Holiday Cheer Limited to Upscale Stores

[durablend]

Don't think this is a repost...See if you can read this without the urge to throw something at the wall...I came close.

Holiday Cheer Limited to Upscale Stores

"...Don't expect Jack Yeaton to be one of them (outside Sears for a discount card). He wants the authentic big-ticket status items, even though he knows he can't afford them.

At one time, "these things were so far out of one's grasp," said Yeaton, a 27-year-old Manhattan resident who works in public relations. "Now, they are the norm ... It doesn't faze you to buy $300 shirts or spend close to $400 on Prada loafers. At this point, when is it going to reach the end?"

This holiday season, he has charged at least $2,000 on his credit card on gifts like a $850 Prada bag for his mother and $675 Fendi bag for his sister. He expects to pay off his holiday debt by the summer. Last year, he spent about $100 on each family member.

For himself, Yeaton splurged on a Prada sport jacket for $800, marked down from $1,050, and Prada loafers, reduced to $340 from $500. Those charges are on a separate credit card.

"I can't help but walk down the street and wish I was trotting around in Prada shoes and a Gucci suit," he said."

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[stevebreeze]

1. I am shocked! I thought a rising tide lifted all boats?

<sarcasm>

[Mokito]

26. It does! And then it capsizes most of them! (nt)

[NYC]

2. He'll pay for Christmas by summer?

Enjoy the Prada loafers. I hope he can afford to have them resoled.

[HeeBGBz]

8. Just in time for the pre holiday early early Christmas sales

Tis the season

[Habibi]

3. Yeah, but look

even he is going into debt for this shit. If he's so well-off, why is he putting off paying for this crap? What if he loses his job between now and summer? Moran. Gahd, people are so damn stupid.

[Warpy]

13. Hey, stupid is HIS problem

That Bush's economic bungling has choked off the consumer economy is OUR problem. This is the kind of thing that leads to depression, folks, and the rich jerks buying all that diamond encrusted trash at upscale stores are going to get hit, too. The deficit will grow by leaps as more and more people become unemployed as demand for goods and services spirals even lower.

Government intervention can help, but it's not the kind of intervention that a moron like Bush and his band of slaphappy class warriors are going to consider.

Hold onto your hats, folks. It's gonna get real bumpy.

[yardwork]

70. Trash is a good description of it, too

Most of these so-called "upscale" items are made in the same factories in the same countries that make the cheap stuff sold at walmart. There are exceptions, but they aren't the brands mentioned in this article.

[durablend]

39. Lose job --- file BK

Simple!

[blue neen]

4. "Customers' thirst for luxury is greater than ever."

What a crock. It is going to be a luxury for some people to have their homes heated this winter.

Why would anyone want to pay $850 for a Prada bag? It's a purse, for crying out loud!

I second your :grr: :grr: :grr:

[Tight_rope]

32. The STUPIDITY of some American people never ceases to amaze me

[teenagebambam]

42. Money can't buy class

If it's prestige he's after...I used to have a $1500 Tagheuer watch that someone gave me, and I may have received ONE compliment on it the entire time I had it.

But I must get three or four compliments a day on my no-brand watch that I bought on clearance at Target for $9.99.

[durablend]

43. You think he might be compensating...

For a small "appendage" (cough) perhaps?

[blue neen]

44. And that Target watch for $9.99 gives you the time just as well as

the $1500 watch!

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Career Prole]

5. "It doesn't faze you to buy $300 shirts or spend close to $400...

"...on Prada loafers. At this point, when is it going to reach the end?"

Um...lampshades from human skin, perhaps?

Yessss, feed the Beast, Jack Yeaton...feed It.
The Beast loves to chew off the hand that feeds It.
Ya douche, ya.

[devilgrrl]

6. What a fuckwit

Who cares if he's wearing that shit?

What an ass. :eyes:

[BadGimp]

67. amen

well said

[Chipper Chat]

7. Look for Visa/Mastercard companies to take a beating

with customer bankruptcies next year - which will be offset with higher fees for late payments, higher annual fees, etc for the remaining prolotariat card-holders (like me). God help me if I ever forget a payment!

