a personal jet - I’ve done it all my life! But don’t ask me to live without my microwave, dishwasher, washer & dryer… or even the second car. Don’t touch my computer! That would take some adjustment on my part. Not because it’s terrible to do without, but simply because it is not how I am used to doing things.</p>
<p>I think about money a lot these days. Gas prices are so high. (No, not compared to Germany, but I don’t live in Germany, either.) Rather, gas costs a lot compared to what I have budgeted to spend on it.</p>
<p>Our family has been being nickeled and dimed over health care costs in the past six months. Nothing major. Two ER visits. A variety of doctors and dentists and procedures. Now we are in a position of deciding what to NOT get done, because the well is going dry.</p>
<p>It IS anxiety producing. It means a change in thinking - I can’t just do what the doctor says, because I can’t afford it.</p>
<p>I will always find folks better and worse off than me, but that’s not the point. The point is me learning to adjust my standard of living in a way that doesn’t shock too severely. To cut back on what I can do without. That’s different for different folks.</p>
<p>I have a friend who’s husband was laid off, and had to struggle to put food on the table. I sent her a check once and she told me she bought flowers. she said she had always had fresh flowers, and missed them. It is not what I would have spent money on, and left me scratching my head. But it was a spiritual lift she needed, and who am I to judge?</p>
<p>I don’t have a lot of sympathy for these folks in the article, but I don’t expect a lot of sympathy for my own troubles from folks who have less than I do. And I still try to foster an “attitude of gratitude” for what I still have.</p>
<p>So they are eating and drinking more because of their stress caused by the shrinking assets? They should feel lucky - the rest of the country is eating less and trimming their food budgets because of the expanding grocery bills…</p>
<p>I truly feel sorry for these people- they are living in a hole and can’t see out. ( but I also think it is an opportunity to enlarge their way of thinking- they may ultimately be grateful in the long run)</p>
<p>I also understand the pressure of wanting to fit in- which is why when we bought a house, we moved to a neighborhood that was considerably lower on the economic/social scale than where we lived when we were married and had our first child </p>
<p>( hey I could not have predicted our house would be assessed at 7x more than what we paid for it 25 years later)
I will say though, that even though we couldn’t afford to buy in our neighborhood now ( nor could most families) the people who have moved in, for the most part share our interests and values.</p>
<p>I do see that there is a trickle down effect- when those at the top make less, those who " service them" also are going to be making less & so on.</p>
<p>This article made me love my life. Thanks.</p>
<p>I spend most of the year in Seattle–a very rich city with little of the NY attitudes. I have spent many years in the NY area and know the mindset pretty well having worked on many projects with NY based IB people. My former firm was HQ in NYC and the current one is HQ in LA. The mindsets from them are very different. Do these people represent all NYC, NO. Just the biggest industry there–finance, which sets the tone for much of the city.
Lynchburg is just our quiet little get away and very nice actually.</p>
<p>I don’t doubt that those people exist, but we have at least a couple dozen friends and family members who work ‘on Wall Street,’ who don’t seem any more superficial than others who are insurance salesmen, teachers, lawyers, and policemen. Most are regular family-oriented people working hard to make a decent living for their family, just like everyone else. Half of them don’t even live in NYC due to the cost of living, and commuting costs are no bargain either.</p>
<p>That said, there does seem to be a myth that those jobs are an automatic guarantee of wealth and success, and I think a lot of people, often young people, buy into that.</p>
<p>Geez, just when I start to think that I finally understand New Yorkers, you posters here are telling me that this stereotype may not even exist?</p>