Many years ago a now-deceased friend attended an exhibit of French pre-revolution women's finery. His takeaway was that it was clear that the plutocrats in France had gone over the top with their female adornments -- jewel-bedecked, silk-creweled masterpieces that must have cost a king's ransom -- dresses that were obscene when contrasted with what was being worn by the then-French peasants. Thus this clothing differential was a clear predictor of the bloodshed that was about to erupt ... costing the heads of many of the women who had previously worn these opulent gowns.
Why do I bring this up? Because, although we have not yer reached this level of dramatic clothing differential here in the United States, we seem well on our way. President Obummer's daughters, Sasha and Malia, each just wore almost $20,000 designer gowns to a recent state dinner at the White House in a dazzling display of conspicuous consumption ... see: Yahoo News Article. Such excesses must rankle many families in the declining middle class in this country ... whose discretionary annual income could not buy even one of these two gowns. I wonder what Bernie Sanders thinks about such inequalities? Or perhaps he too secretly longs for this life ...
What's that quote about people who ignore history?
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