workers struggle in hamptons, playground for rich

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HAMPTONS_HAVE_NOTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-12-13-33-15

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) -- This is a town where people are so rich that a $2 million home can be a handyman's special. A town where the thrift shop is stocked with donations of designer dresses and handbags.

But Southampton, with its privet hedges, pristine beaches and some estates costing tens of millions, also is where 40 percent of children get free or reduced school lunches, where a food pantry serves up to 400 clients a month and where some doctors and nurses share homes owned by the local hospital because they can't afford to buy or rent.

Studies show the wealth gap separating the rich from everyone else is widening, and few places in the country illustrate that as starkly as Long Island's Hamptons - America's summer playground for the haves and have-mores, where even middle-class workers struggle with the high cost of living.

"We have a tremendous amount of millionaires who live 3 miles from the food pantry, and they really have no idea that there's a need in this community," said Mary Ann Tupper, who retired last month after 21 years as the executive director of Human Resources of the Hamptons, a charity that assists 6,000 people annually through its food pantry and other services for the working poor.

[SoCalDem]

1. Serfs & Lords in the USA

[Rapillion]

2. An old story

Only it is getting worse as the transient wealthy, tethered to nothing but their own privilege, deign to contribute a tiny bit of their manipulated millions to their "inferiors."

[cali]

3. well said. I love a neat turn of phrase. Welcome to DU.

eva

[Rapillion]

4. Thanks!

[WhiteTara]

6. Welcome to DU!

[Rapillion]

7. Thanks!

[MrMickeysMom]

8. Indeed...

Welcome to DU, as well.

Here's a good example of an usustainable way of life for those who loose out. These workers are tired, strained, and I'm betting part of a system without pension and without any compensation for over 7.5% of their commitment to their working day.

I have to imagine now… Were I that rich, would I be that clueless? I'll never know.

[Rapillion]

9. Thank you!

Subsistence is their reward and luxury is but a dream.

If you were rich, you would probably find a "cause" to relieve whatever guilt may remain. Of course, a small minority of the rich do actually understand.

[WhiteTara]

5. Trickle down economics in action

means we're being pissed on and they are calling it rain.