I suppose part of the reason Baby Doc seems like such ancient history is that his name is intertwined with that of his father, Papa Doc Duvalier, the populist and black nationalist who ruled Haiti from 1957 to 1971. From 1964 to 1971, Papa Doc had the title of "President for Life."
(Baby Doc at his 1980 marriage to Michele Bennett)
Baby Doc, a softer, more self-indulgent sort than his father, ruled Haiti from 1971 until 1986. When he left Haiti, he reportedly took $800 million of the $1 billion national treasury with him to his exile in France. He was famed for his corruption and also his laziness (he was known to doze through most cabinet meetings).
Still, he certainly got a lot further than I have in life, at least in the wealth and fame department.
And I'm only three years younger.
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11 comments:
He sounds like such a fine human being, stealing a huge amount of money from his country of birtth.
-birdie
-birdie
He should have taken the whole billion. Then he might have been able to afford to live in Paris.
Birdie --
He was just a creature of his place and time. I'm not even sure he was a sociopath.
Steven --
Ha! I was in London for two weeks last summer, that was expensive enough. (And I understand real estate is up something like 20% there just this year.)
Actually I read that London is the most expensive city in the world now. Paris does have a reputation though.
What was you doing in London? Swimming?
Paris is beautiful, very pretty and its mostly in the same style. London is more of a patchwork.
Steven --
Actually I was in London to bet on the world swimming championships which were taking place in Barcelona at the time. (American bookies don't cover swimming.) Unfortunately the London shops would not let me bet what I wanted to, so all I did was cover the cost of my trip.
A lot of people seem to love Paris; I've never been there.
Where did you say you lived? Wales?
That's a shame. There must be somewhere in London you can place a big bet.
Can't you sign up for a British bookies online? Surely you can bet quite big online.
Close enough. I live in Liverpool. From high points you can see the mountains/hills of North Wales on a clear day, about 20km away.
Steven --
No, not allowed to sign up for an online account (I tried) unless you have a British address.
Ah, Liverpool, that's right. Ever since you told me you had a thick accent I've thought I should imagine that accent when reading your comments but I still just "hear" an American one.
And you're from Connecticut and when I read the wikipedia page it said something about hedgefunds and Fairfield so if I had to guess I'd say Fairfield.
The long island sound- I think I heard of that from a Billy Joel song. The Downeaster Alexa.
I find that part of the world so cool. I've only been to N.America once..to Toronto when I was 17. The closest I got to America was Niagara falls.
What kind of American accent do you 'hear'?
Steven --
Most people from Connecticut don't really have a distinctive accent. The stereotypical Long Island/New Jersey accent you're referring to is generally a lower middle class accent, and it actually seems to be dying out. The Boston accent is similar.
I guess when I "hear" an American accent, it's just standard American, which to me means no accent.
So you neither confirm or deny :-D. Its cool.
I just meant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Sound
But in the song it was Block island Sound.
I figured you meant a generic American accent.
Steven --
Aha, gotcha. I thought you were referring to the sound of a Long Island accent.
And I hadn't realized you were asking where I lived. Yes, I live in Fairfield County, though I never worked for a hedge fund.
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