Copy/paste from AOL this morning.
Sometimes I just can't help it, posting this kind of stuff, as I struggle along, trying to keep up with monthly bills.
I am writing this for the regular people, the non-millionaires, a group in which I am solidly ensconced. I am one of you.
Here's a real shocker (he sarcastically wrote). The rich have gotten richer.
(March 10) -- As America's economy starts to recover, membership in the millionaires' club is also rising again. After taking a dive in 2008, the number of U.S. households with a net worth of at least $1 million (not including the primary residence) grew 16 percent last year to 7.8 million, according to Spectrem Group. That number peaked in 2007 at 9.2 million, then fell to 6.7 million the next year as stock prices and real estate values tumbled.The super-rich got richer last year too. The number of households worth $5 million or more increased 17 percent to 980,000.Spectrem Group President George H. Walper Jr. called the growth in America's population of millionaires "welcome news for an economy still working to recover."Wall Street's rebound was a key to driving the ranks of millionaires higher, said Tom Taulli on Blogging Stocks. He predicted that wealthy investors will eventually get more aggressive and spur greater economic growth.However, a rising tide might not lift all boats equally. In his analysis of the Spectrem report, The Atlantic's Daniel Indiviglio noted that "the recovery thus far has been better for wealthier than poorer Americans." Spectrem, a Chicago-based financial consulting firm, bases its report on its annual survey of 3,000 households, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
I hope it doesn't seem like I'm whining. I know everybody prefers a winner, that's just the way it is. The "Image is Everything" theory truly works for an entrepreneur.
I have done everything I can afford to do to put up a great image by dealing with the truth and nothing but the truth, (so help me God.)
Maybe I should explain just what it is that I actually do. Bare my soul, so to speak.
If it backfires, so be it. I mean, how much worse can it get than to invest (they are not free) in three consecutive shows in February and have a total of $ 250.00 in gross sales ?
I am a one man band. I pick the shows to do and the hotels to stay in. I load the van, drive it, unload it, set up the display, do the buying, the selling, the trading, load the van back up and drive home again. I'm not getting any younger and this hurts. I live on ibuprofin.
OK, that's whining. Cut me a little slack this one time.
First of all, every penny of income for me is derived from sales of the product or services I offer. My opportunity to sell comes from exposure on the internet and at these weekend shows around Florida where I display my inventory. I've been doing this since 1995. Prior to this, since 1973, I was involved in the rare coin market, where I did the same thing, with a slightly different collectible product, while flying to coin shows around the country.
We all know, or should know, that collectible markets are ruled by the basic tenets of supply and demand. The better items I deal in mostly have a fixed supply (deceased artists) and a variable demand. When demand increases, prices, or values increase. Likewise, when demand is down, values follow. Negative news, yes, and I've been begged to pretend otherwise, but I deal only in the truth. Demand is down for the type of art that formerly was in demand by "everyman", the more affordable works. With few exceptions, values are down for both better and affordable works of art.
Define "affordable". It's only my opinion, but for a point of reference, I'm saying that these are items I offer for sale priced at less than $ 3,000.00. These include decorative framed prints and original paintings from $ 15.00 and up. They simply are not selling in today's economy. At a recent show in Tampa, a customer was attracted to an unsigned oil painting I had on display with a sticker price on it of $ 125.00. I mean, it's a NICE one, too. This customer was mesmerized, I quietly watched as she stared at it for 2 or 3 minutes, then I approached her. I initiated the conversation with something innocuous like, "Isn't that a pretty one ?" "Oh, yes", she said, "it matches my decor perfectly, I know just where I would put it." Putting on my "closer's cap", looking for another "yes", I said, "Well, never mind the sticker price, I would really love for you to have it to enjoy in your home, so if you'll agree to purchase it, I'll let you have it for
$ 75.00."
"I'll have to think about it," she said, and off she ran, never to return. She was "everyman". These are the items which we successfully sold 10 or 15 pieces at every show a few years ago.
This, gentle reader, is not exactly evidence of the economy starting to improve, eh ?
We are stuck in the doldrums, and until everyman begins to loosen up a bit, we're gonna stay there.
Again I say, demand is down, prices have followed, it's time to buy.
The opportunity is staring you in the face. The economy will improve when everyman begins to spend again. Prices will follow upwards and everyman will be rewarded along with the wealthy folks who ARE NOW buying art.
Meanwhile, unless there is a change in the general malaise, the rich will continue to get richer, and our blood will flow.
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