While 'Rome' is burning, the Neros of the U.S. are playing their violins:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/business/sales-of-luxury-goods-are-recovering-strongly.html


Even Marked Up, Luxury Goods Fly Off Shelves

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

Nordstrom has a waiting list for a Chanel sequined tweed coat with a $9,010 price. Neiman Marcus has sold out in almost every size of Christian Louboutin “Bianca” platform pumps, at $775 a pair. Mercedes-Benz said it sold more cars last month in the United States than it had in any July in five years.

Even with the economy in a funk and many Americans pulling back on spending, the rich are again buying designer clothing, luxury cars and about anything that catches their fancy. Luxury goods stores, which fared much worse than other retailers in the recession, are more than recovering — they are zooming. Many high-end businesses are even able to mark up, rather than discount, items to attract customers who equate quality with price.

“If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?” said Arnold Aronson, managing director of retail strategies at the consulting firm Kurt Salmon, and the former chairman and chief executive of Saks.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Not to worry. The politicians assure us that the extravagance of the rich will trickle down to us.

Some day. Maybe. If we don't starve first.

[nashville_brook]

2. our tips should be improving any day now.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Yes. But the churches, and the churchgoing, they know God wants this to happen like this.

How incredibly stupid right wing and churchgoing Americans are. :(

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. but these rich people are adored by the ordinary person

they read about them in magazines!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. Americans have been properly dumbed down by the right wing. Joseph Goebbels would be proud! nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. Has any cable TV program covered this?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. No, of course. The Repukes claim this is 'creating class envy' when THEY have created the classes

And meanwhile, people are off at church, waiting to go home to a Sunday dinner of Ramen noodles.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. in other societies there have been revolutions

[Sarah Ibarruri]

9. Yes. I recently posted that I am from a country in which this happened...

And a revolution brought Communism.

Capitalism only leads to redistribution of money to the top. The end result of that, is either a military dictatorship, or Communism.

[white_wolf]

11. I find it ironic that the group that hates communism so much is creating the conditions that Marx

said would give rise to actual socialism as described in the Manifesto. They really should heed FDR's warning: "Reform if you would preserve."

[Sarah Ibarruri]

12. That's because their eyes are on creating corruption that makes them and the mega-rich wealthy at

the expense of everyone else. They live for the moment, and only to further enrich themselves and the already-rich. They have no other reason to live. And so, they ignore everything else. Also, they don't love any country. What's ironic is that they PRETEND to be very patriotic, but they don't care a rat's ass if their country dies in their zeal for sucking the lifeblood out of it to get ever-richer.

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. I want my cutie chamois booties with the leopard skin bows!

Hans Conried going WAy over the top in the unforgettable "5,000 Fingers of Dr. T"

http://youtu.be/W8TQOzyCu8Q

“Come on and dress me, dress me, dress me, in my finest array!
Cause just in case you haven't heard
Today is doe-me-doe day!

Dress me in my silver garters, dress me in my diamond studs
Cause I'm going doe-me-doe-ing in my doe-me-doe duds!
I want my undulating undies with the maribou frills!
I want my beautiful bolero with the porcupine quills!
I want my purple nylon girdle with the orange blossom buds
Cause I'm going doe-me-doe-ing in my doe-me-doe duds!

Come on and dress me! dress me! dress me!
In my peek-a-boo blouse
With the lovely inner lining made of Chesapeake mouse!
I want my polka-dotted dickie with the crinolin fringe
For I'm going doe-me-doe-ing on a doe-me-doe binge!

I want my lavender spats and in addition to them
I want my honey-colored gosset with the herring bone hem
I want my softest little jacket made of watermelon suede
And my long persimmon placket with the platinum braid
I want my leg of mutton sleeves and in addition to those
I want my cutie chamois booties with the leopard skin bows
I want my pink brocaded bodice with the floofy fuzzy ruffs
And my gorgeous bright blue bloomers
With the monkey feather cuffs
I want my organdy snood and in addition to that
I want my chiffon Mother Hubbard lined with Hudson Bay rat
Dress me up from top to bottom, dress me up from tip to toe
Dress me up in silk and spinach for today is doe-me-doe day!
DOE-ME-DOE DAY!

Thanks to:
http://mynewplaidpants.blogspot.com/2008/02/wanna-see-my-fingers.html

http://thoughtcrimewave.blogspot.com/2009/02/5000-fingers-of-dr-t.html

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. When I showed my elderly mother YouTube for the first time

she looked up that song.

[JoeyT]

13. K&R

Man, it must be awesome to have the kind of money where an almost 10% price increase doesn't even register.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

17. Sure must! nt

[lonestarlib]

14. This is obscene.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

18. Right wing ideology and unregulated, uncontrolled capitalism are obscene for sure nt

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. I just returned from a trip home...

I had to return to Orange County for business and I had two South Africans, a Russian and an Englishwoman in tow who all naturally wanted to see "The O.C." (a phrase which as a local has immediately trigged my gag reflex for the last decade).

Long story short, Fashion Island and South Coast Plaza were as they ever were and very busy for a Thursday morning. The Block and Main Place (the malls where "poor people" shop) were both largely moribund and increasingly over-run with junk stores.

Everyone also wanted to see an authentic Wal-Mart, where with the exception of the women looting Sephora they did most of their shopping. The Russian gentleman aroused some suspicion buying five laptops and one each of a Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox though.