Most people reading this are probably very familiar with buying things between $0-1000 USD (such as everyday food and everyday clothing, perhaps weekly rent). Some of us will have experience buying more expensive items, like a car ($10,000s), or maybe even a house ($100,000s or even $1,000,000s). Some of you might want to object to those numbers I listed, they obviously will vary wildly in different markets, but I want to now ask about much more expensive things.
What is the cost of some items that few-if-any Lemmy users can afford? What can the absurdly rich buy that we can’t? How much does it cost them?
You must give a money value with some evidence, no just knee-jerking and saying something vague like “elections” - instead find articles disclosing how much manipulation campaigns cost a political party.
The telling thing about these kind of questions isn’t so much how much does a mega yacht cost or something but its that those are the things people are picking out because they are visible.
The invisible stuff or the things that go along with these huge purchases are often times not that far off in price from the initial purchase.
The stone slabs in these mega house kitchens cost as much as some houses, the earrings bought and worn once at an event could pay for your whole family to go to college, the custom shoes they wear have their own rooms and cost as much as a car.
What do you think the electric bill for a 20,000 sqft house is? Do you think the owner cares what that impact is monetarily or on the climate? If they do solar, how much do you think that setup cost? Do you think the morality of these purchases ever crosses their minds?
I grew up wanting a fast car and lots of powersports toys, now that I am in a position to afford some (small amount) of that, I find myself thinking more that its not right to spend on those kind of activities now due to the impact on the environment. I am leaning more and more towards becoming a vegetarian because of how the food industry impacts the lives of the people and animals it uses. Do the mega wealthy or even the top 30% think about that when they spend their money? Completely ignoring the aspect of how they got their money which is a whole other thing in and of itself.
No. Those gilded ghouls don’t concern themselves with petty things like morality. They are barely even human anymore.
I work for a company that makes a specific accessory for yachts. Some orders we get depending on the configuration can cost as much as a car for just one of them… These people will order 4+ in one go. This is an accessory to the yacht, something you sit on… It’s crazy
That is a deep fundamental problem in our culture. Not recognizing the immorality, even grossness, of casually weilding the kind of sums of money that can buy and sell other people.
And it’s relative, and many of us are guilty of it, and even if we recognize it, most off us can say, well I’m not as bad as those people, pointing to those above us. Most westerners, even fairly poor ones, are in that position wrt people in other parts of the world.
I’m neither blaming anyone, nor letting anyone (including myself) of the hook. That’s beside the point. We need to change our culture’s understanding of this. How, idk, except that every time we can point at it and say WTF!?! we should.
Exactly, as I begin to be able to afford some smaller luxuries (say, a higher-end computer part or an extra monitor) I realize that I morally object to many luxuries because of their environmental cost, e-waste, and thinking of better uses for that money.
I do believe there’s some truth to the slogan of “no ethical consumption under capitalism” but luxuries are so often just egregious and repulsive.