Exactly. the article may be correct that luxury spending is declining, but investing in education, retirement and health aren't replacements for that - there ar

Exactly. the article may be correct that luxury spending is declining, but investing in education, retirement and health aren't replacements for that - there are other reasons why they correlate with wealth, but they're not for social capital. Also, from my small anecdotal familiarity with the rich, I don't think that they impress each other by name-dropping The Economist and New Yorker articles (perhaps a subset of the educated do, but not all of them are rich). I believe the real luxury good of today is exclusivity and privacy: private dating apps and social networks, vacations, clubs, etc. This article covers it well: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/magazine/how-privacy-became-a-commodity-for-the-rich-and-powerful.html?mcubz=0 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/magazine/how-privacy-beca...