It's getting closer to Christmas and if you are like me, your mail is becoming increasingly full of extra catalogs. If you subscribe to any magazines, you are probably also receiving extra supplements with your magazines...health guides, shopping guides, etc.
I received one last week with my TIME magazine that, for some reason, just completely unnerved me. It was the TIME Style & Design Luxury Index. No problem, right? Just throw it away! But the subtitle caught my eye and I found myself unable to just let it go: "A Complete Guide to the Best Products, People and Places of 2008"
The Best?
What do you think of when you think something is "The Best"? To the editors of TIME, it appears that "The Best" simply means "the most expensive".
Yes - I know that this is a Luxury Guide, but seriously....
To me, "The Best" means that something provides good value for the money. That doesn't necessarily mean that it is inexpensive, because if it is well-made I have no problem paying more for it. (oh - and The Best People? Not some Fashion Photographer! How about the some of the people who are providing food to the hungry, or working to stop the genocide in Darfur? Those are The Best People, in my opinion.)
Things like my KitchenAid, for example: it is a $300 mixer, but I got it as a wedding present (I would have bought one anyway had I not received it as a gift) and it works just as well as the day I bought it (and I use it almost every day). Or my watch. It was a $200 watch 20 years ago. Aside from a few battery changes, it has kept perfect time, and goes with everything.
Of course, there are a select few people in this country that see nothing wrong with plopping down $8,000 for a Bell & Ross Watch. And I am sure that the watch does keep exceptional time with aviation-quality precision. World War II Bomber Pilots were given Rolexes by the Army (at least, my step-grandfather was) because they NEEDED that kind of precision But why does a stockbroker on Wall Street need to keep that precise of time?
If someone is very wealthy and they want to buy these types of items...I don't really have a problem with that. Really - I don't. I'd like to think that if I were that wealthy I wouldn't be spending my money on such things as a $4,900 pink purse or $175/bottle olive oil. That doesn't mean that I would still be buying my macaroni & cheese at Aldi, but still...if they have the means to spend money on those types of things, then have at it!
So what is the problem with these kinds of supplements? It's that they are being sent to millions of Americans who really have no business buying these things. They are the types of people who are losing their homes because they HAD to have The Best most expensive home, or the The Best flashy car that they had to stretch their budget to get in to. These supplements are sent to "Joe & Jane Sixpack" (the typical TIME subscriber) and far too many respond to these by whipping out the credit card.
We as Americans have been conditioned to believe that we DESERVE The Best. We may be able to comfortably swing a 4-day trip to DisneyWorld and pay cash if we stay at the Holiday Inn. But we deserve The Best! Better to stay at the Grand Floridian for 7 days, put it on the credit card and be paying for it for the next 2 years. You only live once, right? Why not treat yourself to The Best?
The problem is when the bills come due for The Best. Banks fold because people can't pay their mortgages. Credit card companies have to raise the rates on everyone else because of all the people who can't pay their bills for The Best.
The quest for The Best is what got us in to the current economic situation.
So to the editors of TIME: when you do this supplement next year, instead of calling it a "Guide to The Best". How about calling it "A Guide to the Most Outrageously Expensive Luxury Items That Are Fun To Look At But That You Have No Business Buying Unless You Can Pay Cash"?
That would be more real.
Jenny
I couldn't agree more! With the economy the way it is now, what a dumb article!
The funny thing is, the few people I know that have money, do not spend it like that. They save and save, not spend friviously.
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