Outrageous Spending

Begin Rant.

What is Michelle Obama thinking!?

Sometimes when I see news like this, I wonder if we're really in a recession. Even during a recession, people's spending is still pretty high - and when I say people - I mean celebrities. They have tons of money, more than they could ever need in a lifetime and what do they do with it? Spend it - and spend it stupidly.

I don't have numbers and I don't care enough to do research - but I'm guessing that if we put all the millionaires, billionaires and zillionaires together, and told them to spend just half of their money on normal goods (not Couture, Armani, Gucci, all that fancy crap), I think they could pull us out of the so-called recession. Maybe that's too far fetched but I do think that it could help. They have plenty of money to go around with. Come on, spread the love!

They could put their money to good use. Donate lots of it to charity and buy items that will help companies from losing money. When companies aren't selling their goods, they become broke, which will result in lay offs, which will result in more homeless people, which will result in a crisis.... see where I'm going here?

OK - If I was filthy rich, I'd probably say "it's my money, I can do whatever I want with it. I worked for it, I earned it, and it's MINE!" I see the reasoning behind it. But come on - working 4 months out of a year on average for a movie, they could earn millions and millions of dollars. If they lived a normal lifestyle, one movie - just ONE movie - could finance their whole life.

Here's what started this whole rant. Michelle Obama attends a charity event wearing a pair of shoes that cost $540. Like, really? Did she really do that? Why not just take that $540 and give it to the charity? Here's a photo of the shoes....




To add insult to injury, I don't even think the shoes look $540. It's fabric, dyed in color, with rubber soles, and shoelaces. I bet you could find one that looks similar to the one she's wearing for $30. OK, maybe $50 or $6o but it's a hell of a lot better than $540.

What bothers me most is celebrities will appear at charities and auctions to raise money for a good cause. Good for them. But you know what would be really cool? How about donating some of your own money? I'm sure most of them do - but it's a very modest amount compared to what's building up interest in their bank accounts. I remember a news article on Yahoo talking about a celebrity donating $10,000 to a charity. Whoo hoo! Big fuss, right? Wrong. They have millions and $10,000 is all they give? Oh please.

Paris Hilton lives off of the interest of her trust fund... yes, just the interest (I can't prove it but I've seen it time and time again in different articles). It would be nice to live comfortably, I won't deny that, but how about putting your money to good use instead of hoarding it in multiple bank accounts? Most of that money will still be there when they die so what's the point of having it all if they don't use it?

End Rant.

What do you guys think about celebrities, their spending habits and Michelle's shoes?