inkbluesky

Thorstein Veblen and his “conspicuous consumption”. The hundred year old plus observation that people spend on jewelry and other luxury goods to show their status. The cultural embrace of this kind of consumption should have died a quiet death. The good news is we still do it, but its not as ramped or as easy to define as it was in 1899, Inconspicuous Consumption

So this research has implications beyond race. It ought to apply to any peer group perceived by strangers. It suggests why emerging economies like Russia and China, despite their low average incomes, are such hot luxury markets today—and why 20th-century Texas, a relatively poor state, provided so many eager customers for Neiman Marcus. Rich people in poor places want to show off their wealth. And their less affluent counterparts feel pressure to fake it, at least in public. Nobody wants the stigma of being thought poor. Veblen was right.

But he was also wrong. Or at least his theory is out of date. Given that the richer your group, the less flashy spending you’ll do, conspicuous consumption isn’t a universal phenomenon. It’s a development phase. It declines as countries, regions, or distinct groups get richer.

There is also an element of an individuals personality and their priorities. I know a guy that rarely wears any thing but $18 work pants, but buys his wife a luxury car to drive and a lawyer that makes enough to pay a lawn crew to take care of his stately yard, but does it himself wearing designer golf shirts. A flash of CC seems to be OK, but they apply the breaks in odd ways.

vatican museum staircase

Magazine Newsstand Sales Drop 6.3 Percent; People, InStyle See Gains

NEW YORK — Newsstand sales of U.S. magazines fell 6.3 percent in the first half of 2008, an industry group said Monday, as rising gas and food costs led consumers to cut back on nonessential spending.

Most top titles, including best-selling Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine, had sharp declines. Of the top 10 newsstand sellers, only People, the entertainment news magazine, and In Style posted gains.

Just thought it curious that the two big gainers were escapist magazines. In both you’re vicariously indulging in other people’s seemingly wonderful lives or taking some satisfaction in their newest scandal.

water rush

War incorporated continues to do well, Use of Iraq Contractors Costs Billions, Report Says

The Pentagon’s reliance on outside contractors in Iraq is proportionately far larger than in any previous conflict, and it has fueled charges that this outsourcing has led to overbilling, fraud and shoddy and unsafe work that has endangered and even killed American troops. The role of armed security contractors has also raised new legal and political questions about whether the United States has become too dependent on private armed forces on the 21st-century battlefield.

The budget office’s report found that from 2003 to 2007, the government awarded contracts in Iraq worth about $85 billion, and that the administration was now awarding contracts at a rate of $15 billion to $20 billion a year.

Many would simply claim that this is Conservatism at work. Privatize everything regardless of costs or consequences. Maybe this is also some of that insecurity about conspicuous consumption. Conservatives did not want to be seen as throwing a cheap war.