The Kismet: Shahid Khan's Latest Toy

[Metro Jacksonville]

The Kismet: Shahid Khan's Latest Toy



The 312-foot superyacht Kismet, is the latest toy of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan. Launched in September, the impressive craft boasts eight staterooms, three decks, a helicopter landing pad and a private sundeck with a pool-Jacuzzi-BBQ area. If you'd like to take it for a spin, the Kismet is available for charter for a cool $1.47 million-a-week. If that's a bit too much or you're just waiting to cash in that winning lottery ticket, here's a few images from the Northbank Riverwalk.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-dec-the-kismet-shahid-kahns-latest-toy-

[ronchamblin]

The yacht is quite beautiful ... and impressive.  But I must admit that if I found myself overcome with obscene numbers in funds, and if I were to wish dispensing my wealth in such a frivolous and wasteful manner, I would wish to buy a destroyer, perhaps similar to the Adams -- the retired warship soon to make its home on our north bank.

And if I were to gain enough wealth, I would entertain buying a retired aircraft carrier, thus making a greater impact upon any scene. The carrier would allow convenient use of small aircraft for transport to and from work.   Of course, the carrier design must allow access past the various bridges between the landing and the sea, so that I could impress the landing environment with convenience.

If I were to massage my connections properly, I could arm the destroyer with guns and missiles, or the carrier with fighter / attack aircraft, and lease my war boat to the various governments for whatever aggression they might wish to exercise upon the enemy. 

However, I would refuse to lease this killing machine to our government if they were to use it against a growing enemy ... namely, we the people of the United States.  Already, our government has the upper hand in any conflict, which is a spying network exceeded by none.

But, onward to the boat of current interest. 

Obviously the mustached fellow is quite wealthy.  This is made more obvious to me when I see an individual pushing an old grocery cart down the street collecting aluminum cans.  It is made even more obvious when I see another individual walking along with a ditty bag or two, which I can assume contains everything he or she owns.  In winter, a blanket might also be draped over the shoulders, used perhaps also as a bed on which to sleep at night.

Obscene wealth, such as possessed by the mustached man, is not necessarily to be condemned, even as one looks upon the sufferings via poverty of many millions throughout the world, and even in this country.

Any segments of condemnation can be partitioned out to any individual or corporation according to the methods through which the wealth was accumulated and is maintained.

Although there are clearly unacceptable, and therefore condemnable, methods of gaining wealth -- one being outright theft -- ; and assuming that there is a measure of censure or criticism that can be applied to anyone gaining an obscene level of wealth ... simply as an assumption that doing so has allowed or caused the descent to poverty or near poverty of many thousands or millions of workers or tax paying individuals, we might offer a method of qualifying that censure, or of removing it. 

For example, anyone gaining money ... wealth ... must have a vehicle from which to do so.  The vehicle can be a job or a profession.  It can be a small business.  It an be a large business ... or a business empire.

The continued success of a professional, the small business person, or the large corporation ... in the quest for financial security or wealth, encourages the process of protecting gains from all other entities seeking to take, by whatever means possible, the gains made.  The degree to which success in this effort is realized, along with some other dynamics, will determine the level of wealth eventually achieved.

(there is more to this nonsense .. I really do have some good points.  But I must get ready to engage the vehicle through which I maintain myself above water ... I shall return) 

[spuwho]

Shad has worked hard his whole life. He deserves whatever rewards he can acquire.

[ronchamblin]

Hard work is very important, and quite necessary.  I suspect that this fellow has worked very hard, much harder than most, and that to suggest otherwise would be totally out of recognition of the reality.  I suspect too that he is nobody's fool.  But, regarding my purpose in posting ... there is more to the story.  I hope soon to continue it ... from my warped perspective of course.   

[pierre]

Like Forbes magazine said, Khan is the new face of the American dream.

[ben says]

Shad has worked hard his whole life. He deserves whatever rewards he can acquire.

