Boy, I'm sure glad Bush pushed those tax cuts through...

[SemiCharmedQuark]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&e=16&u=/nm/leisure_yachts_dc

Rich Keeping Super-Yacht Builders Busy
-snip-

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - As the rich get richer and more numerous, the yachting industry is enjoying a frenzied race for bigger and ever more ostentatious vessels.

The super-yachts start at a few million dollars and rise to more than $200 million. Owners generally spend up to 10 percent of the vessel's cost each year to run them -- including maintenance, fuel, dockage, provisions and crew salaries.

They rival the poshest mansions in furnishings as well as size. Some have helipads, wine cabinets, swimming pools, gyms, massive crystal chandeliers and onyx countertops.

-snip-

[punpirate]

1. Now all praise...

... the lowly barnacle. :P

[Kire]

2. Johnny Carson deserved his yacht.

He worked for a living.

[ogradda]

5. he sure did.

he was also good at his job.

[WildClarySage]

3. well, like my momma always said,

a rising tide lifts all yachts.

[ashmanonar]

4. hmmm...does that mean that the rich agree with global warming...

and are building yachts so they can just live in them?

[Seabiscuit]

7. Nah... they just think they're cool parking them in places like Paradise

Island in the Bahamas, across from the Atlantis casino resort. Most of them just sit there for weeks.

[ashmanonar]

8. hmm.

idk, i never got the idea of having more homes than you can live in. give me a modestly sized home, that i don't feel like is a cubicle, and a functional and comfortable car, and i'll be happy. i wouldn't mind a small boat (sail boat) for pleasure on weekends and some of the other weekend creature comforts stuff...but i really don't need a 200 million dollar yacht.

[Seabiscuit]

9. Ditto - I just don't need the small boat.

My house was chosen to accomodate children - and located near some fine schools - 0.3 miles to elementary school (walking distance).

Seriously, I spent 10 days on Paradise Island in 2000 (7 in a timeshare exchange right next to the little harbor which I walked around to get to Atlantis - the next 3 at the Atlantis resort itself) and I never once saw any of the many yachts moored there leave the harbor. They were huuuuuge. And they all had hired help cleaning them every day. It was very rare I could ever catch a glimpse of any of the owners on board. WTF were they doing there????

[ashmanonar]

10. status symbol?

that's all it seems to be.

[Seabiscuit]

6. I'm not sure if I could afford a big yacht, but if so, I wouldn't buy one.

If I were that rich I'd be donating it to charities and political movements, not wasting it on conspicuous consumption.

[GCP]

11. I actually heard Scarborough defending this

The local Air America station re-broadcast it, he was trying to make out that the boat-builders got to keep their jobs because of the tax cut and the super-rich buying the yachts.

Hey, Joe, how about they go into house-building if no-one has the money to buy their over-priced sea-mansions.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

13. Yeah, and I guess we are graced with all the servent jobs as well.

[ashmanonar]

14. ooh...

ever see this? Supply Side Jesus

seems appropriate to this situation.

[jmowreader]

12. I can think of one reason to own a yacht that big

And that's to start a cruise line for the moderately rich.

There are thousands of millionaires who either don't have the time to put into their own massive yacht, or their money is in something else like Ferraris or racehorses. Still, they'd like to travel to Nassau, Jamaica, maybe the Cote d'Azur in the luxury that only ocean travel offers--and without tripping over the rabble and their obnoxious children. (When you have a double-comma or triple-comma bank account, all children are obnoxious--why do you think rich people's children go to Boarding Schools?)

The solution: buy a 150-foot yacht, have it configured to sleep eight paying guests in supreme luxury, and go to sea. It would be fun.

And it solves the Rich Man's Yacht problem: pull the heads on a diesel that doesn't get run much and it looks pretty bad in there. You can't just let a big diesel sit, and these superyachts have enormous diesels. That sit because the average rich boy puts less than 100 hours a year on his engines.

Considering that a rich man is going to pull the boat out once or twice a year, if you had a service that offered yachts Mr. Millionaire can't afford for less than the cost of overhauling one engine on a smaller vessel, they'd sign up for it.

[GOPBasher]

15. More yachts for them; huge debt for us to pay back. Questions?

What's the problem with that? :shrug: