antisocial

Only the little people pay taxes, Leona Helmsley once said. And it seems many of her superrich "friends" agree. According to the Wall Street Journal, the superrich of Palm Beach exploit each and every angle and loophole to keep their estates green in the middle of a drought. Even if it means ripping out perfectly good lawns and replacing them with new plantings. You guessed it, new plantings are exempt.

And we are not talking a few gallons here and there. Mr. Schar, executive chairman of homebuilder NVR for example, is one of those mentioned. He guzzled 15.4 million -yes millions !- gallons of water over the past twelve months. All of that to keep his 6 acre estate in pristine condition. Mr. Clark, of Netscape fame got by with only 3.4 million gallons for his 7 acres. I guess he deserves a prize for conservation and stewardship.  

Put top honors go to Mr. Peltz, an investor and fast food magnate. He cut back from 24 million gallons to 20 million gallons for his 13.8 acre Montsorrel estate. No doubt he was scared off by the $100 fines the city levies for guzzlers and cheaters. The estate is aptly named by the way. It means mountain of sorrow. Like many of his fellows, Mr. Peltz does not even live at his water guzzling mountain of sorrow. He resides in New York. 

One good thing about being superrich is that one can always escape. When the city runs dry, or gets flooded by the rising seas, one can always pack up and move on, leaving behind one's legacy of making a difference. And these guys surely make a difference. Like the warlords of Easter Island, they are leaving behind huge statues amidst a depleted environment.

What is truly unfortunate however, is that with global warming and global pollution all will eventually run out of places to escape to. Maybe that is why the administration wants to go back to the moon?