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

11. Our last hope in fighting Bush's proposed "National Sales Tax"...

...will be Visa/Mastercard/Amex. Only the most brain-dead twit will buy things they don't need with plastic once purchases cost 150% of the sticker price (PLUS the card's finance charge).

The credit card companies...as well as retailers in general...will realize that Bush's "base" of the "haves and have mores" will not be enough to keep their bottom line afloat.

One of today's Reuters headlines was "Bush Sees Tough Resistance to His Financial Agenda" (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20041216/pl_nm/bush_economy_dc)

...let's hope that the resistance is so tough that his "agenda" never comes to pass.

[Chipper Chat]

14. A national sales tax will be a headache for eBay sellers.

I'm one - and with national tax becoming mandatory on all sales plus the in-state tax (headache) - look for a bushel of fraud. I dont know how the IRS could keep up with investigations. More bureaocracy I suppose - oh wait - Bush is a publican (smaller govt -I forgot!)
A national sales tax will only push the poor further into the ground. The rich all have corporate connections so they pay no sales tax on what they get thru their business (wink wink). My uncle owned an automotive business and he didnt have to buy toilet paper for 30 years, let alone pay any sales tax on it. Mofo'n stupid asenine republican pricks. Canada is looking better to me all the time.

[napi21]

18. I sell on Ebay too, and you're right about the nightmare!

I really don't believe shrub will ever get this Nat'l Sales Tax passed. There's way too many groups against it, including the people like the idiot described in the opening post here.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

22. An example given recently on the web:

1). A man makes $50,000 per year, "consumes" $40,000, has $10,000 left

2). Another man makes $250,000 per year, "consumes" $40,000, has $210,000 left.

So all of this talk of "Fair and equal taxation because everyone pays the same" that's being generated by John Linder (author of the bill) and Dennis Hastert (Linder's pimp) is GARBAGE.

And yes, in this economy, I realize that the $50,000 jobs have become an endangered species, so the potential for disaster everywhere except in Bush's "base" is much, MUCH worse than the example I've given here.

THIS is the man you have to thank for this...John Linder, U.S. Representative for The Seventh Congressional District of Georgia...the one that got the ball rolling, lined up the GOP supporters, and captured Bush's fancy:



http://linder.house.gov/

Here is the page for his "Fair Tax" proposal, which he calls "one of the most exciting proposals to ever reach the American people." He's RIGHT, being homeless can be VERY exciting.

:grr:

http://linder.house.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Resources.Home&Resource_id=1

Comments regarding this travesty can be sent to Linder HERE:

http://linder.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

[Ed C. Finley]

57. I've never understood

why the progressive tax supporters don't also go for progressive voting rights in the interest of fairness. After all if I work my ass off and end up with a 33% tax rate is'nt it only fair that I get three votes compared to the guy who pays 11%?

Bush is fucked up in a lot of ways but a desire to simplify and make fairer the even more fucked up federal tax system sound like a good idea.

I still didn't/wouldn't vote for him tho...I refuse to be bribed by my own money, which democrats also have a problem understanding.

Its my money dammit, I worked for it, and it pisses me off when dicks in either party want to take it because they think they can spend it better or more socially responsibly than I can.

[CAcyclist]

59. No , it's not fair for you to get 3 votes

This environment allows you to make enough to be in the 33% bracket - you didn't do it on your own. Therefore, you owe more back to the system than the person who is only paying 11%.

I am for going back to a truly progressive tax base with a 90% top bracket like in the 50's. I would also add a 3% wealth tax on top of that.

[Ed C. Finley]

82. If the environment

"allows" me to make enough to be in the 33% bracket than everybody else is in the same environment as I am so they should pay the same rate as me. Or they are just lazy fucks. Look I have been to mexico and seen kids begging on the streets and nobody wants that here. But hysterical hatred of "the rich", i.e. anybody who has more than you is not going to solve any problems.

