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To: RealMuLan who wrote (23973)	2/20/2005 1:13:19 AM
From: RealMuLan	Respond to of 116555

-ggg -- "Wealthy clipping coupons, shopping at discount stores" Survey looks at families earning at least $125,000 By Andrea Coombes MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO - Next time you lust after that luxury car or plasma television you can't afford, maybe this will ease your pain: The wealthy are more likely to be clipping coupons than the rest of us. Noses no longer high in the air, affluent consumers clip coupons, shop at discount stores and cringe at being labeled ``wealthy,'' according to a new survey of about 800 consumers earning at least $125,000 in annual household income. Seventy-two percent of these high-income earners said they clip coupons, compared to the national average of 65 percent, and 66 percent said they shop at discount and warehouse stores, compared with 47 percent of consumers on average nationwide. Visa commissioned the survey. ``These folks really think and behave a lot differently than the affluent Americans of previous generations,'' said Michael J. Weiss, a demographer and author of The Clustered World: How We Live, What We Buy and What It All Means to Who We Are. ``Ninety percent don't think of themselves as affluent. They describe themselves as middle class or upper middle class,'' said Weiss, whom Visa hired to analyze the survey results. Seventy-two percent said they're embarrassed by labels such as ``well off'' or ``wealthy,'' though they admit these are accurate descriptions of their situations. Of course, in some metropolitan areas -- say, where the median home price is upwards of $500,000 -- couples earning a combined $125,000 might be forgiven for thinking they're middle class rather than wealthy. But their income still puts them in the top 7 percent of all Americans, Weiss said, earning triple the national median household income of about $43,500 a year. ``Imagine people in our parents' generation: They (would be) very happy to think of themselves as well off if they were in the upper 7 percent,'' Weiss said, adding that most of the survey respondents are 35 to 54 years old. Those earlier generations of affluent Americans probably didn't frequent garage sales either, but 34 percent of those surveyed do, compared with about 47 percent of the general population. But for all their cost-cutting, upper-income Americans aren't giving up everything that money can buy. Ninety-four percent of these high earners own their own homes, compared with about 69 percent of people nationwide, and they like higher-end cars and tech gadgets. ``They are driving luxury sedans and SUVs at higher rates'' than the general population, Weiss said. ``They also describe themselves as early adopters of consumer electronics,'' he said. ``They still carry out some of the traditions of affluent Americans -- they want the nice house and the nice car -- but beyond that they're really doing a lot of things that middle-class Americans are doing as well.'' And they're pointing their kids to pursuits other than the moneyed life, at least when answering theoretical survey questions. When asked to choose what they'd most like to pass to their kids, ``social status and money ranked dead last,'' Weiss said. ``Honesty and integrity'' topped the list, he said. ``Affluent Americans are really passing on their middle-class values to their children.'' ohio.com

To: RealMuLan who wrote (23973)	2/20/2005 1:18:31 AM
From: CalculatedRisk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

U.S. Watches As China Woos Caribbean By MICHAEL NORTON Associated Press Writer SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- China is waging an aggressive campaign of seduction in the Caribbean, wooing countries away from relationships with rival Taiwan, opening markets for its expanding economy, promising to send tourists, and shipping police to Haiti in the first communist deployment in the Western Hemisphere. And the United States, China's Cold War enemy, is benignly watching the Asian economic superpower move into its backyard. For decades China and Taiwan used dollar diplomacy to win over small Caribbean nations where small projects building roads, bridges, wells and fisheries go a long way. But Beijing's growing economic clout is tipping the scales in the region. Caribbean trade with China reached $2 billion last year, a 42.5 percent increase from 2003, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. <MORE IN ARTICLE> hosted.ap.org