"In the case of the Roma, the owner's wife didn't only want to have all furniture handles embellished with Swarovski stones. She also insisted the surfaces of the closets be covered in the exclusive skins of rays. Gehr, a master carpenter by trade, faced a challenge: Where could he get ray skins? What was the best time of year to buy them? How do you work with the stuff? What did it cost? And what should he estimate? When all the questions had been answered, and the furniture had been upholstered in ray skin, the owner and his wife came to Lunestadt in Lower Saxony to see the result. Unfortunately the owner didn't like the fish-covered surfaces at all, saying, 'Get that off, and replace it with beige leather!' The order was carried out. But he paid for both variations."
—If you'd like to puke over the conspicuous consumption of the super-rich (and, who wouldn't, right? This is America and we're all fucked up that way), you should read this Der Spiegel article about Germany's booming luxury yacht business. It includes details about things like multi-level helipads, personal mini submarines, $20,000 daily maintenance fees and special RainSky shower-heads that spray a variety of scented waters or, if you'd prefer, champagne. And this very enjoyable section hed: 'A Yacht Is a Status Symbol.'
Monday, January 31, 2011
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What a waste. Get busy Uncle Sam and put a luxury tax on these filthy rich spenders.
Gramps, it's a German-made yacht for a Russian guy. Sorry about your lawn btw.
I know that. I'm talking about our own filthy rich showoffs.
Um, who would want to shower in champagne? Stickiest shower ever. (Yes, TWSS.)
When I was home watching my parents' cable this month, there was a whole special about these nightmares. The industry term for them, as I'm sure I don't have to tell you, is "megayacht."
I would like to think these yacht owners have moments of reflection where they think, "Really? Am I really enjoying this more than a plain old 100-foot yacht?" Similar to people like Tiger Woods and John Edwards, with their 20,000-square-foot houses. Can you enjoy that much house? Really? I understand (and embrace) luxury, but at some point it just passes the human capacity for enjoyment and becomes entirely excess, it seems to me. There's a reasonable chance that my family will end up not nearly Abramovich rich, but high-corporate-executive rich, and I really think we'll just buy a few nicer versions of the things we have now and sock the rest away for charity, college, retirement, etc. Ray-skin upholstery? No, thank you.
The "best time of year to buy ray skins"? Oh, right -- when they are plentiful on the market, so as to keep the cost down. Got it.
Germans are known to make luxury in a lot of industries. Some Russians are known to be very very rich and they compete with other rich people around the world by one of these methods (e.g. a luxury mega-boat is one of them). While other rich people have private islands or mountains other have these mega-boats. While some are spending their money in various high risk investments, others are buying real estates. That Russian rich man is not to blame because he is not that different from an American rich man or than a prince of oil from Emirates.
calculator sarcina