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Dear People Leaving Your Huge Receipts Behind: We Get It, You Are Rich

by Philip Bump | 2:44 pm, June 30th, 2011

» 31 comments

After the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, they headed over to Foxwoods Casino and dropped over $156,000 on booze. How do we know this? Because they took a picture of the receipt. Of course, every single one of them earns a lot more than that – by far, in most cases – and they’d just won a championship, so good on them. Boys will be boys.

Then on Tuesday, the Eagles’ DeSean Jackson and some friends went to a club in LA where they dropped over $10,000 in seventeen minutes – again, with the receipt to prove it. Magnums of Grey Goose and bottles of water are expensive at The Colony.

And yesterday, the piece-de-resistance: a receipt from an ATM showing a $99 million balance in a Capital One ~~checking~~ savings account. The owner of the receipt was eventually outed as hedge fund manager David Tepper, a guy who keeps a set of brass testicles in his office. (Get it? Because he’s got balls.) How exactly Tepper was outed remains a mystery. I’m sure he was terribly embarrassed by the revelation.

We get it, guys. You’re all rich. You’re getting pricey drinks and can’t even be bothered to earn interest on your tens of millions of dollars. Understood. Thanks for sharing.

It’s not surprising that these are the receipts we’re seeing, mind you. The only economic bracket for whom spending increased last quarter was among those making $100,000 or more annually. But you know what? That’s a big group. People who make $100,000 a year are still 20% of the population. One-in-ten Americans earns $150,000 a year. One-in-twenty, $200,000. One-in-100, $500,000. (And then it gets crazy.)

The people I’ve mentioned all make way more than that.

Money buys things besides booze and online notoriety. The wealthy heir to a Chicago family was arrested when his speeding Porsche jumped a curb and killed two men. He avoided jail time by making payments of an unspecified amount to the men’s widows. Meanwhile, a homeless guy in Maine was arrested this week for using an outdoor plug to charge his cell phone. Justice may be blind, but she’s not a Socialist.

Americans love the idea that they too could ascend to the ranks of the wealthy. It’s the American dream – your savvy and hard work bring you to the upper echelon. But we have to come to grips that the upper echelon keeps steadily rising higher and higher into the clouds as we pick our way up rocky cliffs, gingerly testing our footing, all while boulders rain down on us from above.

Pre-emptively to the commenters who accuse me of fomenting class warfare: no point in my doing so. As Warren Buffett said, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war – and we’re winning.” But that was in 2006. The war’s been over for a few years. We lost.

I’m not inciting class warfare – I’m just asking the victors to stop kicking sand in our faces. Please, sirs. If you don’t mind.

Or, at least, instead of just seeing your sloughed-off receipts – can I get one of those $6 bottles of water?

99 Million Dollar Receipt, Class, David Tepper

Just4thefax

Fact: Ouch!
Jackyboy

Philip you’re worse than Tommy. Gee let people take pictures of whatever expensive bill they want to take, it’s not like you’re forced to look at it. It’s not their fault their wealth apparently threatens your masculinity.
alanocu

In other news, professional sports players make more money than you.

Let’s see what the receipt(s) look like after Obama finishes his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.
jddoubleu

“in a Capital One checking account.” you may want to check the photo again sparky…
ChrisNH

The Hamptons are full of snobbish, elite Libs…you know, the corporate-jet millionaires & billionaires that Obamo pounds his fist over in a ‘class warfare’ sort of way. I’ll bet the owner of that receipt is one of them.
http://www.pbump.net Philip Bump

jddoubleu said:
“in a Capital One checking account.” you may want to check the photo again sparky…

Um, correct. Fixing.

- Sparky
notimportant

I’m not buying it…$99+ million in a savings account….I don’t think so.
AmericaSucks

Who gave you permission to use a photo of my receipt, damnit???
Yoda002

ChrisNH said:
The Hamptons are full of snobbish, elite Libs…you know, the corporate-jet millionaires & billionaires that Obamo pounds his fist over in a ‘class warfare’ sort of way. I’ll bet the owner of that receipt is one of them.

Then why do Republicans care so much for these people? Cantor even walked out of a meeting because the Dems wanted to take away subsidies for his corporate jet friends.
http://www.zazzle.com/talkingpoints NORBIT Jr.

