£85,000 for a handbag!

Eight men own the same as the poorest 3.6 billion people; nearly one in eight people go to bed hungry.  

Inequality is a red hot topic just now.  Not, of course, for mainstream media, but for concerned politicians and writers:

Paul Gilding:   'While we strive for larger televisions, dvd screens in our cars, and the perfectly grilled tender steak, they die for a glass of clean water or a bowl of rice.'

Mark Goldring:   'We are sleepwalking into catastrophe unless we tackle runaway inequality.' 

 

I decided to do some 'Googling' and found that ...  

• The most expensive handbags can cost anything up to £85,000!   
• In 2016 a Northampton luxury yacht business owned by two Russian investors had record sales. In the first few weeks of 2017 the company sold two yachts costing £3m each. These 'smaller' yachts – 'only' 78ft - are often used as tenders because lots of marinas are not big enough to accommodate the superyachts with their twin helicopter decks and swimming pools. Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's superyacht Eclipse can accommodate 36 guests in its 18 cabins, cost $1.5bn to build and is twice the length of a football pitch. 

• London's most expensive penthouse apartment in Park Lane will set you back £60,000 a week  but it does come with a butler, an Aston Martin and … a choice of daily newspaper!

Of course, many people saythe rich 'have worked for it'.   Sticking with the UK I don't reckon the rich have necessarily 'worked for it'. They are more likely to have been born rich and/or have found a clever, even illegal, way of making money.  They've also been helped by our  government which is dead set on austerity for the poor and tax cuts and handouts for the rich.

It's also suggested that bringing attention to the lifestyle of the rich is the 'politics of envy'.   I reckon those who draw attention to this obsenity are more interested in the 'politics of compassion and fairness' - and will vote Green.