62. March 1st, 2011 Picture.

Keeping in line with my inability to understand how so many people have so much money in this world, I read 'Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich'.  You can pretty much guess what this book is about, but here is a blurb from Amazon to round it out for you:

When Frank, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, began noticing that the ranks of America's wealthy had more than doubled in the last decade, and that they were beginning to cluster together in enclaves, he decided to investigate this new society, where $1 million barely gets you in the door. The Richistanis like to consider themselves ordinary people who just happen to have tons of money, but they live in a world where people buy boats just to carry their cars and helicopters behind their primary yachts, and ordering an alligator-skin toilet seat won't make even your interior designer blink. But Frank doesn't just focus on conspicuous consumption. He talks to philanthropists who apply investment principles to their charitable contributions and political fund-raisers who have used their millions to transform the Colorado state legislature. He also meets people for whom sudden wealth is an emotional burden, whose investment club meetings can feel like group therapy sessions. It's only in the final pages that Frank contemplates the widening gap between Richistan and the rest of the world—for the most part, his grand tour approach never loses its light touch.

The book talks about people who just happened to fall into money suddenly, like a man who became a multimillionaire because he created porcelain Bavarian villages (totally not kidding!), as well as those with old money.  The book describes the growing gap between the middle class, i.e. me, and the 'Richistanis', those whose wealth is topped at more than 10 million.  They look down on those with less, and try to outspend their neighbor (usually incurring massive amounts of debt) in order to keep up with the Joneses.  They are filthy rich, but some are going broke to try and fit in with all the other rich people, helloooooo that is SO NOT SMART!  It was absolutely insane to read, but extremely interesting.  The whole time I was reading it, I was wondering 'okay, how do I get in on it?!'  I'm still working on a plan, but as of right now, winning MegaBucks is still really the front runner.