Peter Boyle
"Hey, big spenders: the bubble that refuses to burst" was the title of a cheery little piece in the April 20 Sydney Morning Herald.
"Petrol may be pinching the hip-pocket nerve but one part of the retail economy is feeling no pain — the luxury sector", bubbled Elicia Murray.
She continued: "Fifteen consecutive years of economic growth had led to a culture of consumer confidence in Australia, a KPMG demographer, Bernard Salt, said yesterday. 'That's good news for the high-end luxury retail sector ... Even with crude oil breaking through a record US$71 a barrel, many Australians were cashed up and ready to spend, whether on flashy cars, expensive homes or fashionable clothes', Mr Salt said.
"A consumer behaviour expert and lecturer in marketing from Deakin Business School, Dr Paul Harrison, said the market for luxury goods was expanding from the nation's richest 1 per cent to include baby boomers who were entering their peak earning years. Marketers were cashing in on the practice of coveting the neighbour's goods, sending many people into debt, he said."
How nice to know that the filthy rich are spending up on luxury goods while the covetous, but less financially blessed, are charging it on their credit cards.
If luxury spending was all the filthy rich did with their money it would be less of a problem. But most of their money is not used on luxury yachts and mansions (how much can even the most extravagant person consume?). It's spent on systematic exploitation, on getting most other folk to work for the greater growth of their wealth, regardless of the cost to society and the environment.
"Behind every great fortune, there is a crime", said the great novelist Honore de Balzac. How true.
However, your money won't help perpetuate systematic exploitation (and keep the luxury market bubbling) if it goes to Green Left Weekly's fighting fund! Give us a call on 1800 634 206 (toll-free within Australia), write to PO Box 394, Broadway 2007, or donate online at <http://www.greenleft.org.au/fogl.htm>.
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From Green Left Weekly, April 26, 2006.
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