This is the hat-trick of the "job creator" myth. Narratives have no numbers attached; the quantitative delta between luxuries, and the jobs they allegedly creat

This is the hat-trick of the "job creator" myth. Narratives have no numbers attached; the quantitative delta between luxuries, and the jobs they allegedly create, belies real economic energy transferred from those living paycheck-to-paycheck, to those who signify status through conspicuous consumption. Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying every purchase needs to pass some utilitarian moral litmus test; and sometimes luxury spending can have positive externalities, particularly when it incentivizes innovation. But we shouldn't pretend that gold-plated helicopters are inherently a win/win/win just because some subsistence wages got paid along the way, when we could have collected the same revenue as taxes and paid those wages for building infrastructure instead.