Geez!
That’s the third one of them I left this week!
http://www.zazzle.com/talkingpoints NORBIT Jr.

ChrisNH said:
The Hamptons are full of snobbish, elite Libs…you know, the corporate-jet millionaires & billionaires that Obamo pounds his fist over in a ‘class warfare’ sort of way. I’ll bet the owner of that receipt is one of them.

You can sum that crowd up in two words – Alec Baldwin!
Zandandido

Who wouldn’t love to see that when they check their balance. Half would throw up (maybe two-thirds), three-fourths would scream so hard that they hurt themselves. And four-fifths would do their own happy dance.
Zandandido

Yoda002 said:
Then why do Republicans care so much for these people? Cantor even walked out of a meeting because the Dems wanted to take away subsidies for his corporate jet friends.

Why did Obama have a fundraiser with them?
Moderate

Some hang onto their money better than others

Despite their median $900,000 annual salaries, a surprising number of NFL players (some estimate up to 80 percent) squander their fortunes in the years immediately following their retirement.

In 2010 alone, former Pittsburgh Steeler lineman Dermontti Dawson joined New York Jets backup QB Mark Brunell, who is still on the field, in bankruptcy court.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41312370/10_NFL_Stars_Who_Went_Bankrupt
edisciple

Ditto is the perspective of the homeless guy who got jailed for charging his cell phone via a public outlet. Never mind the super rich, to the poor & impoverished view you, Philip (anyone else who thinks the same) just the same! A poor person picking up Philip’s thrown away ATM receipt that shows even only a $1000 balance will feel as you Philip. It’s all about perspective!
seek

I’m having difficulty believing that receipt was not staged. Just something doesn’t smell right about it. Call me crazy but I’m not buying.
seek

p.s. the hedge fund guy, would have his money all tied up nice and neat in “hedge funds” – not in a savings account.

What doesn’t make sense usually doesn’t because it’s just not true.
greg454

If Warren Buffett hates the rich he’s welcomed to move to my $430 rental, survive on $55,000 a year, drive a Honda Accord, and not be his own boss.

I hate that fat bastard, wake up, Buffett! When the Marxists win the first people they kill are the rich.
felixw

The thing I find most amazing about this ATM receipt is that the guy has a $100 million in the account, and he is still charged $2.75 ATM fee.
damien

A $2.75 transaction fee? Do all banks in America charge this? They really are screwing you.
http://justplaythegame.us JustPlayTheGame

Ya’ll just jealous…sheesh…
I did the math..kinda..without interest and transaction fees…
That person could draw that 400.00 each day for the next 684 years before they go broke
And keep dropping his ATM reciepts to keep you jealous..
Jeez…now im jealous too..:-(
Nature Freak

‘”Now you can say that I’ve grown bitter
but of this you may be sure:
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor.
And there’s a mighty judgement coming,
But I may be wrong” (Leonard Cohen)

Can you imagine being unemployed and foreclosed on, and you find this receipt laying on the ground?
Tedderman

Oh no, he dropped below a hundred million, I hope he doesn’t get hit with a maintenance fee on his account.
Tedderman

Are they serious, a $2.75 ATM fee, outrageous!
seek

Tedderman said:
Are they serious, a $2.75 ATM fee, outrageous!

that’s another clue that the “receipt” is a fraud. Someone’s photoshop work.
Just4thefax

Fact: Liberals tax tounge are forking out their mouths.
Powerslave

It sure is tacky that they actually take pictures of their receipts. But it’s beter that they’re spending the money instead of just sitting on it. The largest section of the economy that has suffered are those who provide luxury services and goods. My friend owns a small company that installs in ground pools. They used to put in about twenty a year. The last few years that number has dwindled down to zero. He kept the company alive by doing service work on existing pools and, unfortunately, by letting go of his staff. This summer he actually has three orders for installations and has hired back some of his installers. If it weren’t for “rich” people spending their money these guys would still be out of work.
Powerslave

Powerslave said:
The largest section of the economy that has suffered are those who provide luxury services and goods.

O.K., maybe not the largest section, but a good size section of the economy.
Tedderman

So it’s same as the days of the”Depression” only the rich have money to spent and the middle class and poor are totally reliant on them for their subsistance. No wonder things are getting so much better.
Nachi

Just very Little People trying to establish an “identity.” The would-be Nouveau Riche. Repugnant.
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