Wednesday, September 5, 2007

It's a dog's life, act II

Barbara Ehrenreich reports that: > A friend of mine, of very modest means himself, consults for a billionaire couple who commute between London and Los Angeles by private jet, with their dogs following in a second private jet. <

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Jim Devine / “In the years since the phrase became a cliché, I have received any number of compliments for my supposed ability to 'think outside the box.' Actually, it has been a struggle for me to perceive just what these 'boxes' were — why they were there, why other people regarded them as important, where their borderlines might be, how to live safely within and without them." -- Tim Page (THE NEW YORKER, August 20, 2007).

6 comments:

Sandwichman said...

If I'm ever a billionaire, I'll have pet pigs following me in a private jet. Just because I can.

Anonymous said...

of course you would. there can't be much fun in being a billionaire if you have to act just like everyone esle.

it seems to me we build our own boxes as we go along. most people, perhaps, are comfortable with the current fashion they find around them.

but whatever accident or gift of perceptions leads us to choose our own style, soon enough we have built our own walls and ceiling.

rosserjb@jmu.edu said...

Hey, will those billionaires leave their dogs $12 million like Leona Helmsley did for her dog, so they can continue to fly jets by themselves after their masters have passed on?

Anonymous said...

i don't know about them.

but my dogs get first choice of my billions. the kids, not so much.

Anonymous said...

Ehrenreich, not only an accomplished writer, but a stone's throw (that consultant, possibly dog groomer) from a billionaire couple...(but that is not enough to stagger you --there are over 400 billionaires after all) who have dogs that they take with them when they travel...in their private jets. Now why aren't they all in the same jet? Did they get the sub-compact jet? Why aren't the dogs in the second following jet actually in the lead jet? Border collies would not have it. (now you are staggering, right?) Did these heartless billionaires leave their cats at home on their own? Did they run out of money for that 3rd jet?
It is tuff to cash in the idea of a billionaire.

Anonymous said...

didn't richard nixon send a destroyer to pick up his pet?

and did that cost more or less than a jet?

and while that would have been our business... if we were good republicans and counted every penny the gumment steals from us

why, i wonder, are we so worried about these billionaires and their dogs?