Greedy And/Or Just Plain Stupid?

1/22/2014

Once again we have a Governor in the news.  What is it with Governors all of a sudden?  This time though traffic was not involved.  Nope, this time we had a Governor and his wife who accepted "gifts" from a businessman in exchange for special treatment from the state government for his business.  I don't think the actions of the Governor pass the "stink" test and even I know that there is generally a price to be paid for things that you receive.

There is an old saying that the rich just get richer, and it's certainly true.  We "regular" folk just don't have a rich fairy tale person who is willing to shell out money and/or gifts for us.  No, regular people go to work every day and if they want a vacation, a bigger diamond, a house or a new car, they save up their money and/or use their OWN credit card to make those purchases.  What a novel idea - paying for your stuff - by yourself.  

According to the newspaper, the First Lady lamented that she and the Governor were broke and had large credit card debt. Feeling sorry for her?  Not so much.

The First Lady went shopping in New York and with someone else footing the bill, bought Oscar de la Renta clothes ($11,000), something from Louis Vuitton ($5,685) and spent a mere $2,604 at Bergdorf Goodman. These items must be forfeited along with a Giorgio Armani jacket and two matching dresses, two sets of golf clubs and a silver Rolex.  

It's hard to feel sorry for two people who own not one but two beach houses they purchased for $2 million and the $1 million home at the Wintergreen resort bought together with the Governor's sisters, and their $835,000 home near Richmond.  

I find it difficult to have sympathy for the very rich who have connections (lots of them) that can be and are financially beneficial to them.  When does owning so much become too much?  Since I won't ever be in that position, I don't have an answer.

While the Governor's story was on the front page of the paper, above the fold, there was a different story in another section of the paper.  That story was about families who had no place to stay during the storm.  One family stood outside a resource center for over an hour in freezing temperatures to try and get placed somewhere in the shelter system. After their long wait, an official came out to tell them that the center wouldn't be open due to weather and suggested that people call the 24 emergency shelter hotline. One family with seven children were given cots in an activity room at D.C. General Hospital.  At the very least these two families were out of the cold at least for one night.

At Motel 6's lowest rate of $39.99 per night times 365 days, the total comes to $14,596.35.  Now if you add up the goodies listed above that total comes to $19,289.00.  Even though I'm pretty bad with math, even I know that $19,289.00 would buy a lot of nights out of the cold and weather.  

I have no sympathy for the Governor and the awkward position he finds himself in.  I just can't understand how powerful people become so stupid, or is it that they truly believe they won't be caught?

P