And does this look like it cost anywhere near that much? Oh, and about those Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans...


Aquariums like the Wilzigs’ tend to cost a minimum of $50,000, plus at least $1,000 a month for maintenance. And that’s before buying a single fish.

In the world of fantasy fish tanks, it is not uncommon to pay $600 for a black tang or $5,000 for a pet shark, or to have service people on call 24/7 in case a fish gets sick or dies, which could contaminate the entire tank.

It was Mr. Caparatta who suspended a 700-gallon aquarium from the ceiling of a town house apartment in the West Village owned by Richard Wise and Andre Jones. The filled tank weighs at least 6,000 pounds and has cost the couple some $200,000 in equipment and service.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/garden/19aqua.html?hp
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Good lord...

The people who service tanks like this sometimes must go to extraordinary lengths. Mr. Robinson’s aquarium man, Bill Hamel of Looking Glass Aquariums in Orlando, brings 350 gallons of distilled salt water every four weeks to change the water — something that costs Mr. Robinson about $500 each time.

Mark Collier, who owns Custom Marine Aquaria in Scottsdale, Ariz., once built a 30-foot-long aquarium into the floor of someone’s game room, which contained a pool table, big-screen TV and “water wall†that gave the illusion that water was cascading into the aquarium (it wasn’t). Total installation cost for the aquarium alone: $200,000.

To clean the tank, he had to dive into it, wearing a cord around his ankle that his partner could use to pull him out if need be. “I would basically kind of crawl through the aquarium and back myself out again,†Mr. Collier said.

The aquarium is no longer in use, he added, as a bank has since foreclosed on the house.

I'd say its a perfect example of the benefit of lower taxes. Rather than blowing the money by giving it to the government and then having it lost in a sea of waste, inefficiency, and failure, the "couple" keeps the money in the private sector and directly benefitted a large grouping of private company owners and entrepreneurs - the fisherman, the owner of the fish store, the tank manufacturer, and the tank servicer....

so how do you get upstairs?

But do you want Deuce Bigalow or Wally (from Wally's Aquariums) to have jobs, or be on welfare?

idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

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Do you think people who drop $150 every two days because they can't be bothered to feed their own fish are all of a sudden going to stop because they are paying a few percentage points more in income tax?


“Some clients want nothing to do with the fish tank — they don’t want to feed it, they don’t want to clean algae off the glass,†he said. And most fish should be fed at least every other day. “That’s $150 per visit right there.â€

But “some people are like, ‘O.K., $5,000 every month to take care of the tank, plus $100,000 cost of the tank — I’m cool with that,’ †he said.

The most expensive tank Mr. Muir ever built, though, was a $750,000 one for a woman in Dallas who had visited the Maldives and wanted to recreate the experience of lying in tropical waters gazing up at the stars.




WingNut Wrote:
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> But do you want Deuce Bigalow or Wally (from
> Wally's Aquariums) to have jobs, or be on welfare?

No, you're right. Government spending is never the problem. It's those fucking rich entreprenueers that show initiative and ambition and create jobs and markets.

idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

Last edit at 11/30/2015 01:37PM Last edit at 5/14/2015 03:52PM Last edit at 1/28/2014 05:57AM Last edit at 11/29/2015 01:10PM Last edit at 3/14/2011 11:52PM Last edit at 7/20/2012 04:07AM
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Mr. Muir’s clients include C. C. Sabathia and Jorge Posada of the New York Yankees, plus plenty of hedge-fund millionaires. He also did a six-foot-long tank for the bedroom of Anna Anisimova, the daughter of a Russian metals billionaire, who lives in the Time Warner building; according to Mr. Stevens, who designed the apartment, the heiress was inspired by aquariums in nightclubs and lounges that she frequents.




WingNut Wrote:
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> that show initiative and ambition and create jobs
> and markets.

Good God, those are fucked up priorities.
And then we have at the other end of extremes war-torn Southern
Sudan wanting to spend billions of dollars to remake some of it's cities
into the shape of the animals on their flags!

I wouldn't spend 200k on a fish tank but I would on a catamaran - the point is - people have their hobbies. Some may be fairly expensive or extreme. There will always be people that spend ludicrous sums on their hobbies that make for good reading for we the plebes to point fingers at and scream sacre mou!

