status symbols: 2010 & beyond - thoughts?
 

with oil gushers, economic decline, the reality of credit, and all the other shit, how important is it to display one's position in the social hierarchy? has anything changed?
will displaying your status via symbols like watches, yachts, cars, and houses continue to be the norm?

i never did that before and won't start now either. that's only for insecure people

As long as vanity exists, it will be the norm.

Status symbols are so last decade but I still want a Ferrari!

i'm not referring to conspicous consumption exclusively, but status symbols in general. take housing for instance, we all want the most house with curb appeal that we can afford. the entire housing industry is in shamble due to peeps being overextending financially in a home they can't afford.

also, a house has a much bigger environmental cost than an apartment, for instance. could a future status symbol be living in an apartment?

I'm thinking the status symblol for the next 10-15 years is going to be food

I'm with this guy :2 cents:


Humanity use to repeat the same shit all the time, 1 step forward and 2 backward


Long long time ago there were people saying that in the future (year 2000 and forward) people wouldn't need to work, machines would do it, wars and hungry would be over.

Looks like they were wrong, I wouldnt be surprised if someday we will need to fight for a piece of food :error

lolz, that's pretty much the same thing i was thinking. :1orglaugh not to that extreme though, although now that you mention it....... it does seem inevitable but in our lifetime?

in between now and then though, i think our concept of what we need to create a lifestyle for ourselves won't be in terms of what it's been the last 30 years or so.

who is the model in your avatar?

Yes why not? And why so pesimistic views? Yes it was crisis, some people lost their homes, some people lost their money, but most people still live what they lived just cut some expenses, cut some luxuries etc. In the future all will be the same just people won't spend so much money on credit because they learned the lesson

i will be always taking my golden toliet with myself ...

'm noticing a change towards conservative lifestyle choices where the important things matter, not things like 600hp and 200mph or 5000 square foot homes for a 2 person family. that's not pessimistic. it's an observation.

I was on Wikipedia today and somehow ended up reading about Rolex, which is considered a "status symbol". I don't think Rolex watches look good, and in fact I think they look kind of silly.

I can afford a Ferrari at this point. Buy why? So I can pay $600 for an oil change? And even more on tires, and get worse MPG? To impress whom - The MILFS at my daughter's school? Pass.

Quoted for ultimate truth.