Last week, when we were in Nice, down on Cote de Azur, I picked up the September issue of the free monthly magazine “That’s Nice”. On page 8, there was an article with this headiline:
"Super yachts are back on the shopping list"Here are some highlights from the article (I inserted the conversion sfrom meters to feet):
"When the global financial crisis hit, the luxury yachting industry took a major blow ... Yachts are once again the must have toys of high society... 108 super yachts - yachts over 24m (80 feet) - were sold between January and June this year... And it’s the sale of really big yachts - 50 to 70 meters (160 to 230 feet) – that have seen the most dramatic rise... It appears the endless supply of cash is back and perhaps the big business people aren’t feeling too bad this year about lashing out on luxury goods..."Personally, if I had enough money to buy a super yacht, I would feel better if I bought just a regular yacht, for instance a 2nd-hand 44-feet Princess at $400.000, and gave the excess money to the Salvation Army.
My first thought, when I read that article, was that these business-idiots didn’t learn a damn thing during the financial crisis in 2008. But maye that’s what they did? They learnt that the next time the stock market and banking system breaks down, the US president, and the EU leaders will save their asses once again. In the mean time, let the party go on, in Nice, Cannes and Monaco and other crazy places.
Last Saturday, in downtown Nice, I happened to observe a big demonstration coming down Avenue Jean Medicine. It was a protest against the French government, and their proposed changes in the retirement system, organized by the French Communist Party and the workers unions. The news in TV said it was 10.000 people participating, the organizers claimed it was 30.000.
It was great to see this big demonstration. In a place where people have super yachts on the shopping list, they definitely need a strong communist party to keep things in balance.
