Word: riches
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Rich and poor Vermont towns are fighting each other over a new state law called Act 60, which is aimed at correcting the disparities in school spending between wealthy towns and less fortunate ones. At issue are the most basic values parents teach children: Be fair. Share. Play nice. According to Vermont's supreme court, obeying the rules of the sandbox meant replacing the state's old school-funding system, in which local property taxes generally paid for local education, because doing things that way had led to terrific schools in affluent communities (especially those graced with ski slopes...
...people in the receiving towns see things differently. They point to the years of excessive taxes, shuttered businesses and struggling schools they endured because their property-tax bases weren't robust enough to support decent schools. "Was it fair for [rich towns] to have an advantage when somebody else's fundamental rights--in this case, a public education--were being denied?" asks Allen Gilbert, a parent from working-class Worcester. Spreading the burden through the state, says Randolph school-board member Laura Soares, whose town can now afford to build a new elementary school after a 30-year wait...
Just south of Silicon Valley, where he toiled for many years as a computer engineer, Tim May is spending his retirement in the picturesque hills of Corralitos, Calif. But he's not there simply for the view. May believes his spot in this rich agricultural and fishing area might spare him the hardships of a famine ushered in with the new millennium, and he's ordering gold coins and laying in food in bulk just to be sure. He's also buying weapons, adding regularly to his growing gun collection. In the coming months, says May, more and more Americans...
Imagine that you run a mutual fund where the only investors are 98 rich people (minimum net worth: $5 million). You get paid a percentage of the gains and make nothing if the fund loses money. The risks are large, but if you're good, so are the rewards. You've just imagined my job. I'm a hedge-fund manager, a term that conjures up swashbuckling billionaires like George Soros, whose trades can drive down entire foreign economies. I'm a much smaller fish: my partner and I manage about $360 million, investing almost...
...setback. I saw two good examples just last week: Eli Lilly and Xerox. (Full disclosure: I'm long on both stocks.) Here you can beat me and the market. You can take a longer view--not least because you don't have to report every quarter to those 98 rich guys...