Wealthy Global Elite Laugh In The Face Of Forthcoming Era Of "Austerity"

"O ye who believe! make not unlawful the good things which Allah hath made lawful for you, but commit no excess: for Allah loveth not those given to excess."

(Surah 5; verse 87)

"O Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters."

(Surah 7; verse 31)

LAUGH #1
Did the Sultan of Brunei Buy 10 Aston Martin One-77s for His Billion-Dollar Car Collection?

Back in February we reported on the mysterious filthy rich individual who purchased 10 Aston Martin One-77 supercars, limited to just 77 examples, for $1.7 million apiece or $23 million in total including fees. Now educated insiders are speculating that the Sultan of Brunei bought the cars to add to his multi-billion-dollar, 7,000-strong car collection, the world's most expensive auto hoard. According to Guinness World Records the Sultan's collection includes over 600 Rolls-Royces, more than 450 Ferraris, 570 Mercedes-Benzes, 380 Bentleys, 170 Porsches, dozens of Koenigseggs, and 20 Lamborghinis to name a few. He owns several rare custom, one-off and concept cars, some worth tens of millions apiece, including a Ferrari Mythos, a Jaguar XJ220 by Pininfarina, a Bentley Java, a Bentley Dominator SUV, bespoke Rolls-Royce and Ferrari station wagons, a Porsche Carma and a Koenigsegg Agera. Known for buying multiple models of supercars in order to have one in every color, he owns several McLaren F1s, six Ferrari FXXs, four Ferrari F40s and three Ferrari F50s. The Sultan, who's worth an estimated $20 billion, stores the collection in five heavily-guarded airplane hangars and employs a team of mechanics and specialists to keep the cars in perfect working condition.



LAUGH #2
Billionaires Compete to Get Highest Champagne Tab

Billionaires entertain themselves differently than everyone else, case in point at St Tropez last week when two partying tycoons got into a competition over who could rack up the highest champagne bill. The competitors were Malaysian billionaire Zhen Low, little brother to the more famous Jho Low, and Winston Fisher of the prominent New York family. The competition to see who could order more £600 bottles of Cristal took place at Les Caves du Roy nightclub and the winning bar tab, belonging to Zhen Low, came out to be a whopping £1.77 million ($2.6 million). That's a lot of champagne.
And among the guests witnessing the competition and helping Low to celebrate his win was none other than the infamous Paris Hilton who has been spotted all around St. Tropez this summer with her sister Nicky.


LAUGH #3
World's Richest Man Buys Duke-Semans Mansion for $44 Million

Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim, who beat out Warren Buffet and Bill Gates to capture the title of World's Richest Man earlier this year with an astonishing net worth of $53.5 billion, has purchased the stunning Duke-Semans Mansion in New York for a cool $44 million. As we reported back in January, cab driver-turned-fertilizer king Tamir Sapir had listed the palatial townhouse, said to be the only private mansion left on Fifth Avenue, for $50 million. According to the Wall St. Journal, Slim cut the deal to snag it for $6 million less with Sapir directly. Sapir bought the historic seven-story Beaux Arts mansion located across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art from relatives of Doris Duke for $40 million in 2006. The 20,000-square-foot mansion, built in 1901, currently has a doctor's office in the basement, a five-story main residence, a penthouse duplex on top, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and 11 wood-burning fireplaces.

Source: The Luxist (www.luxist.com)