Face it: In this economy, there’s less bling
Posted by guestblogger on February 17th, 2009Here’s the sad truth: in this economy or any other, rich people will always have money — except the really dumb ones (e.g. people who put it all into AIG) — and they didn’t really deserve it in the first place.
So how are the uber-rich handling the downturn?
Well, Oprah for one is being thrifty. She’s not giving away super expensive gifts to her audience. This year. The year they probably need it most. Of course she probably wasn’t paying for them to begin with. We could think of a few other ways she could cut back.
What about the world’s most publicized millionaire with the 5-dollar haircut, Donald Trump? Well, we mentioned that his casino company in Atlantic City filed for bankruptcy. I guess that means less time at the tables. How about cutting the rent at your properties, while you’re at it, Don?
For Benjamin’s sake! The Bill Gates Foundation’s investment is down to a piteous 9 billion. What is the world coming to? 9 billion — that’s pocket change! What can a charity do with that kind of chump change?
Even at the Oscars, where the friggin’ statue is made of — well, some sort of highly polished yellow metal — the gift bags won’t be quite as shiny. They’ll only be worth a few hundred dollars instead of the usual five thousand. According to CNN, a product placement firm that works with the Academy Awards says that “bling is out.“ Jane Ubell-Meyer from Madison and Mulholland, which bills itself as a VIP gift bag and product placement company, says, “I think that people are a little more conservative and they don’t want to flaunt it in everyone’s faces.”
Bling is out. I think that pretty much says it all. Thank you, Hollywood. Thank you.
Tags: Bill Gates, celebrities, Donald Trump, economy, Hollywood, oprah, oscars, super-rich
[...] a month ago, we posted a story about how celebrities were wearing less bling to show they were “in-sync” with the [...]