As for tax hikes to the rich - I say have at it. The tax cuts didn't spur the growth that was envisioned. There is definitely some truth to the fact that if you cut taxes it ipso facto adds additional money into the economy but what's lost is that it's not proportional. If you cut my taxes an additional 10%, I would not put that 10% into the direct private economy. Likely 3-4% would be spent there and the rest invested or saved in some fashion.

When we're in a time when people are screaming about being fiscally responsible (which still strikes me as rich - after coming off the Bush years with incredibly irresponsible spending and tax cuts)we need to be talking about tax hikes and governmental efficiencies to get to that goal. Me personally, I think the government should be spending (i.e. dumping) money to further jump start this anemic economy. This is the wrong time to be talking about fiduciary efficiencies.

I hate trust trash and the idle rich probably more than you can inagine, but their reckless consumer habits means the money finds it way back to us "little people" quciker instead of being filtered by Uncle Sam.

Good fiscal policy isn't built on jealousy.


Voter____ Wrote:
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> Mr. Muir’s clients include C. C. Sabathia and
> Jorge Posada of the New York Yankees, plus plenty
> of hedge-fund millionaires. He also did a
> six-foot-long tank for the bedroom of Anna
> Anisimova, the daughter of a Russian metals
> billionaire, who lives in the Time Warner
> building; according to Mr. Stevens, who designed
> the apartment, the heiress was inspired by
> aquariums in nightclubs and lounges that she
> frequents.
>
>
>
>
> WingNut Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > that show initiative and ambition and create
> jobs
> > and markets.

idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

Last edit at 11/30/2015 01:37PM Last edit at 5/14/2015 03:52PM Last edit at 1/28/2014 05:57AM Last edit at 11/29/2015 01:10PM Last edit at 3/14/2011 11:52PM Last edit at 7/20/2012 04:07AM
Last edit at 6/29/2013 11:18PM Last edit at 3/19/2011 01:02PM Last edit at 3/26/2012 09:07PM

I'm not jealous and don't begrudge people the right to spend their money as they please. Long term I'd actually like to see tax rates that are as low as possible. Philosophically, I'd like to see top rates that are no higher than 33%. My point is that we haven't been paying our bills for some time now and the benefits of low taxation have primarily benefitted people like this. Stories like this reveal the emptiness of the argument that raising taxes on the wealthiest people will cause them to stop spending. People who are shelling out this kind of money on such extravagances have everything they need or want.

WingNut Wrote:
>
> Good fiscal policy isn't built on jealousy.
>

No, but I would spend $200K on a Ferrari 458.

I would use 200k to make double rainbows with a giant hose every day.

eesh Wrote:
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> I would use 200k to make double rainbows with a
> giant hose every day.


That's hot

does it raise and lower? it better otherwise it makes the stairs completely inaccessible.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Gravis Wrote:
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> does it raise and lower? it better otherwise it
> makes the stairs completely inaccessible.

I think the perspective of the picture only makes it look like it's sitting on the stairs.

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13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

I don't understand the perspective of the first shot, but this one shows the stairs...
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And just to keep it FFU oriented, this is the type of chick who has a $50k fish tank--hot or not?
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What the hell are on that dude's feet? Is he getting them "bound"???

Voter____ Wrote:
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> And just to keep it FFU oriented, this is the type
> of chick who has a $50k fish tank--hot or not?



No, she has blonde eyebrows. She looks like an albino with an orange spray on tan.

Blessed are the murderous.

Her husband, Alan Wilzig, 45, a former banker who collects motorcycles and prides himself on the orange tanning bed in his basement, goes to the James Bond-like control panel in the kitchen, where a touch of a button turns the fish — which are specially bred to be colorless — a vivid blue.

eesh Wrote:
>
> No, she has blonde eyebrows. She looks like an
> albino with an orange spray on tan.

ITRADE Wrote:
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> What the hell are on that dude's feet? Is he
> getting them "bound"???


half mummy?

I have a 50 gallon salt water and it's great for relaxing. In my old place I had it setup in the basement. The tank would cast a mellow blue light on the basement when all the lights were out. It set the perfect mood for dates. Throw a movie on, get some alcohol flowing and I was getting laid in no time. It gave the basement a tropical blue beach feel.

The most I ever paid for a fish was $80 and only lasted about 6 months. Awesome blue fish with all sorts of freaky color streaks. If you have a good filter system maintenance on the tank is close to nothing. I used a squeegee on the tank once a week, it only took about 5 minutes to clean.