New York condo owned by Ekaterina Rybolovleva

                                      

While those of us who belong to the nearly extinct category of human beings known as the middle class, brace ourselves for our January credit card invoices, it warms the cockles of my heart to know that a Russian businessman can buy his daughter a penthouse condo overlooking Central Park for the paltry sum of $88 million dollars. She's in school in New York, and this would be a nice place to hang for the duration of her studies.

Yes, during this season of giving, we also get inundated with ads about children starving in third world countries, in the hopes that our generosity extends to those less fortunate than ourselves. I wonder if this Russian mining magnate has ever been guilted into parting with his rubles, to contribute to charitable causes. If so, was it purely to dodge taxes? In the end, at least the money would get to where it's most needed. Or would it?

I've reached a point in my life that I can honestly say I am skeptical of any philanthropic endeavours unless they are local and I can see direct evidence of how capital is invested and spent in real dollars. Look at how many millions are raised every year for a cure for cancer, yet the numbers of people diagnosed has increased, if anything.

All the more reason to conclude that the oligarchs who control the banking systems and military industrial complex under which our grandchildren would be indentured servants -  if all goes according to plan - have no intention of feeding, educating, or supporting the increased comfort levels of the masses in any way, shape, or form. We are, in all probability considered an inferior species that doesn't deserve to continue consuming, and breeding  uncontrollably.

view of Central park

For this reason, I, as a parent and concerned citizen, can only recommend that the masses wake up to what is really happening, and do more than sit back on their living room couches, and watch the Wall Street activists make a point. There are people in the office where I work, who are actually angry with the Toronto version of this occupation, and complain about these "squatters" getting in the way of honest, hard working taxpayers. All I can say to that is:  "Bah, humbug!" If it isn't apathy, it will be ignorance that will be the public's downfall.

I leave you with a quote from Henry David Thoreau to ponder during this festive time of year:

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

Have a revolutionary New Year!

All That Glitters

When I read about the passing of Huguette Clark at the age of 104 in May of this year I could only feel pity for this copper baron's heiress, and a certain element of revulsion.

The public are being bombarded with media warnings that sustainable living is a must. Cutback, recycle, tighten your belts, are daily catch phrases for the masses, while this woman held on to properties valued in the millions that she hadn't set foot in for fifty years including a mansion on Fifth Avenue with 121 rooms.



Instead, after dissolving a nine month marriage which the groom said was unconsummated, she opted to stay in Manhattan alone with her dolls watching "The Flintstones", before checking in under an assumed name to Doctors Hospital, and then Beth Israel Medical Center, where she was tended to for decades until she died.

I don't profess to have any insight into why her development was totally arrested. Perhaps having a father in his seventies who married a woman 40 years his junior. This same man literally bought himself a senate seat and amassed a fortune equal to the Vanderbilts and Guggenheims - at what price?

Yet another case of "poor little rich girl", you might say. It certainly appears a case of plenty of wealth and not enough parental attention. What I fail to understand is why she didn't choose at least to disperse the assets she had no use for in a way that would benefit the community. Apparently she was lucid to the last day, so one couldn't attribute her choices to an unsound mind.

Her accountant and attorney were certainly well looked after while managing her estate ( no surprise there ). But I can't help but wonder if her fate might have taken a different turn were she capable of giving or even toyed with the notion of paying it forward.

That may be the answer to our economic woes on a global scale. So long as there is a distinct division between the "haves" and the "have nots" we perpetuate economic pendulum swings and live in envy, resentment, suffering, and solitude.

A concise summary of the Clark Family saga can be found in a New York Times article at this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/nyregion/huguette-clark-recluse-heiress-dies-at-104.html?pagewanted=all

NOW WE'RE TALKIN!

SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364524/Robert-Vincent-Tchenguiz-arrested-Icelandic-bank-Kaupthing-probe.html

It's about time that those who have the power to collapse the economies of an entire nation purely on a whim, answer for their monstrous arrogance and greed driven agendas. I can only hope that other like these "men" are found accountable for their crimes against humanity.



Living the high life of super yachts and model girlfriends, Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz's flamboyant and aggressive business reputation was also matched by their decadent lifestyle.
With a £4bn fortune to play with, they lived the playboy lifestyle, with beautiful women on their arms, and champagne flowing.
Robert dated model Caprice and was even romantically linked with Princess Diana, but settled with health guru Heather Bird, from whom he is separated.

However, the couple still occupy a property close to the Royal Albert Hall, while Vincent has a home close to the U.S embassy in Mayfair.
And property was Vincent's main focus as they built up their empire, the older of the two brothers at one stage owned or managed 300,000 homes.

The Tchenguiz brothers seemed to come from nowhere and were identified with the boom years leading up to the banking crash. They were in deal after deal.

But yesterday it all came crashing down as they were arrested by investigators probing the collapse of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing.The pair were held during simultaneous dawn raids in London and Reykjavik amid claims they withdrew vast sums of cash just days before the crisis broke. Even as police knocked on their doors yesterday morning they were preparing to stage a champagne party on their super-yacht at a prestigious trade fair in the south of France.

The high-rolling businessmen – once ranked among the richest in Britain – were questioned over the collapse of the Icelandic bank in October 2008. And now all eyes are on the Mipim property conference in Cannes to see if they will make an appearance.

The brothers built up their empire specialising in property and leisure that rode the crest of the boom wave.
Now Investigators at the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) want to know what happened immediately before the demise of Kaupthing.
Questions remain over how some were able to withdraw funds in the days before the bank’s catastrophic collapse
.
Investigators are also looking at why some clients were able to take large loans backed with minimal collateral and deferred interest payments. Among them is Robert, who borrowed around £1.25billiion which he used to buy stakes in Sainsbury and pub group Mitchells & Butlers. . .

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