But neither "liberals" nor "conservatives" are interested in solving problems. Both parties want to take our liberties in pursuit of their agendas.

[Chipper Chat]

24. Oh, I'm not so sure it wouln't pass.

That new nutty senator from So Carolina is proposing it. And if Bush says it's good - the red states that elected him will swallow it like honey. The southern freeper-reddies have no rationality - just blind stupidity.

[genieroze]

78. Yeah, can you imagine having to pay 20% tax on 850.00 shoes. eom

[yorkiemommie1]

19. i love ebay

and the tax would be a terrible nightmare for sellers. i wish we had a source for DU ebayers so i could buy from BLUE sellers. as it is, any seller who is 'red' on their 'me' page doesn't get my bids.

[Ladyhawk]

75. I'm living hand to mouth NOW.

I can't take much more Bushenomics.

[genieroze]

81. Bullshitnomics. eom

[AllegroRondo]

41. OK, I work for MasterCard, have to set the record straight

MasterCard makes its money on the transaction fees, which are paid by the merchant, not the customer. Your interest rates and fees are set by the bank you get your card from, not MasterCard.

So MasterCard and V*** wont be hurt at all by bankruptcies, the banks that made the loans will.

The bottom line, if you dont like your interest rate or card fees - CHANGE BANKS. Shop around. Banks are always fighting each other for customers, a little research can save $.

[Chipper Chat]

56. I stand corrected.

I meant banks & credit unions that offer VS/MC - but I'm sure that some DUers (or trolling freepers) might have gotten the wrong idea.

[jmowreader]

69. Why do you think retailers push their own cards so much?

No retailer's card carries a transaction fee. I'm not sure about crossbranded cards like the Target Visa or Wal-Mart MasterCard, but a Target Guest Card, Home Depot Consumer Credit Card, Sears Charge or whatever does not incur transaction fees.

The major disadvantage to the consumer is that if the store whose card you hold doesn't have the thing you need, you get to either apply for another card or pay cash.

[hatrack]

9. This just in - Jack Yeaton is a dumbass

"When is it going to reach the end?" - yet merrily charging $850 handbags and $800 sport coats.

Here's a hint, Jack - it will reach the end when your creditors start calling your employer, your home and your relatives.

[sandnsea]

10. Dollar store Christmas

When they interview people who have to buy everything at the dollar store, then they can claim they've got an article about the haves and have nots. $50 isn't much for to spend for an entire Christmas, but it's more than alot of people can spend for their entire family.

[VegasWolf]

12. How is Jack Yeaton from any of these other hick repukes who

want to pretend to be rich. Then when he picks up a girl
and has to show her where he lives.

[VegasWolf]

15. Smart people might think about investing that money. n/t

[alcuno]

16. So the implication is that people want to shop upscale, not that the

wealthy are the ones with the dough to spend. Interesting spin.

[daleo]

25. Yes, the poor are abandoning Wal-Mart for Saks Fifth Avenue

It all makes sense now. U.S. auto sales are also sluggish because poor people are moving up from Escorts to Lamborghinis. It is all about value.

[wicket]

17. I'm going to PUKE

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[wicket]

20. My grandparents haven't been able to afford X-mas for years

So their farm doesn't get FORECLOSED upon! :grr: Spending time with them is much more precious than any piece of over-priced crap, it's a shame the people in the article don't realize this. :(

[yorkiemommie1]

21. i met a guy like this once

did nothing but brag brag brag about what he had and what he spent. he'd play money chicken, trying to get you to spend like he did. He has since been laid off. har har de har har.

[genieroze]

80. Keeping up with the Jones's.

:eyes:

[Lorien]

23. YECH! More from the article:

Luxury stores like Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and small designer boutiques are enjoying robust sales of such items as $8,000 mink ponchos, $1,000 snakeskin handbags, $200 crystal-studded jeans and $25,000 bejeweled bangles as their well-heeled shoppers have benefited from a recovering economy.

