Conspicuous consumption

LIFESTYLE, and flaunting how money is spent on goods and services, used to be obligatory coverage of celebrities, not just in the entertainment field. Glossy magazines, TV programs, and online media (now hosted by self-appointed “influencers”) promote products and lifestyle choices like traveling and expensive body ornaments by featuring those who use them.

Is the lavish lifestyle supported by legitimate income, properly declared and taxed? Whatever happened to encouraging the aspirational drives of the poor and undernourished by showing how the other half lives?

It is no longer just envy being dredged up here. (Note the flooded metaphor.) It is the unexplained rise in disposable income. Is any form of over-the-top spending now under suspicion?

Thorstein Veblen, the economist in his 1899 work, The Theory of the Leisure Class, explores the phenomenon of “conspicuous consumption” as a peculiar behavior of the truly wealthy who believe that if you have it, you should flaunt it.

So, this matter of lavish spending is over a hundred years old. The need to project pecuniary success with status symbols is nothing new after all. Prominently displayed signature brands of bags, watches, and luxury cars (with free umbrellas) scream their price tags. (You don’t have to park them all in one garage.)

The lifestyle checkers against corruption are now on the prowl. It is a Newtonian rule that for every crusading action, there is an equal but opposite defensive reaction. Is it possible to thwart the investigators by looking poor without necessarily being poor?

Can “inconspicuous consumption” be the next trend? Looking ordinary and blending with the struggling middle class may be a way to avoid envy and arousing schadenfreude — or the joy in seeing the misfortune of others.

Will the lifestyle programs touring celebrity homes (this is where we keep our basement zoo) be on hold for a while?

Politicians with multiple homes should opt to stay in the most modest ones, at least on weekdays. (It’s easy to catch a tricycle near the corner.) Unassuming surroundings are seen as appropriate with neighbors waving at each other when walking without bodyguards. Residents can post photos of this government bureaucrat taking his scraggy dog for a trot in the un-gated neighborhood. Note that he is walking alone and without any bodyguards. (They’re out of camera range.)

Looking slightly needy requires little effort. Faded shirts can be worn tight with buttons pushing out from the belly. Barongs can be yellowing and smell of mothballs with unpressed folds prominently displayed. There’s no need to wear even a cheap watch as the phone tells time anyway.

It’s good to drive a car that is at least five years old. A little ding on the rear door gives it character. Rust around the bumper and drip lines around the gas tank cover complete the picture of simplicity, only one step up from commuting. Brand new electric vehicles give the game away and create problems of unexplained wealth. (Where do you charge up the battery, at the mall?)

When traveling, it is good to be seen scrunched up in the economy section beside a mother with a bawling baby. Traveling business class, even if partially covered by flying miles and special promos, just raises questions. (Don’t even think of chartering a private plane. It may be going to the Hague.)

Lifestyle clues can be manipulated. Not all those who flaunt wealth really have it in spades.

Conspicuous consumption can be a pose. The high life can be achieved through debt management. The installment plan is offered to those with a steady income to buy cars and condo units. These debt managers can strut around with their acquisitions and fool their fellow social climbers. (Did they just pay corkage fee for that wine?)

Credit card companies encourage acquiring luxury goods on installment, with no down payment. They also allow real needs like hospitalization costs to be made on installment without interest. Spending future income as a process of achieving lifestyle choices has become too easy.

The truly wealthy, deriving revenue from legitimate businesses like food chains, banking, and property development often opt to take a low profile. Setting up foundations for worthy causes or creating employment opportunities with entrepreneurial zeal can be lifestyle choices too… even if they are less conspicuous.