Word: packards
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...ULTRA RICH by Vance Packard...
That is the egalitarian theme of Vance Packard's latest venture in pop sociology, which is centered on slapdash but often tantalizing interviews with 30 of the nation's richest citizens (average net worth in 1987: $425 million). As the author presents them, these ultrarich tend to be banal in thought and sometimes defiantly plain Jane in tastes. "What's better than meat-loaf?" asks Texas developer Walter W. Caruth Jr., whose wife (despite his $600 million) does all the cooking. Surprisingly few of Packard's subjects try to live up to their imposing annual incomes. Leonard Shoen, the founder...
...self-made entrepreneurs, on the other hand, the zealous pursuit of money is its own reward, as a proof of self-worth. Even so, Packard notes, they often worry about how inheritances will affect their offspring. Since his $ children and grandchildren are (or soon will be) millionaires, Ewing Kauffman (owner of baseball's Kansas City Royals) has no plans to will them any of his $340 million. Giving more, he says, "just spoils them...
...Packard believes, not unreasonably, that the excessive concentration of wealth among a cadre of megamillionaires is worse than immoral; it is dangerous to the good health of capitalism. His proposed cures are fairly familiar -- and unlikely to be enacted: for example, taxing net worth above a certain level (say, $25 million) and reforming the rules on trusts that allow billions to escape fair taxation...
...force, and a culture that confers high status on manufacturers and engineers. But a little Japanese-style teamwork, in which companies pool their resources on long-term research, could do wonders in the U.S. "The Japanese don't share all their secrets either," says John Young, CEO of Hewlett-Packard. "They get people to develop the basic technology, and then they go home and build like crazy...