I know you’re right. Emotionally, though, I can’t help having the same reaction as nyctea scandiaca.
I think the bottom line is what you said before. What is a pair of jeans worth? If a perfectly acceptable pair of jeans costs $20, then even spending $30 requires some kind of justification.
Here in the US, we are insanely spoiled, and we don’t even know it. Isn’t there a line about wanting to come to America, because it’s a place where the poor people are fat? Nearly everyone in this country can take for granted housing, food, electricity, heat…even air conditioning!, hot & cold running water, telephones…even cell phones!, enough clothes to wear a new set every day for at least a week or two.
The difference between the way we live and the way half the world lives makes $600 for a pair of jeans look like chump change.
Okay. But again, since none of us (AFAIK) are living the aforementioned subsistence lifestyle and giving all our money to the poor, we should all keep in mind that the emotional reaction we’re REALLY having isn’t “aren’t those people terrible for spending their money selfishly”, but “aren’t those people terrible for having so much money!”
We all like to think we’d do better. But realistically, I’m guessing that the rich spend about the same *perentage *of their money frivolously as the middle class do.
Actually, “Aren’t those people terrible for having so much more money than me”, I’d wager.
All I can say is, my mom obviously isn’t charging enough for the handbags she makes and sells at craft shows.
I always thought catalogs like this provide support for the old adage about a fool and his money…
The people buying this stuff have more dollars than sense.
I used to get a parents magazine called “Child”. It had ads all over for normal baby stuff, shampoo, diapers etc. but it was also filled with advertising for little outfits from stores I have never heard of, and furniture for toddlers that cost as much as $1200 for a little chair! It also had a one too many feature articles about the “best family vacations” or something like that, which all cost as much as my car, and sometimes my house!! I couldn’t relate at all.
I wasn’t exactly outraged, but it really did bug me. What a waste.
I was just about to cancel my subscription, when the magazine folded. They added my sub. on to another magazine they own called, “Parents”. It is a lot of the same articles, and ads, but none of that really outragous expensive stuff.
I will say, it was fun to vent about it every month to the hubby. I would say, “OMG, look at this little coat for a 2 year old, how much do you think it costs?..” and we would go on like that, him guessing and me shocking him.
Is there anything wrong with a super-rich person treating themself occasionally? Not really. What’s with some people who think they are virtuous by the fact that they are poor?
I think all adults should spend their money as they see fit, because it’s their money.
If someone with gazillions wants to spend a few hundred grand on a diamond encrusted cock ring, then it’s their choice.
Same as if someone who’s on the dole wants to spend their last tenner on a scratch card. Their choice.
As long as neither of these people want me to spend my money on either for them, then why is it my business? Or anyone else’s?
I agree with your statement. However, what I do find disturbing is watching someone who really can’t afford something save up forever, go without something else, or go in debt for it, because their rich friends have it. And that happens all too often.
Eh, I don’t care. They earned the money, if they choose to spend it on silly stupid items it’s not my place to tell them no. Besides, think of all the people making those silly stupid things…if no one bought them they’d be out of a job.
That’s their own short-sighted and shallow fault, then.
Heh. The latest LL Bean commercial features a “Dog Gift Tote” for $29.95. Where is a dog supposed to get that kind of money? 
Oh, I agree with what you’re saying 100%. You are exactly right…none of us are living the subsistence lifestyle (if we were, chances are we wouldn’t be prolific message board posters). And Diosa is right, too…no one is going to look at their OWN consumption and think it’s outrageous…it’s always the next guy who has a little (or a lot) more to spend. Most of the rest of the world can look at us and think that we are each being just as frivolous as we might think of the person with the $600 jeans.
Look, it’s like this.
If some millionaire buys a private jet because he has to move around, or just plain likes to fly airplanes, fine by me, it’s his money, a plane costs this much to make, it spends that much to keep going and so on and so forth. If some schmuck spends 800 on crappy looking shoes that are for all purposes functionally the same as 50 buck shoes except for the added “value” of being a status symbol, I reserve the right to call that person a spoiled snob.
What I mean is, it’s not the price tag, is the percentage of that price tag that is just ego padding, you drink 10 dollar a pop bottled water?, that’s about 9 plus bucks worth of ego padding. If you need that to feel good you are a shallow, materialistic person.
And yes, it’s a matter of degree, what’s wrong with that? The difference between a room at 21 centigrades and 60C is only a matter of degree too; but one is nice and the other is hell.
There’s some tiny excercize machine I’ve seen in magazines that supposedly can give you a wonderful body with 5 minutes of effort for the paltry sum of thousands of dollars.
Is it this or did some one else jump on the rip-off bandwagon?
That’s it!
I’m with the OP.
I will be judgmental. Since when are we not allowed to judge people? I believe that resourcefulness is a virtue. Indeed, I believe we have a moral imperative to make good use of our resources.
Does this mean we have to be perfect? Of course not. It is an ideal. Something to shoot for. Something to keep in mind. I also believe we have a moral obligation to generally be nice to people, but that doesn’t mean I’m never snappy or that it’s even possible to be perfectly nice all the time. But when I leave the house in the morning, one of my goals is to be nice to people. And another goal is to put everything I have stewardship over to the best use possible.
But if you have $17,000 that you need so little that you can spend it on a handbag, what difference does it make if you give it away, or give it away while getting a handbag?
Assuming that there are people out there who buy this stuff at rack prices (and see above for cynical posts about that) they have the money, and they have all that they need to live, in practical terms. What they have left over is disposable. If the options are to spend their disposable funds on silly things or not spend it, why is the latter better?