I take a deep breath and do something my mom, Norma Jean Cunningham, always told me not to do. Im just going to leave it, Tagney Jones says with a gracious laugh, turning away in a black sparkly dress that looks a little bit like mine. We agree its barely detectable in a back corner of a carpet that is, well, mushroom colored. Its not my usual beat and I was kind of clueless about how to go about locating them until I hit on the idea of getting myself invited to the annual Opera Gala.Īnd that is how I find myself discussing with Maryanne Tagney Jones what to do about that dropped mushroom appetizer. To find out, Ill have to talk to some prosperous people. After a shellacking like that, are the rich living it up and spending again? The Internal Revenue Service says the number of Americans making $1 million or more a year fell by 40 percent between 20.
Since the downturn, the wealthiest demographics have regained the most ground, thanks to DJI 14,600but they fell further during the (not so) Great Recession, losing more than three times as much money as people of more modest means, according to a study by the University of California, Berkeley. Specifically, the magazine wants me to find out how affluent folks are feeling about the economy after the financial crisis and what that means for the regions economic health. Im experiencing a night at the Opera Gala because Ive been assigned to write a story on rich people in greater Seattle. Yet here I am in a $15 Goodwill gown (its black and sparkly), and the first person I meet is Maryanne Tagney Jones, one of those angel patrons of the arts, and I blurt out, Ive never seen an opera! and she drops her foraged mushroom tartlet on the floor. I cant afford valet parking at the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle, let alone the $500-plus ticket to attend the Seattle Opera Gala. Remember that scene in My Fair Lady where Eliza Doolittle goes to the Ascot races dressed like a blueblood but makes a bloomin arse of herself every time she opens her mouth? Hold that image.
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