Conspicuous Consumption

by Perlemeister

Not so sure I feel so sorry for our pearl industry anymore, after running into a very vocal and verbal anti-pearl pugilist at a pearl counter a few weeks ago who said to me when I told him who I was and what I did: “Why would anyone waste their money on crap like this?” (he was looking at Chinese freshwater pearl offerings). He went on to lambaste the incredible volumes pumping out of China and flooding the world market, cheapening the cost and image of pearls.

I segued into asking about Australian or Tahitian pearls. “It’s the same thing,” he said. “All about conspicuous consumption. Greed on the producers’ part, greed on the dealers’ part, greed on the buyers’ part. That’s why the business is going into the tank.”

“And here in America, it’s the worst,” he went on. Look at our economy. Look at out leadership.” And he told me about our President’s recent entourage to London, telling me to Google the trip. So I did, and was suitably appalled.

It seems that Our Exalted Leader showed up at the G-20 summit in London with everything but the proverbial kitchen sink, arriving in all pomp and primp with 500 staff, including 200 Secret Service agents, a team of six doctors, the White House chef and kitchen staff with the president’s very own food and water... along with 35 vehicles, four speechwriters, 12 teleprompters, the presidential helicopter (Marine One), and a fleet of identical decoys to ferry him about town. Included in all the vehicle array was the presidential limousine which is reinforced with ceramic and titanium armor, carries tear gas cannon, night vision devices, its own oxygen, and is resistant to chemical and radiation attack.... “sort of a mobile panic room,” a tabloid wit penned. Not to mention its usual retinue of Rayban-clad, earphoned suits carrying hidden flamethrowers, Uzis and RPGs.

That’s the trouble these days. No fiscal discipline. Everyone’s out to get as much bakeesh as possible in the shortest possible time. Not one thought but trying to screw the next person out of as much as possible... even worse when you’re first in line at the trough,” my antagonist concluded.

These thoughts coalesced when I read a recent news article about Nick Paspaley planning a pearl auction next year in the Emirates for his primary clients in Dubai. “Good God,” I thought. “Has he run out of customers in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney and the States?”

“Perhaps folks are coming around to their senses and stopping buying incredibly expensive baubles to hang around their necks,” my anti-pearling acquaintance said to me when I passed that latest tidbit on to him. “Someday those crazy sheiks will come to that conclusion, too,” he added. “When they finally run out of oil and when we stop buying that black stuff.”