The Eclipse

The Eclipse, a yacht whose price tag could well be as high as $1.2 billion, owned by Russian “businessman” Roman Abramovich. Those scare quotes are a deliberate insertion – anyone in Russia with that much money and power, and you wonder how high the pile of skulls is upon which that fortune rests.

Annual operating costs: $50 million. Fuel cost: $600,000 per tank.

The $100 Million Penthouse

in 1993, Steven Klar paid $4.5 million for a penthouse in Manhattan’s Spire building. He’s since put $5 million into improvements for the 8,000 square foot residence. Now he wants to sell it for $100 million, giving him a modest 800% return on his investment. Who says the rich are getting richer? And greedier? Naah…

A dining area in the penthouse, which occupies the top 3 floors of the building, with 360° views from every floor.

The Spire Building, showing the top 3 floors which comprise the penthouse.

The Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

Price tag: betwen  $387,000 and $445,000, depending on whom you talk to. But it comes with everything you’d expect in a car with Lamborghini on the hood. The 700hp V-12 will get you anywhere you want to go, as fast as you dare to drive it. Breaker breaker, got a picture-taker, old smokey’s at 43…

Crespi Hicks Estate

Romanovich’s Yacht makes this home look like a piece of camel ejecta in terms of price, but this property is currently listing for $135,000,000 – the most expensive residence on the market today.

The Crespi Hicks Estate

Library

42,500 square feet of luxury on 25 acres of wooded land in Dallas, certainly on a par with the luxury mansions of the railroad tycoons of yore. Alas, the real estate market has hit the super-rich as well as the middle class… Forbes estimated this property was worth $1.4 billion in 2008.

The Vertu TI Android Phone

This phone will run you about $10,000. Of course, it has a titanium case and a “virtually unscratchable” screen, but like the short-lived “I Am Rich” iPhone app, this phone simply screams “Lick my boots, peon!” Good for a high-powered CEO, I guess – the kind that enjoys an annual $145 million bonus for firing 37,000 people.

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This kind of money is being spent around the world on a daily basis by the super rich and the ultra-rich. Now, the global economy is much larger than anyone can really imagine; for example, $700 billion (an unimaginable amount of money) would only be sufficient to buy 2 cups of Starbucks every day for a year for every person in Brazil. On the other hand, how many schools would that build or equip in our own country? How much farther would that kind of money go in India, or Pakistan, or Mauritania?

Each of us will someday be held accountable for what we do with our stewardships, either by God or by history, depending on how you look at life.

Just something to think about.

The Old Wolf has spoken.