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Comparing a Big Mac with Louis Vuitton

This may come as startling news to those who have more money than good sense in spending obscene amounts of money to secure de luxe goods, like a Louis Vuitton handbag, but AlterNet puts the whole thing in some perspective:

"Today's $157 billion luxury industry outsources production to Chinese factories, dresses celebrities for red-carpet events, fights massive counterfeiting operations and builds designer outlet malls across America. All this is a long way from the industry's history of family-owned businesses handcrafting the best products possible.

Newsweek's style and culture reporter Dana Thomas explores the new luxury industry in her book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster. She found that today's luxury marketplace is mostly about hype and marketing. The goal is no longer making something unique and beautiful but maximizing profits."

Read an interesting interview, on AlterNet, with author Thomas here.

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