An influx of foreign tourists taking advantage of the weakened U.S. dollar also has helped boost sales at high-end stores - as has a fixation among some consumers, no matter what income, that they need products with status labels, even if it's a box of $30 French chocolates from Bergdorf Goodman.

"There is this quest of who is going to have the shiniest, boldest and brightest status symbols," said Gerald Celente, director of Trends Research Institute, in Rhinebeck, N.Y.

(snip)

What vile,shallow fools!

[InvisibleBallots]

28. damn, they sure do like to rub it in, don't they?

Many Americans aren't doing well at all, and these people are parading around in jeweled BLUE JEANS? Keep this up and it will be a long cold season of X-Treme Shopping.

[Chovexani]

36. Crystal studded jeans?

Sounds like something Edina Monsoon would wear. Especially if they didn't fit right.

Fabulous, darling. :eyes:

[Lorien]

50. The mink poncho is what gets me

$8,000 to dress like a Yeti and smell like a wet dog on a rainy day. As a woman, I prefer to REMOVE the hair from my body, not cause the senseless deaths of dozens of small animals so that I can look like Sasquatch!

a**holes.

[gypsy11]

54. lol

"look like Sasquatch" Thats funny... And I agree with you totally.
Me, I make things for Christmas. The people I make things for seem to really enjoy that I've spent the time on them too.
Somehow I don't think I'd get the same effect with an 8,000 dollar robe of dead animals.
A** Holes is right.

[Chipper Chat]

76. Awesome piks - made my day!

Did you notice the nice, clean, expensive clothes on the Bush Backers? Wear 'em once and throw 'em in the trash! Fuck those poor people.

[Piperay]

27. $2000 doesn't go very far

when you spending over a thousand dollars for one pair of shoes. :eyes: This guy must have spent more than $2000 since he is buying jackets, purses and shirts too, these figures don't add up. :shrug:

[Skittles]

29. Yeaton is a f***ing moron

no doubt a Bush voter

[Maine-ah]

30. WTF

we are only doing stuff for kids this year. (neices and nephews) Nothing for ourselves. Electric co. raising prices 17%. I have a 3 bedroom ranch, 1 bath. Nothing up-graded since it was built in 1975. I have a $200.00 electric bill. I heat with LP. Thats @ $2.25.

[Skidmore]

31. What an a$$.

[Zech Marquis]

33. i have a sudden urge

to just smack this guy :argh: "I can;t help but walk down the street and wish i was trotting arpund in Prada shoes..." :grr: :grr: :grr:
If he felt like spending some money, perhaps he could have donated some cash to help out the local homeless shelter, or donat some blood, or even help buy some armor and supplies for local GIs in Iraq...but 4300 shirts, $400 loafer, and a damn 4800 sports jacket from fucking Prada (aka metrosexual land)...:argh:

[durablend]

37. No way he can do that...

You think he wants to acknowledge the ilk in society (aka poor/middle class/military suckers)? :puke:

Are you nuts?!?!? :crazy:

(does sound like a typical repuke the more you think about it, doesn't it?)

[Piperay]

66. The guy has the right to spend his

money however he wants but what he is doing is just stupid. I hope that when he is down and out because of his spending habits he won't be expecting help from the chimp regime, cause he won't get it.

[Piperay]

68. Ops

I actually intended to put the above at the end of the thread, it's not really in response to anyone but I guess it fits here anyway.

[tanyev]

38. No need to smack him.

Bush's faith-based economy (which he surely voted for) will be smacking him plenty in the very near future. Perhaps before he even gets this Christmas debt paid off. Hope he enjoys it!

[Zech Marquis]

61. a fucking $400 SHIRT ?!!!

a nice suit, ok, especially one tailor made and with cloth and whatever else you might want. But for one fucking SHIRT???


i hope he gets to trot to the unemployment office in all of his Prada godies :evilgrin:

[jmowreader]

71. If I was to drop $400 on one shirt, it wouldn't be off the rack!

You can definitely get a bespoke shirt for less than $400, and (unlike the shirts some people in the public eye, like our dictator, wear) it would actually fit because it would be made specifically for you.

