12-24-2020, 03:34 PM
It's not the worst example of a McMansion... the stone front is at least attractive. I live in Michigan, where.. well. we have lots of Victorian houses. Much of this is fantasy, and in some cases it goes so far as turrets. Turrets? As someone might need to be on the lookout for fire-breathing dragons intent on devouring innocent maidens?
I'm guessing that this house has a bloated entryway to impress people who might stop by for a visit, but I would figure that the sorts of people who live there would largely see people of similar means and tastes as guests if not their poorer relatives.
I'm not going to say that one has better uses for the money, like making a large endowment to an alma mater, writing a large check to the medical research facility or a home for orphans, etc. -- or backing a poor relative's dream of a small business. Dream houses are one of the worst investments that one can make because they are unmarketable, and they go out of style fast (as if they were in style for more than one family). People with huge funds are going to spend money in silly ways, and it may be the silly spending that keeps a plutocratic economy fro0m getting the economic meltdown that would put an end to plutocracy.
I'm guessing that this house has a bloated entryway to impress people who might stop by for a visit, but I would figure that the sorts of people who live there would largely see people of similar means and tastes as guests if not their poorer relatives.
I'm not going to say that one has better uses for the money, like making a large endowment to an alma mater, writing a large check to the medical research facility or a home for orphans, etc. -- or backing a poor relative's dream of a small business. Dream houses are one of the worst investments that one can make because they are unmarketable, and they go out of style fast (as if they were in style for more than one family). People with huge funds are going to spend money in silly ways, and it may be the silly spending that keeps a plutocratic economy fro0m getting the economic meltdown that would put an end to plutocracy.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.