The Saturday/Sunday Wall Street Journal for October 6-7 has a special 11 page advertising section for collecting and investing in luxury watches. According to
Frank, Robert. 2007. Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich (New York: Crown): p. 143: A top of the line Franck Muller watch costs $736,000.
It must be very difficult for somebody earning tens of millions of dollars to figure out what to do with it.
perelman,
ReplyDeleteNo, not at all. The same guy who has one of those Mullers is likely to have a dozen or more other watches of a similar cost. I shudder to say, of a similar value. As I've noted before, one can only marvel at the behavior of the excessively wealthy in their natural habitat. Possibly you do not understand the mind set of such people. What they have they deserve and they will find a useful manner by which to expend. One can always use yet another home and it's so much fun to change cars when the ash tray is full. Spending in this manner is casual. There is no effort to squander that which required so little effort to earn. Check out this morning's NY Times, the Robb Report in newsprint, for a review of the trial and tribulations of those who have to renovate yet another multi-million dollar property. And to think, "We just finished the place on Park Ave."
When wealth distribution becomes skewed to absurdity those on the hump have the unenviable chore of dispersing with too much income from too little effort.
jack
ReplyDeletei am by no means a believer in "trickle down" economics. mostly because that concept is used to justify government policies that harm, or at least fail to help, real people.
but i don't have much of an envy problem either.
to what extent are these rich people just carrying money from part of the economy to another and performing a redistributive role for the rest of us?
someone is getting paid to build those watches. and presumably they buy things with that money, perhaps even things that you make.
Yes, there are those few in the industries that cater to the profligate spender who will see their boats rise on the tide of greed. The issue is equitable distribution, not beneficial sychophantcy. The issue is not whether or not someone else may benefit from the spending habits of the wealthy. The issue is whether or not our economy allows for a wide spread distribution of the earnings within a productive society. Also at issue is the means by which the costs of supporting that productive society will be borne by those who most benefit from its riches.
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