'Lifestyle economy'
In the 1990s, despite a decline in tourism and skiing in Jackson Hole, per capita income multiplied at about five times the national rate, unemployment all but disappeared and the Latino population grew rapidly to fill service jobs.

"We used to be a tourism economy; now we are a lifestyle economy," said Jonathan Schechter, executive director of the Charture Institute, a local think tank, and an economic analyst who studies resort towns.

The Internet, FedEx and private jets have made it possible for the rich to live here year-round while keeping an active hand in their businesses back on Wall Street, in Hollywood or in Silicon Valley. Schechter said consumption patterns of the rich have come to dominate the economies of many resort towns in the Rockies.

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Local governments are struggling to rein in their power. Many have passed laws capping the size of "monster houses." In Colorado's Pitkin County, which includes Aspen, the maximum is 15,000 square feet. Teton County limits them to 8,000 square feet.

The restriction has opened a new door -- for high-end houses that are hugely expensive, even though they are not huge.

"We call it 'monumental specification,' which means that everything in the house is literally one of a kind," said Steve Ankeny, a builder who is putting the finishing touches on a four-bedroom house on six acres here.

The house took 11 years to design and build, and it is on the market for $17.9 million. It features half a million "grain-sequenced" pieces of rift-sawn white oak, as well as custom fittings on everything, including door hinges, heating registers and light fixtures.

"If some wealthy person wants to show off, there is now only one way to do it in Teton County -- square footage that is outrageously high-end," said Ankeny, who, with his brother, worked on Ford's compound.

Philanthropy 'a social norm'
Besides spending buckets of money on their houses, the rich have been extraordinarily willing in recent years to give money away.

"It is craziness -- every year there is just more and more and more," said Clare Payne Simmons, who until last year was president of the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, which has raised nearly $39 million for local charities since 1997.

Teton County has become one of the most philanthropic places in the country, as measured by tax-deductible donations per household, IRS figures show. Households here gave away about $9,000 a year in 2002, nearly nine times the national average.

"What happened was that there were a number of influential individuals who created a social norm that mandated philanthropy," Simmons said. "Social engagements were all centered around giving."

Charitable giving, however, has not altered what many local residents agree is the fundamental social problem of Jackson Hole: unaffordable housing for the un-rich.

"The future is locked in -- it can only get richer," said Brian Grubb, planning director for Jackson.

Federal, state and local governments own 97 percent of Teton County. Large tracts of undeveloped private land have been locked up by land trusts in conservation easements. Much of the money for these trusts came from wealthy homeowners.

There are only about 2,500 lots available for construction in rural Teton County, Grubb said, adding that houses are likely to be built on large tracts and would cost several million dollars for the land and structure.

Grubb, who makes $75,000 a year, lives in a subsidized apartment owned by the town. He said he cannot afford a single-family house anywhere in Jackson Hole and is looking to buy in the town of Alpine, about 45 minutes away.

"Many of the wealthier residents are content to have workers commute in," he said.

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