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Wealth signaling and its effects are rather depressing. People going into debt to buy a Rolex and a sports car to create the illusion of success is bad enough.

Wealth signaling and its effects are rather depressing. People going into debt to buy a Rolex and a sports car to create the illusion of success is bad enough. Someone falling for an individual mismanaging their own finances to create a lie is quite sad. I was listening to a pop station yesterday and a song was playing that was like a top 5 of fashion brands, they way the singer kept listing them off. So I think elements of our culture pressure people into doing this kind of painful signaling. I think signaling or counter signaling should be avoided if you want to preserve your sanity. Find something you’re passionate about and find others who feel the same. Hang out. Make best friends. Date. Get married. Be happy.

ricardobayes 4y ago
I saw this greatly affecting Eastern European youth, who have mostly no chance of ever wearing Balenciaga or LV. But they get this image blasted 24/7 on Instagram, so they are stuck forever in a sad feedback loop.
- rvba 4y ago
  In Soviet republics you could be murdered by the state every day, or declared an enemy of the pepople, or sent to gulag for a thing you didnt do - and all of those negative experiences ingrained a type of short-terminism among the society. The state could take away your apartment and make you lose everyrhing apart the clothes on your back - so why bother fixing the apartment, go and buy some nice clothes... at least you look good NOW and maybe you can keep them. This negative trainig (easy to lose everything) makes people care more about looks. With so many relatively poor people maybe it is some sort of a "lipstick effect" too - for everyone.
- CyanBird 4y ago
  It happens everywhere, specially around lumpenproletariats around the world, it is a foul situation without an honest fix. It Latam it leads to horrible levels of asocial behaviors, theft, drug trading to acquire money and use it to purchase luxury items with which signal success It is heart breaking
- bradlys 4y ago
  Good thing that Turkey has plenty of imitation goods for cheap.
TrackerFF 4y ago
Buying a Rolex today or for the past few years, would have actually been a pretty solid investment - it's hard to purchase a new one, because there's usually waiting lists, and most stores prioritize their VIP clients. Used market blew up around COVID, and people have made some pretty nice returns on flipping Rolex. Hell, I have a couple of co-workers that collect watches, and they mostly just store the real-deal in their safes, and wear high-end replicas in public. But I get your point. Unfortunately there seems to be lots of kids in the the lower socio-economic classes that spend all their money on expensive sneakers, hoodies, and other luxury brand clothes. Spending $1k on a designer hoodie, when you make $15k / year, isn't the smartest financial decision - to put it mildly.
- mmaunder 4y ago
  Not really. You can’t buy one at the stores - massive scarcity. And the grey market have appreciation priced in. Grey prices have dropped significantly in the past few months. The crypto bubble in watches has burst.

ricardobayes 4y ago

I saw this greatly affecting Eastern European youth, who have mostly no chance of ever wearing Balenciaga or LV. But they get this image blasted 24/7 on Instagram, so they are stuck forever in a sad feedback loop.

rvba 4y ago
In Soviet republics you could be murdered by the state every day, or declared an enemy of the pepople, or sent to gulag for a thing you didnt do - and all of those negative experiences ingrained a type of short-terminism among the society. The state could take away your apartment and make you lose everyrhing apart the clothes on your back - so why bother fixing the apartment, go and buy some nice clothes... at least you look good NOW and maybe you can keep them. This negative trainig (easy to lose everything) makes people care more about looks. With so many relatively poor people maybe it is some sort of a "lipstick effect" too - for everyone.
CyanBird 4y ago
It happens everywhere, specially around lumpenproletariats around the world, it is a foul situation without an honest fix. It Latam it leads to horrible levels of asocial behaviors, theft, drug trading to acquire money and use it to purchase luxury items with which signal success It is heart breaking
bradlys 4y ago
Good thing that Turkey has plenty of imitation goods for cheap.

TrackerFF 4y ago

Buying a Rolex today or for the past few years, would have actually been a pretty solid investment - it's hard to purchase a new one, because there's usually waiting lists, and most stores prioritize their VIP clients. Used market blew up around COVID, and people have made some pretty nice returns on flipping Rolex. Hell, I have a couple of co-workers that collect watches, and they mostly just store the real-deal in their safes, and wear high-end replicas in public. But I get your point. Unfortunately there seems to be lots of kids in the the lower socio-economic classes that spend all their money on expensive sneakers, hoodies, and other luxury brand clothes. Spending $1k on a designer hoodie, when you make $15k / year, isn't the smartest financial decision - to put it mildly.

mmaunder 4y ago
Not really. You can’t buy one at the stores - massive scarcity. And the grey market have appreciation priced in. Grey prices have dropped significantly in the past few months. The crypto bubble in watches has burst.