A list compiled by Forbes Magazine, garnered from motor vehicle dept. records, on the 10 richest people on their 2005 list, to whet the appetites of the superrich-watchers while waiting for the 2006 list. Forbes observes,
“It seems that for the super-rich, a vehicle is seen not as a status symbol, but as a means to an end in which to get from point A to point B. Status is something that these billionaires need not prove to others. In many cases, the people on our list prefer to live inconspicuously, avoiding the limelight at all costs.”
It feels like a stretch to me. True, there are no Ferraris, Lamborghinis, or even BMWs. However, you will find a number of Porsches, some Bentleys and of course the Lincoln town cars. How about concluding that some billionaires are more ostentatious than others? Here’s an exercise for you to do. Before you check out the cars themselves, look at the list of ten illuminati and rank them based on your intuitive sense of where they fall on a continuum between ostentation and humility.
