Florida Pilot

A compendium of random thoughts from a former Washington Beltway insider who is now having a lot more fun flying small airplanes in Central Florida.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

ultimate conspicuous consumption

These days, there are very few limits to the excesses in consumption that can achieved by wealthy businessmen, politicians and Hollywood stars. Yachts that are so big they are limited to the harbors they can use; fleets of automobiles so large that drivers must be hired to drive the vehicles around periodically lest they deteriorate, houses so large that they require prodiguous amounts of energy to operate plus large indoor and outdoor staffs even when not occupied by the owners.

But the latest goes beyond mere consmption into a level of self-agrandizement that is breathtaking. I am talking, of course, by Madonna's recent "adoption" of a poor infant from the country of Malawi. In this case, it is not even completely about money but about a level of celebrity so powerful that it can overwhelm the laws of a soverign country. This is not the first such example of such hubris but it is the most outrageous to date as it involves the purchase of an infant whose father is too poor to raise him adequately.

If this is not stopped, what will be next?

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