piclist-bounces@mit.edu wrote:
> so that people can justify their decisions using better tasting logic
> than "I spent more than I had to to show people that I *can*."  Not 
> to mentions so that everyone can TELL you spent more.

Shades of Thorstein Veblen's "Conspicuous Consumption" written in 1899! 
(chapter four of the theory of the leisure class)
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