Guest Author
It’s a shame President Barack Obama missed the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show this month.
He would have been so proud of all he’s done for the rich.
As the boat show demonstrated, wealthy people are doing really, really well these days.
For example, Danielle Butler, president of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, told the Sun Sentinel that a local wine store had sold out of Dom Perignon!
The world’s largest in-water boat show was bigger than ever. More than $4 billion in nautical stuff was on display and for those of you who are among the “1 percent,” there were five yachts longer than 200 feet. The paper reported Saturday that exhibitors sold a $1.4 million Bugatti car and a $4.1 million Bell helicopter. One dealer sold about $40 million worth of boats.
As everyone knows, the top “1 percent” in the United States own at least 40 percent of all the nation’s wealth. In 2011, they owned 42.7 percent and the next 19 percent owned 50.3 percent, according to Wikipedia. The bottom 80 percent owned 7 percent and were not buying expensive champagne.
It appears this happy trend is continuing.
In a 2013 documentary, former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich states that 95 percent of economic gains went to the top 1 percent since 2009 when the recovery from the 2008 recession began.
It’s no wonder the Dom Perignon is flying off the shelves.
But the boats were selling as fast as the booze in Broward County, it appears.
Kathy Nitabach, vice president of Bradford Marine group of Fort Lauderdale, told the Sun Sentinel that six of the seven boats Bradford offered for sale this year at the show either have signed contracts or negotiations pending. They cost between $1 million and $4 million.
My wife, Rosemary, and I went to the show, but we decided not to pay $1,099 per person for the three-day VIP pass. I’m sorry I missed the VIP seminars by a maritime attorney: “Staying Two Steps Ahead of the Taxman” and “How to Hire a Captain and Crew.”
I’m woefully ignorant about both topics.
I didn’t realize how clueless I was until Rosemary and I took a tour of SeaVenture, a 101-foot yacht on display at the show. The asking price is $6.35 million. It was one of several floating mansions offered by Hargraves Custom Yachts.
The guide was charming and attentive, even though I’m certain she knew we couldn’t afford a WaveRunner let alone the SeaVenture.
It turns out that we couldn’t afford the SeaVenture even if someone gave it to us.
“So,” I asked, “how do you drive this thing?”
“Oh, you need a captain and crew.”
“Really? How much does that cost?”
A captain costs at least $150,000 a year. A crew member costs $40,000.
“How many crew members do you need?” I asked.
“You need at least one,” the guide said, “but most people have three. If you want to do your own dishes and that sort of thing, you can get away with one.”
Do my own dishes!?
Perish the thought.
So, it appears we would need at least $300,000 a year just to make the boat move and then have it come to rest at a dock.
Our host explained that the folks who own yachts like the SeaVenture “consider them like third homes.”
She explained that an owner might have a mansion in Chicago, a chalet in Crested Butte, and then spend a few weeks each year on the SeaVenture.
Oddly, all of this information made me think of Obama. After all, he’s largely responsible for making all this opulence possible.
As we all know, the economy has recovered nicely since sleazy bankers nearly dragged us all into a full-blown depression in 2008.
We’ve had:
- 69 straight months of economic expansion;
- the longest period of private sector job creation in American history;
- unemployment drop from 10.1 percent in October of 2009 to 5 percent today;
- the stock market set record highs; and
- the federal budget deficit shrink two-thirds since 2009.
We don’t depend on Middle East oil any more. We have fewer young men and women getting their limbs blown off in wars we can’t win. And the United States is deporting more illegal immigrants than ever before.
It’s no wonder champagne corks are popping.
Next year will be the last chance for the organizers of the boat show to invite Obama and give him a complimentary VIP pass.
He might even want to conduct his own seminar for the other VIPs. I would suggest this title:
“The growing wealth gap in America between the rich and the rest of us.”
Tom O’Hara is a veteran newspaperman. He is the former managing editor of The Palm Beach Post and the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
