NO ONE, absolutely no one, needed these large Mcmansion$ to live in. It was the greed and the $leeze and the whoring up of themselves and their communities.
The lifestyle$ of these oh -S0000---oooo $hallow rich and infamous are coming to an unglamourous and dirty but much needed ending. They and the whore media, government, prostituted themselves, their communities, the American dream, to try and impre$$ each other . Their lies, cheating, and trying to outdo one another was a train crash waiting to happen.
Their patheitc unethical $chemes and greedy dreams are falling down and I have to admit I do not care 1 iota about these whores.
I hope they are unable to sleep at night, as their greed and consumption hurt the environment, the estectics of most neighborhoods, the integrty of the community and their obvious ignoring of groups of people, the homeless, the hungry, the environment,the uninsured, the basic charities they could have given to, instead of the thousands of dollars paid to water, electric bills, gas consumption and whatever else their greedy $elves wanted for.
The average hard working American, the civilized person and the nice families of America
have been cringing and wondering when all this monstrous exce$$ive consumption was going to end. Good bye to these uncivilized greedy whores..

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Our family of five has been living in a 16x80 singlewide mobile home for 13 years, although our youngest child has only been around for 8 years. It would be nice to give my oldest daughter a room of her own, but financially improbable momentarily. She and her sister share the master bedroom, while we, their parents sleep in the next smallest room, and their brother has the smallest bedroom. His room is something like 9.5X9.75 including his closet, because the water heater and the furnace take up some of his room. His room is either the warmest or the coldest, depending. Our living room is 16x17. This mobile home has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, one is larger, 2 small closets and one walk-in closet. I often joke that singlewide mobile homes are modern "shotgun houses" of the past. It is like living in a tunnel. The roof doesn't leak because we "coolseal" it every couple of years. It is placed on 1 acre of ground in a "mobile home subdivision" where everyone has at least 1 acre. We live outside of the city limits, which is nice. My neighbor has had cows, we had a horse, behind us live geese and goats, we have chickens and get fresh eggs daily. I hope to get geese and more chickens. We plan to use the pasture for garden space. Mobile homes come with appliances, which is really nice. My husband is a carpenter and he laid half-inch plywood all through the house and laid tile. It is easier to keep clean than the carpet was. I found it at Home Depot for 39-cents per tile, which was about $17.55 a case of 45? It is called Marble Glow and it is pretty. He laid it diamond-shaped in the living room and kitchen to break up the design.

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Tania,
Can you think of any examples of hatred bringing about positive change? I agree that land shouldn't be a plaything. No one needs homes that large. But our entire culture, our entire economy, is based on greed, not need. We have become a blaming, self-focused culture to the point where most don't even recognize it.

I think that popular media is at the center of our being brainwashed to think that possessions and image will satisfy the hunger that is so much deeper in our hearts.

To respect the earth that I believe God created, we will need to become a thankful, humble people. Unfortunately, we earthlings typically don't learn thankfulness and humility until we are forced to!

I appreciate that you care. Without passion, change never happens. Please consider finding a positive way to make a difference!

Snakelady

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My husband and I have raised our family of three children and now provide after school and school holiday care for three grandsons in our 895 sq. ft. cement block home. Yes, it might be nice to have more storage space, and a second bathroom would be a lovely luxury, but really, we have been comfortable and happy for 44 years. We bought what we could afford and in our retirement years have the security of knowing we own our home free and clear. It is warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and the yard is large enough to house our woodworking shop, a gym set for the kids, and a roomy kennel for our dogs. Our neighbors are mostly people we have lived among for many years and the children playing in the street are their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. I wouldn't trade it and the memories it holds for the biggest, fanciest house in the country.

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As my husband and I get ready to retire...despite the urging of financial gurus who want us to work until we drop dead....we have spent the past five years making our modest 25 year old ranch more energy efficient ( insulation, new windows and doors), updating, adding storage space, etc. And we managed to pay off the mortgage. I like it that the ceilings are low and cozy. And our last big project was converting part of our 2 car garage ( used for junk mostly) into a functional storage/game room.
How silly and wasteful those boring McMansions are. Most are poorly built and painfully ugly. They are like giant townhouses...all the same roof color and style. I hope this marks their demise.

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The American Dream includes a home. Why not a big one, with ample room to relax, and entertain in? It seems more concerning to me that people are being forced to downsize due to rising energy costs, this appears like a drop in the standard of living. One that will only continue as more high paying jobs leave our borders. I agree however that something needs to be done to address the fact that tract homes in gated communities are an eyesore and urban-spral is something that puts stress on government and infastructure.

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what I am upset about is the people who have lived within their means, low debt, pay their bills are the ones bailing out all the idiots that cant.

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My only problem with the comments is the negativity of some of the people and the vulgar language used to express themselves.
Also, some "protest too much me thinks"(Shakespear) and sound rather envious. I have never been envious of these homes or begrudged the owners for their choice. They earn the money to pay for it and that is their business. I even enjoy driving around looking at them at Christmas time with their beautiful lights. You must remember that capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth, but socialism, which Obama is working to "install" in our country, is the equal distribution of poverty!
We have always lived in a modest but cozy home that was just right for us. We have raised four children and for fifteen years lived in a small home with only one bathroom. While it was challenging, somehow we didn't notice. Three of our four children have college degrees, two with masters, and our fourth child is finishing his degree. We never wanted a huge house because we did not need one. We all enjoyed each others' company and didn't need to isolate ourselves in a huge mansion. Besides, we have a free one being prepared for us by the Lord in Heaven.

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After reading the article I did the math. In 1973 each person took up 553,3 sqft of space while in 2008 each person took up 1015. That's almost twice as much! Now, if I apply that to my own family of 5, we could either live in a 2766,5 sqft home or a 5075 sqft home. Currently I and my 4 children live in a 3 bedroom 2145 sqft house which means we're beating even 1973's average since each of us only takes up 429 sqft. But really, we're running out of space, not because of square footage, but because of the lack of bedrooms. I was shopping around for houses earlier this year, and yes, I'm guilty of looking at McMansions. But what scared me away from buying one is not my negative carbon footprint but the obscene fees I'd have to pay to the Neighborhood Association, for pools, club houses, and gyms that I'd probably never use. So my second plan of attack is designing and building a custom home. No McMansion, just a ranch style home (I hate stairs!) with 5 bedrooms and 3 baths so that each of my kids could have their own bedroom and the boys and girls could have separate bathrooms. I think it can be done under 2500 sqft. I have found an interesting home plan book by Lowe's which will help me with my planning; it is called "Distinguished Small Homes" and features homes with much smaller blueprints than what has been the trend lately, even as small as 308 sqft. I think if each of us first made an assesment of what we really NEED, such as bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens and what we DON'T need, such as 3 car garages, media rooms formal living/dining rooms, we'd all pay much less for the space we live in, have less unused space (formal dining rooms that only get used for Thanksgiving and Christmas), and be able to pay off our homes sooner. Just a thought.

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