We should lay off Cindy's $280,000 earrings

[jmowreader]

Rich people have ALWAYS spent a shitload of money on jewelry. Always, and Cindy McCain epitomizes the term "filthy rich." Also consider: if the saleslady made five percent commission on the sale, you're looking at a $14,000 payday for someone who probably worked her ass off finding two 1.5-carat diamonds that were exactly the same size. What could YOU do with fourteen grand in your next paycheck?

Lay off the shoes too: for someone like Cindy, $600 pumps are the budget models and I have no idea why she bought something that cheap.

Instead, look at the expensive, yet God-awful, clothing she was wearing. It looked almost exactly like the jacket Rachel Ticotin wore as Quaid's Martian girlfriend in Total Recall, except Rachel looked great in hers while it didn't do a thing for Cindy.

[firedupdem]

1. More wasteful spending and she looked like hell...... n/t

[Curtland1015]

2. Of all the things I expected to see on DU today...

A Total Recall reference was probably about the last.

"Get yo ass to Mahs."

[progressivebydesign]

3. We should stop telling everyone on DU what to think, write, or say. n/t

[Curtland1015]

5. Don't tell him not to tell me what to say what he told me to say!!!

:+

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

11. Hear, hear!!! nt

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. It doesn't work like that

When someone like Cindy McCain wants to buy jewelry, samples are sent to her, with a rep from the store. She selects what she likes and a transfer of funds takes place. Oh, and she NEVER pays retail, believe me.

No one gets a commission.

[Warpy]

9. Uh, they most certainly do get a commission

and, while she didn't pay the full $280,000 for those baubles, she didn't get them wholesale, either. In fact, she probably overpaid what we mere mortals can find them for online.

The only people who get them "free" are the red carpet celebrities who wear them for an evening at little or no cost as a way to advertise the jeweler when he sends out a book of his one of a kind designs.

However, you are correct about the shopping experience. When a plutocrat sees something s/he likes in a book, the company sends out a rep with the goods, whether it's earrings or a helicopter to test drive. The plutocrat rarely enters a bricks and mortar establishment for much of anything.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. Actually, no.

There is no commission involved. As for "free," well, those red-carpet jewels are always on loan only, and accompanied by armed guards.

[jmowreader]

12. Oh, I know that

What probably happened is she told her personal assistant she wanted to buy a pair of investment-grade earrings...personal assistant calls the broker...broker makes an appointment to see her...from there she got to pick the stones, pick the settings, pick the kind of metal in the posts, someone created the final pieces and the earrings were delivered. Nothing like how you and I buy earrings, where we go to the store, see some we like and buy them.

She also probably spent a whole day negotiating the price.

[Overseas]

6. I don't think they cost $300K. Maybe $30,000 and that would be pricey.

That's what made me sad about the story. Exaggerating the diamonds.
Because the other expensive elements in the outfit would have been outrageous enough.
This glaring exaggeration makes the story seem less truthful.

[Vanje]

7. What the hell else is she sposed to do with 280K?

Buy another fucking house?!??

[jmowreader]

13. It would pay about half the cost of a rebuild on one of her plane's engines

A routine rebuild on a business jet engine is probably half a million per side, so...

[Lorien]

8. I thought it made her look like C-3PO

and no, I'll never lay off any of these lowlifes.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. Whaa???

No, $280k earrings are fair game.

[Odin2005]

15. $280,000 = the average annual income of 10 working class people.

TAX THOSE FILTHY RICK FUCKERS! If you can waste $280,000 on earrings you have way too much money that could be used by those less well off.

[XOKCowboy]

16. Or 2.5 $50 per hour lettuce pickers

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

[jmowreader]

17. No one "wastes" $280,000 on earrings

Diamonds that big appreciate in value, and buying expensive jewelry is one way of turning new money old. And as for the notion of her having too much money...she also has at least a thousand employees with her over 600 beer trucks on the road and her three warehouses. You can't DONATE people out of poverty. You can EMPLOY them out of poverty, and Cindy's doing that. How many people do you employ?

[Lyric]

18. You can't donate people out of poverty, but

you CAN donate people out of hunger, homelessness, and illness--especially in the short term.

You can also donate TOWARD helping people out of poverty by giving to educational funds, food banks, shelters, community assistance organizations, the United Way, and job training programs. Those earrings would have purchased an awful fucking lot of Meals on Wheels for elderly folks who are struggling and barely surviving as food and fuel prices skyrocket.

Don't expect any sympathy for the poor, maligned rich people from me. I live in poverty--I know firsthand what money like that could do to change things for people who are barely hanging on.

[Initech]

19. I agree, tax the shit out of them!

That $280,000 spent on earrings could easily go toward rebuilding our infrastructure. :grr: