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 ...
This is an environmental disaster. How many trees died to print this stupid article? If people can't afford the houses they live in, they will soon lose them.
The average yearly salary was $2,500 too. Funny how that never gets included in the equation.
That's because you live in one of the most heavily taxed states in the east, you ignorant twit! You forget all the union and local government graft and kick-backs! What's the annual salary of a school janitor up there?? Last time I looked, NY's school janitors were earning close to $100K!
That connection between the big house and the barn is the clumsiest thing I've ever seen. I can just imagine how the construction on it progressed: "I might get thirsty on the way back to the house so put a waterfountain in the hallway; no wait, put a refrigerator, er, a kitchen--eat-in kitchen down the hall. Hey, can you add a mud room too, mmm, and put the washer and dryer in there too so we don't hear it during our family time. Add a storage room just down from the mud room for our extra stuff that don't fit in the barn. Oh, attach the doghouses to the corridor so they can get in and out of the house without us opening the door. Thanks.
"If the Left obeyed the 10th Commandment, maybe they would learn to obey the 10th Amendment."
--rottndog
That's a nice big house - when I grow up, I want a nice house like that!
As Johnny Boy said in 2004, there are two Americas. There is the $600 million America of John Kerry, the kept Ketchup boy. And there is the $75 million America of John Edwards, the shyster lawyer.
John Edwards "Two Americas"
Uh, Beverly? You write for a newspaper, right? There's this thing called "research" that used to be popular for journalists before they committed word to page. If you don't understand who lives in them, why not...ask a few?
Hmm, no mention of the Kennedy compounds in MA and Florida.
Is it just me or are those 2 SUVs out front?
Along with three pickups on the side...lol.
Then came this tract called, Serrano. ALL of the houses look like they were based on one plan yet they're called custom homes. The must go for around a million and they dot the hillside when you go through the area on highway 50. They are what the term McMansion was created for. Not only do they all look alike, they barely have enough room to get a lawnmower between the houses and yet the houses must have at least a 3000 sq foot floor plan.
Now the commute is longer and we have all of the pretentious people who think they live in Beverly Hills. They're ruined the landscape. Anyone who goes by on 50 knows what I'm talking about.
They should never have been approved as they stand now. They ruin the character of the community. The older houses look great because they all look different with different sized lots and different house designs.
Anybody know which charities this writer gave away all but a few thousand of her 2006 salary to?
I bet the huge McMansion is owned by a liberal. Just a guess but going by some of the homes built and lived in by the Hollywood elite it sure fits.
I think it might be psychological. So unsure of their status and anxious that the whole world know of their importance and influence they build " look at me" houses. They wrongly mistake the scoffs of scorn at the tackiness of their ostentatiousness for gasps of admiration.
Conservative are self assured enough to avoid vulgar displays of wealth. Plus we give more of it away. Even without media presence.
And as any Southerner can tell you. The 11th commadment is: Thou shall not be tacky or trashy.
The GI bill was involved too. Lots of people took advantage of that to get ahead, and most of them earned the right. In 1956 my starting salary in the USAF was $78 monthly. I could have used the GI Bill, but did not.
That being said, I despise conspicous consumption as much as I despise class envy politicians, such as two people living in a 5000 square house, etc. Also, rich building tastless houses that don't fit in the community, such as a "castle motif" mansion in a rustic neighborhood os modest country style homes, etc. Just goes to show that wealth cannot buy good taste.
Flame away if you like.
Sheesh! What do the Edwards have against TREES??
I do and I do. It's called property taxes (big time).
I have mixed feelings about this. I know of a neighborhood; older and quite lovely with large homes. A young couple (snots) moved in and bought one of the houses right on the lake (Lake Erie). They tore down the house and built a million dollar monstrosity. Now there are several people that had a nice view of the lake that can't see it anymore, plus it is totally out of place for the neighborhood. Those people have lost a lot of home value. The stupid thing is the young couple's house is so huge there is very little back lot and the ground is eroding so unless they do some serious engineering work, that house is going to tumble into Lake Erie in about 20 years or so.
I see both sides. They have the right to build but our rights as individuals should always take into consideration the prime commandment to love others as ourselves.
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