All men are created equal but live differently

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

While 30% of the world's population live on $1 a day, some data on the
price of luxury housing in Manhattan is revealing.  In 2000, the year of
"trophy apartments, one co-op apartment on Park Avenue sold for $37
million, two apartments on Fifth Avenue for $18 million.  Twenty
aprtments were sold for above $10 millon each. Apratments selling for
less than $4 million do not qualify as "luxury" in New York.  The
average sale price was $7.6 million.  Prices go as high as $6000 per
square foot. Donald Trump has one apartment at One Central Park West,
the redesigned Gulf & Western office building into condomimiums, asking
for $63million for only unfinished raw space, but has yet to find a
buyer.  Maintainance (RE taxes, staff salary, building mortgage) for a
$10 million co-op would run to around $200 a day (50% tax deductable).
Garage parking would set the owner back another $800 a month.  Remember,
most of the apartments are only used as pied de terre.  The owners
usually have estates in Greenwich costing twice as much, where boarding
a horse in a nearby barn costs $3000 a month (it takes a minimum of 6
horses to play polo), plus several vacation homes around the world.  One
man I know who fits this category makes his "living" restructuring
companies, in other words, laying off thousands every month.  At least
Rockefeller created jobs.

Henry C.K. Liu