The Things You Carry

I spent $600,000 on this diamond-encrusted blog entry

In a combination of the asinine and the obvious, the wealthiest of the wealthies are still spending like Richie Rich coupled with Bruce Wayne and Santa, according to this New York Times article.

I call it asinine because it is. The article at one point describes an upcoming ritzy party at the Plaza Hotel.

“It will feature a dozen female string musicians made up to look like statues and clothed in dresses of fresh flowers, like roses and gardenias. There will be caviar and Cognac bars, as well as a buffet designed to visually replicate 17th-century Dutch paintings from the recent Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit, “The Age of Rembrandt.”

Or this.

The ($50,000, four-day) trip (for four people) was an exercise in luxuriant male bonding. Mr. Tachman, who is 38, and his friends got around by private jet, helicopter, Hummer limousine, Ferraris and Lamborghinis; stayed in V.I.P. rooms at Casa Casuarina, the South Beach hotel that was formerly Gianni Versace’s mansion; and played “extreme adventure paintball” with former agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

… they soldiered on until the moment the wheels of their private jet returned to the tarmac in New York. There were hand-rolled cigars, massages, guided rides in racing boats and fighter jets — all arranged by In The Know Experiences, a travel and concierge service in Manhattan.

Jackasses.

But I also called it obvious. They’re rich people. That’s what rich people do.

I’m sorry, I mean the super-rich. The rich people are hurting.

[P]roviders of luxury goods reported anecdotal evidence of a widening gap between the merely rich and the ultrarich. Clifford Greenhouse, who owns a household-staff employment company, said he suspects that the merely rich might be starting to lag behind their far richer counterparts, and are trimming their budgets. He cited reduced demand for chauffeurs — a relatively small-ticket service — yet ever-strong demand for private chefs, butlers and “household managers.”

So, apparently, there’s a widening gap between rich and poor, super-rich and rich and, for some reason, chauffeurs and butlers. We live in a crazy-ass world.