Circle of uncontrollable laughter

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!

This is what is heard in the apartments of the privileged within my apartment complex and many others in New York City. There are 3 types of renters and one type is in a certain exclusive circle. First, there are the normal renters such as myself who live life in their small apartment, which they are irreversibly bound to, knowing that the rent price is fleeting and at any time could be raised 50% or more resulting in their unfortunate expulsion or at the very least much less entertainment budget per month. Then there are the rent stabilized people who have the security that they will never suffer more than their esteemed board members deem fair, usually 3-5% per annum. Finally there are the rent controlled people who have a fixed rent, always disproportionately lower than the other 2 classes of renters, that they have been paying for years and that they can bequeath.

The rent controlled people are an interesting breed. Even being strangers in the busy Manhattan streets, they know each other upon site. Whether it is the lack of preoccupation with paying rent or whether it is the look of having gotten one over on the system, or whether it is just some holier than thou aura, I will never know, as I am not one of them. They conduct group meetings at expensive bars lavishing in fine wine and food.

What I would like to know is what do they talk about at these meetings? All that is known is that there is constant laughter and that from time to time one of them has laughed himself to death and forced the others to view their own mortality, to know that they will not live in NYC so unfairly cheap forever.

For a much more intelligent discussion of this topic visit: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-274.html