It wouldn't have a fucking Prada logo on it, but A Shirt That Fits is much more important than A Shirt With A Ritzy Logo. Especially when you have much longer arms than average, like I do.

[SammyWinstonJack]

62. Why isn't he in Iraq? n/t

[KayLaw]

34. I sure buy the part about...

...the tourists shopping because of the weak dollar. I live in Florida and there were several stories last week about theme park attendance being high because of tourists taking advantage of the weak dollar. " Go to the US. You can get all sorts of stuff really cheaply." As though we're a Banana Republic already!

Also, I this the guy in the article and people like him are very stupid, but as long as he doesn't declare bankruptcy, I really don't care what he does. I'm just glad I'm not such a sucker.

[truthisfreedom]

35. i'm giving money this year.

it's the gift that really keeps on giving. my sister went through a badly-planned divorce and lost everything, her house, no child support... so i'm giving her the limit this year. she's using it to pay down debt so she can clean up her credit and get a house loan.

[lastliberalintexas]

40. I don't know if he's a Bushie or not

He sounds like the *average* American to me- status and celebrity crazed, caring more about the next Survivor and Apprentice than what the government is doing to screw them.

[catgirl]

45. Handmade and vintage is best!

That's what I 'm giving for Christmas this year and I didn't spend a lot. The quality is better and more stylish. Btw, I also sell on ebay. I have some beautiful vintage purses that blow most fashion store purses away.

[yorkiemommie1]

63. you sell on ebay? I buy on ebay!

i wish there was a site for du'ers to do ebay, or craigslist,or shop each other's web stores. when i get ready to bid on something, i check their 'me' page if they have one, and if there's rw stuff on it, i don't bid. i did get some vintage purses on ebay a couple of years back when i was on a purse kick.

[BiggJawn]

46. What a shallow f***

"I can't help but walk down the street and wish I was trotting around in Prada shoes and a Gucci suit," he said."

Trotting, or "Mincing"? Gag me with a SPOON!

WTF is "Prada"? The latest "Good Thing"?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

48. The latest must-have namebrand....

Remember, you are worthless as a person unless the clothes you are wearing today cost more than a single mother has to buy clothes for her whole family for the year. $4500!!!! That's more than I have had to spend on my 3 boys in the last 3-4 years combined!!!!!!!!

spoiled little idiots. I'm usually a very nice person, but when this guy is selling his jacket for $200 bucks to try and pay his rent next year, I will be laughing my ass off! and crying, probably. I'm too f'n soft.

[durablend]

49. He just wants to be sure...

He's not mistaken for one of society's "pee-ons" (you know, the icky "common people") :puke:

An additional note, I did some Googling (sp?) and it's amazing how many different titles for this same article are out there. This one is probably the least offensive out of most of them (I've seen "Rich Get Richer, Poor Get Discounts", "Luxury Sales Increase As Spending Gap Widens", "Luxuries Fly Off Shelves As Economic Divide Widens", among others). Even more interesting is that several of the articles left out the parts about the Prada guy who "can't see an end to all the spedning" (maybe even the useless MSM can see when something goes way over the top in "induce vomit factor")

[Kimber Scott]

47. The only thing labels say to me is, "You paid way too much for this."

I don't give a shit about Prada, or Gucci. One day, I hope people will talk about me for what I accomplished on this earth while I was here, not what I wore. (Like they would. Let's see what kind of suits did Abe Lincoln wear?)

Pretentious is as pretentious does. The guy in this article can't even afford to buy this shit. It's all on credit.

[djack23]

51. It is not a moral value to spend so much on this

My moral values tell me that it is wrong to spend $850 on a Prada purse. What a complete a waste of money.

I bet if I got a nice $60 purse from Lord & Taylors and put a Prada label on it, this moron could not tell the difference. I bet almost no one could tell that is was not Prada.