That's missing the point of Ron's original post.

Just the fact anyone thinks a yacht is what comes when you "deserve" something (via working hard) goes to show how insane the whole thing is.

[ronchamblin]

Like Forbes magazine said, Khan is the new face of the American dream.

The American Dream?  I've heard of the AD.  Seems as though the original idea of the AD was related to being able to climb out of a certain kind of poverty and immobility, and toward greater social and financial mobility -- and onward to a kind of freedom associated with improving one's quality of life in many realms.

I consider Kahn to be much like Gates and others who've gained extreme wealth through the possession of a unique vehicle they've chanced upon ... or, one could say, via aggressive development of an opportunity to which they were exposed.  Once the opportunity was grasped, they possessed the business acumen, and the determination to proceed to maximum control,  profits, and stability.

Obviously, as a consequence of the limitations and structures in any economy, the dream realized by a Gates or a Kahn cannot possibly be gained by more than a few.  So, as Forbes is said to have claimed, can this really be considered to be anything like a new American Dream -- for the mass of Americans?  What nonsense is Forbes perpetuating?  Total fucking nonsense.  American Dream my ass.

[Noone]

Does anyone else feel sorry for the Baltimore guys who got kicked out of Jacksonville? 2014-412. And they brought their own boats too!

[ben says]

Shad has worked hard his whole life. He deserves whatever rewards he can acquire.

Do we really operate this way?  I mean is hard work really the gauge for 'deserving' whatever we can acquire?

I agree that it is a gauge for a certain amount of wealth and profit.

But there is a very long debate about how that wealth is actually generated.  In Khan's case, its done by thousands of workers----all of whom work just as hard as he does.  Some harder, and some have given up their lives for his company and died on the job or been killed in the process.

Do they deserve giant yachts as well?

All of them?

And just because someone works hard, is that really a measure of good done that deserves 'anything'?

Take Osama Bin Laden, for example. Clearly he worked very hard for many years back when we were funding his efforts in the Mujahaddin.  He worked hard and he risked his own life, and was on the job for 20 years before he went into the even harder work of international terrorism.  Does he deserve whatever wealth he can accumulate?

The question isn't posed out of any disdain for wealth, or the wealthy.  Im just curious about the equation.

Hard Work doesn't just end in wealth, but it makes you deserve whatever vast wealth you can accumulate?

I would genuinely like to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Ive been thinking about it for a few years and haven't reached any conclusion.  If anyone has a constructive opinion, Id be rather interested in reading what you think.

Great post.

Read Marx 1-3 for more clarification.

[ProjectMaximus]

Good documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3592152/

Doesn't answer the question to deserve or not to deserve, but analyzes the lives of several self-made billionaires, how they amassed their wealth, what they've done with that wealth, and what continues to drive them.

[RockStar]

Khan invented something that hadn't been invented before. He found a solution to a problem. It made him incredibly wealthy. He employs thousands. Deserve has nothing to do with it.

He likes big boats.
Cue sir mix a lot.

[pierre]

And the vilifying of Khan on this site continues

[thelakelander]

Nice boat. I don't see the problem with him having it. Heck, if people are out there paying $1.5 million a week to charter it, it sounds like the toy may be making money too.

[Dog Walker]

It's a rule of thumb among boat owners that you will spend approximately 10% of the purchase price each year of ownership.  That means that Kahn is spending appx. $30million per year to maintain and run it. 

[strider]

It's a rule of thumb among boat owners that you will spend approximately 10% of the purchase price each year of ownership.  That means that Kahn is spending appx. $30million per year to maintain and run it. 

Yep and therefore the yachts like this one  become a business and one hopes to pay for at least part of that yearly up keep with the charters.  I also have heard through the years that the market on used yachts like this is pretty bad as the folks who can afford them prefer to get one built or at least will totally revamp a lightly used one.  You don't buy one of these for any reason but you enjoy the life style. Khan must and he can afford it so good for him.