"Millionaires’ ranks grow, poll shows" March 18, 2011|By Associated Press
NEW YORK — The number of US millionaires increased by 600,000 in 2010, according to Spectrem Group.
About 8.4 million US households had assets of $1 million or more, not including primary residences, a gain of 8 percent — still below the 2007 high of 9.2 million US millionaires, Spectrem said.
That means it is not most Americans since their home (if they still have one and haven't had it fraudulently taken by banks) is really their one piece of wealth.
“The recovery is doing better in this population, probably better than for Main Street America,’’ said George Walper Jr., president of Spectrem.
I think the whole country knows that right now.
The figure is lower than before the financial crisis because the value of real estate has not recovered, he said....
The number of ultrahigh-net-worth households, with $5 million or more in investable assets, increased 8 percent to 1.1 million in 2010, the survey said.
Household wealth was $56.8 trillion at the end of 2010, according to the Federal Reserve. Millionaires control about 56 percent of US wealth, according to a March 14 survey by Boston-based Fidelity Investments.
Related: Wealth Inequality Destroys US Ideals
The 400 richest Americans now own more than the bottom 150 million??
Millionaires turned bullish on their investments in February for the first time in more than three years, according to a Feb. 23 survey by Spectrem. Walper said he expects optimism may fall slightly in March.
“The whole issue in Japan and with the markets eroding worldwide will increase people’s concerns,’’ in the short term, he said.
So all that recovery talk for the rest of us was really bulls***, huh?
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What does one do with that much money?
"Fla. millionaire fights Mohegan Sun over $1.2m gambling debt" March 19, 2011|Associated Press
HARTFORD — A Florida millionaire accused of walking out on a $1.2 million gambling debt is fighting Mohegan Sun in court, arguing that the state judicial system cannot decide the case because the casino is run by a sovereign American Indian tribe.
Jerome Powers, chief executive of the Plum TV cable television network, a lifestyle network that caters to the wealthy with shows about travel, entertainment, finance, food, and other topics, asked the state Appellate Court this week to throw out a lower court’s ruling that would allow Mohegan Sun to seize his assets ahead of a potential final judgment against him. It’s not clear when the Appellate Court will take up the case.
It is becoming clear to me that the entire AmeriKan society is set up that way.
Powers, 64, of Miami Beach, gambled away $1.2 million in credit that Mohegan Sun loaned him in May 2009, according to a lawsuit the casino filed against Powers in November 2009. Court documents filed by Powers say the casino solicited him to open a line of credit and to travel to the facility in Uncasville in eastern Connecticut, where he played blackjack.
Powers wrote six checks to the casino to pay his debt, but they were not honored by his bank, court documents say. Payment was stopped on a $465,000 check, and the others were returned because the accounts were closed, according to copies of the returned checks.
In fighting the casino’s lawsuit, Powers contends that the credit agreement was an illegal gambling contract under state law and that state courts have no jurisdiction because the casino is run by the sovereign Mohegan Tribe....
Plum TV is on cable systems in Aspen, Vail, and Telluride in Colorado, the Hamptons in New York, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts, Miami Beach, and Sun Valley, Idaho.
The Hamptons, huh?
Related:
"illegal immigrants, who mow the lawns, trim the hedges, clean the swimming pools, park the cars, serve the hors d'oeuvres, tidy up the mansions, and do many of the other things that make life so enjoyable for the rich"
It's what we were all meant to do, right?
Earlier this month, Powers unveiled the first issue of the glossy Plum Miami magazine and told the Herald that revenue for the issue hit nearly $500,000, surpassing the goal.
And he can't pay his gambling debts?
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Guy is lucky this isn't years ago and it is the Indians; otherwise, he's getting some broken limbs.
