Word: riches
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Conspicuous Consumption Is Safe. It used to be hard to tell rich from poor in Baghdad, especially outside the Green Zone. Fear of being kidnapped for ransom prompted many wealthy Iraqis to feign poverty. Living below one's means became an art form: decrepit cars, cheap cell phones, minimalist jewelry...
...birth of the "Urban Hermit Financial Emergency Rotgut Poverty Plan": While the rest of his fellow Yale alums enjoyed high-profile jobs and piles of cash ("It was the nineties, dammit, and they were getting rich. Just like everybody else"), MacDonald did his best to shirk responsibility - including his tax-paying duties. After several IRS agents came calling to collect nearly $2,000 in back taxes, MacDonald began to ponder questions like, "In basic animal terms, what does it take for a human being to survive? Maybe I didn't need to swallow up half of the Rolling Rock...
Meanwhile, just to the north, in Kokomo, Ind., Rich Boruff, vice- president of the United Auto Workers local 685, is closely watching the developments. Kokomo boasts plants for Chrysler and one of the nation's largest auto parts suppliers, Delphi. So there is much at stake. Boruff and his troops have been calling and e-mailing their Congressional representatives, urging them to support a bailout for the major automakers. The consequences of a bankruptcy declaration from either of the Big Three, he fears, are just too severe. "It'd kill us," he says...
...have been suffering throughout the year. "Bankers used to come in droves with their wives," says the jeweler. "There were lots of Americans and French too. We just don't see them any more." "I always thought I'd chosen the safe option in retailing, catering to a super-rich clientele," says a Bond Street retailer, who also declines to be quoted by name. "But even our super-rich clients are cutting back. They're buying ready-made instead of bespoke or delaying big purchases altogether...
...sparse as the Icelandic countryside. In person, he has a low-key manner, a receding hairline and an engaging smile. Erlendur, he says, is "part of the history of Iceland in the late 20th century when it changed from being a very poor peasant society to a very rich one." The detective is popular, he reckons, because "he's very flawed but very human. People identify with Erlendur maybe because of loneliness and failure. He's a horrible family man, but a perfect policeman...