Michael Lewis' Mansion
Michael Lewis rents a ridiculous mansion in New Orleans for $13,000 / month (roughly the cost of a two-bedroom apartment here in New York).
Utilities were $2,700. That turned out not to include water, which was another $1,000. Think of it: $1,000 a month for water you don’t drink. (The drinking water came in truckloads from a spring-water company.)
Later:
It’s no good pretending that Americans didn’t know they couldn’t afford such properties, or that they were seduced into believing they could afford them by mendacious mortgage brokers or Wall Street traders. If they hadn’t lusted after the bigger house, they never would have met the mortgage brokers in the first place. The money-lending business didn’t create the American desire for unaffordable housing. It simply facilitated it.
(via kottke)
