If the U.S. had an aristocracy, which city would be most associated with it? (places, America)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Imagine that when the U.S. became a nation, instead of completely ridding itself of old European notions of aristocracy, the new nation helf onto some aspects of it.
Which city would be the effective capital of this aristocracy today?
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 09-13-2012 at 09:58 PM..
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
8,468 posts, read 14,910,133 times
Reputation: 7263
If America had an aristocracy, we'd be due for another revolution. The sad thing is that we're headed that way already with the voter suppression laws and corporate personhood.
Manhattan is the Versailles of the American ruling class. And America has an aristorcracy, they just don't have the titles of nobility, but in functional terms they are the same thing.
Manhattan is the Versailles of the American ruling class. And America has an aristorcracy, they just don't have the titles of nobility, but in functional terms they are the same thing.
Agreed....and though these "aristocrats" can be found all over the place...I think they are in highest concentrations in the NYC area, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, and Texas (think oil/energy execs in Houston and Dallas).
If the US developed an aristocracy after the Revolution, at the time it would've been based in initially the rich old families of places like Virginia(old planter aristocracy), but then into New York through the 19th Century and to a lesser extent Philadelphia and Boston. The old money bastions have been based in the Upper East Side for some time, so that would really be the epicenter of it.
But today, the uber-wealthiest are really very spread out across the nation.
Rank Name Net Worth Age Residence Source
1 Bill Gates $59 B 55 Medina, Washington Microsoft
2 Warren Buffett $39 B 81 Omaha, Nebraska Berkshire Hathaway
3 Larry Ellison $33 B 67 Woodside, California Oracle
4 Charles Koch $25 B 75 Wichita, Kansas diversified
4 David Koch $25 B 71 New York, New York diversified
6 Christy Walton $24.5 B 56 Jackson, Wyoming Wal-Mart
7 George Soros $22 B 81 Katonah, New York hedge funds
8 Sheldon Adelson $21.5 B 78 Las Vegas, Nevada casinos
9 Jim Walton $21.1 B 63 Bentonville, Arkansas Wal-Mart
10 Alice Walton $20.9 B 61 Fort Worth, Texas Wal-Mart
No place in the West, it's too new. I don't know why, but I thought of Philadelphia with the Duponts and the movie "Trading Places." There's something somber about "old Philly money."
This was the first thing I thought of. Are there any other bastions of old money in America that have their own sobriquet?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.