Please Laugh At This Man
I’d buy a Birkin bag before springing for this nonsense:
Mr. Brooks sat and listened this year as Ms. Schlegel, her memory apparently intact and keen, spent 23 days testifying against him in a highly unusual trial in United States District Court on Long Island that has been highlighted by sweeping accusations of fraud, insider trading, and company-financed personal extravagance.
DHB, which specialized in making body armor used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, paid for more than $6 million in personal expenses on behalf of Mr. Brooks, covering items as expensive as luxury cars and as prosaic as party invitations, Ms. Schlegel testified.
Also included were university textbooks for his daughter, pornographic videos for his son, plastic surgery for his wife, a burial plot for his mother, prostitutes for his employees, and, for him, a $100,000 American-flag belt buckle encrusted with rubies, sapphires and diamonds.
This is something I’ll never understand, and it illustrates a point I want to make again: even if you’re one of the people who disagree with my assessment of $10,000 purses, would you acknowledge — having been exposed to the $100,000 belt buckle — that some purchases are so extravagant and irrational that a perversion of values is at their core? Even if the materials, craftsmanship, and style surpass every other belt buckle made in the history of human civilization, this is an accessory that shouldn’t have been made.
To be clear, I don’t think it should be illegal to spend $100,000 on a belt buckle. What I do think is that Mr. Brooks inhabits a culture where some people who gaze upon the bling beneath his belly button are impressed. Instead, they ought to laugh at him and mock his extravagance, is all I’m saying.
Yeah, I’ll give you the $100,000 belt buckle. ;)
— PEG · Jul 27, 10:33 AM · #
This guy seems like a crook, but viewing $100,000 belt buckles on their own, what is the problem? This guy has too much money, and he disposes of some of it by buying jewelry. What do I care whether he buys a gem-encrusted tiara, a gem-encrusted belt buckle, or a faberge egg.
In this case, I’m sure this guy had bad taste, and the belt buckle was in bad taste. But given good taste, a $100,000 piece of jewelry isn’t that offensive. Those rubies have to go somewhere; why should I care where?
— J Mann · Jul 27, 02:38 PM · #
Given that he should have the freedom to do this, we’re a morally corrupt society if we can’t denounce this as a ridiculous and degraded thing to do. Even if the $100K belt buckle happened to be in “good” taste.
— Josh · Jul 27, 04:01 PM · #
Conor,
Check out these designer axes: http://www.shop.bestmadeco.com/main.sc
— cw · Jul 27, 04:52 PM · #
This is definitely worth writing a blog post about …
— maria · Jul 27, 05:00 PM · #
I don’t understand how you can object to this as a Conservative, this is the expected outcome of your philosophy.
If you think it is OK for people to make however much money they can and the government can’t restrict this why does it make a difference what those rich choose to spend the money on? If he were to hoard it in the bank it wouldn’t change anything. People used to praise Sam Walton because he was a down to earth guy who drove an old pick-up instead of spending all his wealth on luxury cars or something. I say so what, whether he drives a Ford or a Ferrari doesn’t change anything, either way he is hoarding obscene amounts of wealth.
— eric k · Jul 27, 07:20 PM · #
I like the idea of precious gems put into ultra tacky service. Plus, it’s gotta be a better investment than a top-of-the-line Mercedes Benz, for which rich people regularly part with similar obscene funds.
— patrick bateman · Jul 28, 03:41 AM · #
When does it flip? Is a $50,000 belt buckle also a sign od debased morals? What about a $10,000 belt buckle?
$100?
I wouldn’r spend more than $5 on one. Or… I guess if I had a job that required me to wear fancy clothes, and the culture decreed that belt buckles were fancy, and Brooks Borhters sold one for $100, I would probably buy one just to fit in.
But seriously… how much is too much in your view? $500? $750? Or is it something more like $45,000?
— Sam M · Jul 28, 05:03 PM · #
I think you are on to something Sam M,
The President should appoint a belt-buckle czar.
— THE · Jul 28, 06:28 PM · #
The President should appoint a belt-buckle czar.
Friedorsdorf said we should laugh. I am now (finally) following his instructions.
— The Reticulator · Jul 28, 11:56 PM · #