[Mari333]

52. How shallow.

My brother is a republican, he is a banker and makes about 250,000 a year. He is only in his 30s, but is already suffering from hypertension, vascular disease, and is on his cell phone all the time. He has one kid. Im his older sister, and , despite his being a republican, I remember taking care of him as a baby. I asked him why he thinks his health and happiness take second place to making tons of money and buying tons and tons of crap (giant house, new cars, fancy suits, etc...)..he said "I want my son to have what I didnt have"...(we were a poor family)..
I told him "Your son will have a dead father if you continue to live like this..so whats all that crap you buy going to be worth to him once you die an early death from spending your whole life yearning after crap to buy?"

He actually listened.

I do not understand the need for people to fill up their lives with so much junk, at the cost of their own health and well being.

The best things in life are free. People seem to have forgotten that.

[mamalone]

53. Amazin...just amazin...

This is beyond my comprehension! Puh-leaze..the amount he spent on that sport jacket would pay my mortgage, which I am a month behind on BTW. I had to tell my kids that I can't afford a regular Christmas this year and they'll only be getting "stocking stuffers". Even that was really more than I could afford, but what's a mama to do?

Gosh, I hope that sport jacket is worth it!:eyes:

[Logansquare]

55. Prada loafers, if boiled long enough, make a passable soup

he'll need them after his credit cards are cancelled.

[Horse with no Name]

58. What a pig

I know a lot of different people in different walks and status's of life.
I do not know ONE person--from physician's to schoolteachers to WalMart clerks--who aren't curtailing their Christmas spending this year.
Most are putting their plastic away and limiting cash purchases, Bush fan or not, because they do not feel financially secure, regardless of what they are told.
I am not spending this year--we are recycling old gifts, handmade items, etc. and travelling to spend time with our family.
It sure has felt good not to fight the crowds.
I may do it again next year.

[yorkiemommie1]

64. went to our mall yesterday...didn't seem much busier

than a normal saturday. I had to get household supplies so went to target today. didn't seem as busy as even a normal saturday. then went to Big Lots. It was busier than target but still only one person ahead of us in checkout. maybe people waiting til later this week.

uhh...this pig sounds like this other pig friend we had, ( i stress 'had' because i could not stomach a mother who paid her child for even raising her hand in school ) who used to drive his new mercedes down LA's skid row "so the bums can see my car". when his wife died he bought his daughter and himself each a top of line mercedes convertible. there must be an arrogant A**hole club somewhere.

[Deja Q]

60. A proud lemming, that seems kinda odd.

I'm a proud individual, glared at by lemmings all the time.

:crazy:

[iamjoy]

65. And Charity...

does he feel like a big man throwing 25 cents in the pot for Salvation Army after spending $850 on a frickin' purse
(not that the homophobic "charity" gets a penny from me)

Seriously, why not donate to charities or liberal causes for gifts? My father donated to the American Cancer Society for my husband, Natural Resources Defense Council for me. We donated to the local Jewish Family Services for him.

My sister is going to donate to Planned Parenthood for my husband and me; we will donate to an Animal Sanctuary for her.

I don't need any more junk. I bought myself some new clothes at Sears (on sale). My husband got some shirts at Target.

[ckramer]

72. I just spent 550 dollars this week for Christmas

guess where the money went?

$550 has gone to fix my 11 years old car!

My car made noises everywhere except the horn!

[catzies]

73. I don't believe in labels, or Christmas shopping either.

This so does not appeal to me, even though I subscribe to mags that have glossy ads for all of those things and more. I must be impervious to advertising, and I like it that way.

[48pan]

74. I'm not buying any of it

Including this article.

[Mabel Dodge]

77. Gee I was feeling guilty for spending $40 at the dollar store,

unitl I read this article.

[genieroze]

79. I spent fifty bucks at DE Jones, I think that's the name.

I'm such a cheapskate that even if I became a millionaire I would still bargain hunt.