I don't know. I brushed shoulders with millionaires for years, and none of it rubbed off. No one married me, no one bought me more than dinner (admittedly lovely dinner), I didn't reap anything other than the occasional nice vacation, being able to drive lovely cars every now and again, and a fair amount of disdain or inconvenience because I wasn't able to even remotely pay my own way.

But you weren't looking to establish a foothold in that part of society. Those that long for the this lifestyle would not not feel disdain nor be inconvenienced because they couldn't pay their own way. They position themselves to make sure the money falls their way. What I'm getting is that you didn't care to compromise yourself to marry Midas.

So I must disagree with your disagreement. I think we now agree...

edit: A lovely little x-post with Ms Trudy.

Tom scores with the meta.

Tom, I'd kiss you right now, if you were here. Because you just made me laugh.

I can't. But odds are, neither of my grandmothers could have, either. Both were dirt poor farmers' daughters who were too busy clawing their way up to the lower middle class to care about the age of anyone's money.

But did they read the papers and talk about the dresses and stuff? Nobody does that now.

Did I want to have money like they had money? Sure. Enough to whore myself out? No. But that was about the only angle open to me to take advantage of the connections.

I was thinking more along the lines of dating/marrying or putting your MBA to use.

The creators made the best deal they could with Time Warner or whomever. If TW owned Netflix, this would be pertinent.

Uhh. Netflix is independant, right?

Do people outside of the south still hold debutante stuff? I think that is a tradition long-faded in my neck of the woods, but I have seen photos of deb balls from, like, Texas.

Every once in a while I run into someone I went to The Right School with. If I were luckier, more personable, and more ambitious, I bet I could have made something more out of The Right School than merely getting into One Of Many Rightish Colleges.

Of course, there's still the economic aspect of that kind of opportunity. If you can afford to take an unpaid internship during the summer, you gain networking contacts. If you can afford to travel, you can go on skiing vacations and meet the parents of your classmates.

TOM LOVE! later I may take a crosstown bus to the gasp westside.

Do people outside of the south still hold debutante stuff?

Yes.

I don't know. I brushed shoulders with millionaires for years, and none of it rubbed off. No one married me, no one bought me more than dinner (admittedly lovely dinner), I didn't reap anything other than the occasional nice vacation, being able to drive lovely cars every now and again, and a fair amount of disdain or inconvenience because I wasn't able to even remotely pay my own way.

This. Except add to that list some pretty nifty parties. And one of my friends dated a guy from one of the wealthy families, but there was no hint she would be able to marry in.

So I must disagree with your disagreement. I think we now agree...

No we don't. See above. Perhaps these were millionaires without enough money to be an entree, but I saw people try and whore (physically and/or business-wise) themselves out to the same group, and it never worked.

I know more people who made mad loot by hard "honest" work than by association.