It bothers me that Stephen Breyer owns a vacation home in Nevis.

[hedgehog]

He may be on our side, but who here keeps $1000 around for pocket money!

[CreekDog]

1. on vacation in a foreign country?

traveling with your family?

not far fetched. many people carry hundreds of dollars while traveling.

[mainer]

2. Is no one allowed to have a vacation home?

or does that make him the enemy?

[Proud Public Servant]

3. So you don't want rich allies?

I do. Warren Buffet has done almost as much as as OWS to change the narrative on wealth and taxation in this country, and I'm glad he has.

But I do wonder about that house. As far as I can tell, he's spent his whole life in either government or academia; his salary has been comfortable, I'm sure, but vacation-house-in-the-Caribbean comfortable? Maybe his wife has money...

[mainer]

4. It's worth between $100,000 - 250,000

according to news reports. Not exactly a castle.

[JVS]

5. I'm single and I take $400 cash once a month to keep at home and cover grocery and pretty much...

any expenses I have. Rent and utilities get checks, but I have that cash to spend as needed. If I had a wife and kids, I could easily see increasing the amount of money to $1000. Also, in a foreign country one doesn't always have the ability to use cards as much as people do in the US. I once had some work in the UK and since I wasn't a resident I couldn't get a bank account. I ended up carrying about $2500 across Europe before heading home.

[OutNow]

6. Have you been to Nevis? Please go and see for yourself.

Nevis is a nice little island and the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, as you'll undoubtedly learn within 10 minutes of stepping ashore. Not nearly as pretentious as St. Barts.

When you visit, make sure you stop in to see Sunshine's Bar and Grill. Have a Killer Bee. Have your hair braided. Have a Carib or two. Watch the pelicans divebomb into the water for fish. I've spent some of the best times of my life on Nevis.

I'm happy to see that Justice Breyer enjoys Nevis.

[hedgehog]

7. I've never been to Nevis, I'll never be to Nevis unless

someone else pays the fare. Nothing against Nevis, i'm sure it's a very nice place. It's just that I question how someone who owns a vacation home in Nevis is capable of understanding how most Americans live these days. I know we have a lot of wealthy people in Congress, and I think that's a major problem, too.

[Moondog]

11. With the greatest of respect Ms Hedgehog -

1) What is "wealthy" is a very relative term.

2) Supreme Court Justices, as a practical matter, are all lawyers. And have been so for many years. How many non-wealthy lawyers over the age of, oh, 35, do you know?

I have been a lawyer since I was 23. I am now considerably older than that, or 35 for that matter. By my standards, I am firmly in the middle class. By yours, reading between the lines, I might well be considered wealthy. Even very wealthy. But I have a number of friends, and relatives, and I belong to a lot of organizations. In short, I know a lot of people. Many of whom are having a very hard time scraping by. I think I have a pretty good idea how how most Americans live these days. I strongly suspect that Justice Breyer probably has some inkling of that too.

And, let me assure you, because I actually study these things, Justice Breyer is anything but a right-winger.

Methinks you judge him too harshly.

[Suich]

9. I gotta ask!

What's a Killer Bee!

[OutNow]

10. Killer Bee

The Killer Bee is a concoction created by Sunshine, the owner of Sunshine's Bar and Grill, a ramshackle beach bar next to the fancy Four Seasons resort on Nevis. His bar does a much better business than the Four Seasons and the resort has tried, unsuccessfully, to get rid of the beach bar for almost 20 years.

One Killer Bee will sort of numb you, two will cause a strange euphoria, and three? I never got to three, but I did see one woman drink four before doing a face plant into the sand. The ingredients are secret, but I know it has nutmeg and rum.

BTW - I met my wife on a sailing trip about 15 years ago that included Nevis. We celebrated our 10th anniversary last year.

[former9thward]

8. On another thread I wondered about a vacation in February.

Since they have a summer break and other breaks during the year. But I certainly would not have a problem with him or anyone else having a home in a foreign country. If you can afford it and want it, go for it. Also a $1000 when you are out of the country is nothing. I always take $5000-$6000 in cash when I travel out of the country.

[exboyfil]

12. Breyer put his spare money in a vacation home

Souter put his into books. A $100K vacation home is not beyond reason for someone who is considered one of the top jurists of his generation. The thing that bothers me is that a sitting Supreme Court Justice can be accessed so easily. I guess I am thinking about Pelican Brief, but the entire course of our country can be changed by one or two of these jurists. Maybe they should be protected more. It would be a small price to pay.

[hedgehog]

13. That's something we can all agree on!

[Yavapai]

14. When I heard the story, I googled Nevis,

and among the things that I found was this fact (?).

For just $250,000, Nevis will make you a citizen, issue you a passport and help you bypass taxes.

I couldn't find out if Breyer had done this, but apparently many wealthy US citizens have done this.

I wonder if this is a backup plan in case the people rise up here in the USA?

[MadHound]

15. Well he, like most of the top members of our government, is a member of the 1%

So the question becomes whose side is he really on? Whose interests are truly his priority?

[peasant one]

16. It bothers me too

I can't figure out why it does but I think it has something to do with having so much when someone else is in need. Think about a homeless family and this guy has more homes than he can live in. How is that right in any reasonable person's mind.