The U.S. economy is in boom mode, approaching what Mel Brooks’ called “Ludicrous Speed,” and at some point there must be a slowdown if not an outright recession. A standing economic joke was that once economists agree that we’ve conquered the business cycle, expect a recession. An indicator I like to use is “more money than brains,” referring to egregiously wasteful spending as a sign of an overheated economy. In the past, the spread of “oxygen bars” where customers paid to inhale a lungful of air from exotic places like the Antarctic or Mount Everest, suggested that we had reached the point of conspicuously ridiculous consumption, and something was likely to give. Now, people are selling orbs of ‘raw water,’ which is clearly a case of ridiculously conspicuous consumption.
