"In a rich man's house
there is no place
to spit but in his face."
- Diogenes
Luxury spending in the United States is growing more than four times as rapidly as spending overall. Luxury autos, mansions, and second mansions, vast lots, huge yachts, gaudy home appliances, cosmetic procedures, ultrapremium wines - all are being consumed at unprecedented rates.
Worst of all, it's not just the super-rich accounting for such waste. For every mansion on a vast lot, there are hundreds of thousands of "McMansions" on large lots. While the super-rich buy a $30 million yacht, the plain-old-rich buys the $130,000 "bionic dolphin" (a one-person watercraft). For every million-dollar "Diamond Dream Bra," thousands of $100 bras are purchased. These incredible figures have been well documented by Robert Frank (Luxery Fever: Why money fails to satisfy in an age of excess), who sensed a "growing social tolerance of acquisitiveness and greed."
Information gathered from Shoveling
Fuel for a Runaway Train by Brian Czech
