Oh, man. Get Ready to Experience Some Serious Self Righteousness

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I'm nothing if not good for a rant, right?

Allow me to dump another on you.

I'm reading an interesting book right now entitled Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster by Dana Thomas. In brief, it's a history and social commentary of Luxury brands: Gucci, Yves St. Laurent, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, etc...

I was perfectly fine reading it--not hackled by a thing until she got to the section on handbags in general (by far the biggest money maker for all these companies) and Hermes in particular.

Hermes. According to Thomas, it's the one true luxury brand left: Made to order, made by hand, made by artisans, made in France, made with only the finest leathers, made with the best hardware, made to last, blah, blah, blah....

Here's where you're going to need a defibulator:

The CHEAPEST bag available costs over $6,000.

You saw that correctly. Six THOUSAND dollars.

For a few squares of leather and a zipper.

I'm not sure a single cow costs that much money, although I'm not up on my bovine economics.

And here's where things flat-out go into the abyss. Just for some yucks I went to Ebay to see what was happening in the Hermes section.

There's one item, a pink crocodile "Birkin" (which means it's extra special because it's bigger than most bags and named after an actress! Whoo hoo!) that's listed for the bargain basement price of $79,999.00. (Shipping is free.)

That's right.

There are no typos here.

Eighty. Thousand. Dollars.

I'm sorry, but I would like to think that even if I had Oprah's bank account, I wouldn't spend eighty thousand dollars on a PURSE. Even if a live crocodile came with it (And really, who would want that?)

That's four cars.

That's more than an annual salary for most of Americans.

That's a HOUSE in some markets.

And here's what is really twisted. Granted, that purse for 80K is the most expensive I saw. But there are several listed that cost well over five figures: here, here, and here are some examples. Most listed are in the $4,000 to $5,000 range. So when you see one that's mere $810 you think: WOW! That's a DEAL!*

When in actuality, along with his soft and supple hide, for $810 that damn calf better be ready to fork over the veal for the next six months.**

It's just staggering to me that there are 39 million people living in poverty in my country alone, there are people in my country living on the streets, there are kids starving in the Sudan, and someone out there on the secondary market has the temerity to ask close to six figures for an ever loving handbag.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not completely immune to the charm of luxury items. I have (ahem) more than one Coach purse to my name. My favorite is a huge shoulder bag that I use every time I go out in the field. I bought it on Ebay for fifty bucks and it still has just a tinge of the old lady smell it had when I first received it. I'm quite certain I lucked into it after a grandmother's attic was cleaned out somewhere. It's brown leather, soft, worn in, stained and I love it. Plus I could actually pay for it.

As opposed to taking out a thirty year mortgage to finance the thing.*** ->

*It was $810 when I saw it. It may be more by the time you click on it.

**No, I veally don't eat it.

***Hermes isn't the only offender.