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Another reason to hate the rich

On CNN’s website, there is a story called “Being a millionaire just isn’t the same these days.” Example A is Renee Weese, an Atlanta woman who reaped a windfall when she sold her startup insurance company:

Not that long ago, the word “millionaire” conjured up visions of chauffeured limousines and extravagant shopping trips and elegant yachts. These days, a millionaire is more likely to be the guy or gal next door who saved carefully — and perhaps benefited from the sharp run-up in housing prices — but still worries about covering the exploding costs of children’s educations, caring for aging parents and funding their own retirements.

Weese, 51, of Atlanta, Georgia, credits her good financial fortune to good-paying jobs and windfalls when her startup insurance company went public and, later, when it was taken over by a bigger insurer. Still, Weese worries about how far the money will go.

As she puts it: “I know I have more money than a lot of people do. But I don’t feel I can sit back on my heels. I have lots of years ahead of me, and elderly parents I help financially a bit, and kids and grandkids.”

Obviously, this is a woman who has never known the value of a general assistance check or a big block of welfare cheese. Myself, I would love to gross a million dollars, check into a two-bedroom apartment, trick it out with a plasma TV, buy a Toyota Corolla and spend the rest of my life dining out at Burger King and T.G.I. Fridays.