Luxury Goods & the Pandemic

From its low about 13 months ago, the stock market is up 50%•65%. There are plenty of people whose net worth jumped $1Million. Regular people who were regular savers to their 401Ks. Not surprising that they want to buy a $5,000 watch or a $15,000 boat. Many of these people have seen their 401K increase this much in a single day.

For the watches/liquor/cigars market the Stimulus checks might account for some of that one time splurge. But above that limit it would have to be longer term income effects.

Prices go up coz businesses panic send want short term profits fearing a bad situation ahead.

^ Prices go up for many reasons few as simplistic as you think, In the case of this pandemic it’s getting the supply chain up and running with not enough workers or raw materials, that’s going to increase both costs and the amount of time it takes to get the breakfast cereal from the farmers field to the packing house, to the trucker to the supermarket there’s much less greed involved than just the rust needs to get shaken off and the chain needs oil

Prices are up because some idiots pumped so much money into the economy and paid people not to work that there are no truckers to move product. Another fail by senile Joe and the non-working party.

As far as I can tell even though Biden got more money into the system in 2021 the enhanced UI benefits are leftover from Trumps administration in 2020

The enhanced benefits were scheduled to end. Biden’s stimulus bill extended them through September.

The key to higher prices is maintaining or raising the profit margin. Basically the rich staying rich at our expense

then quit buying 300 dollar sneakers 2icee, come to my concert instead. maybe you'll find a drunk concert goer and you can finally have sex and not have to pay for it for the first time.

Are strippers luxury goods? They sure cost enough.

Is the Ferrari Testarossa the car they drove in Miami Vice? It must be older dudes - buying those white suits and chains - trying to do their best Crockett and Tubbs impressions!

All those stimulus checks going out - and the government is cutting off the supply of menthols! It’s just wrong! What’s a brother to spend it on? Food for his kids? Lol!

@ICEE, really cute when you try to throw around finance/accounting terms out of context like that. Do you realize that everyone along the supply chain needs to get paid too? That even at a non-profit, no one works for free?

Re-read @25's post, you might learn something.

You're just trying to justify price gouging. Businesses can function without it

I started a business during the pandemic that focused on hand-made (and therefore expensive) products and it was very successful. I claim no prescience with regards to business, though. I was in the middle of launching when COVID transitioned from a big deal overseas to a big deal here in the US. I had no idea if the pandemic was going to cause me to sink or swim. I got lucky. And now that it's winding down, I'm still doing good.

But it's not just luxury stuff. A lot of middle class folks were trapped at home and stressing out. Amazon and other online retailers did well from anxiety purchases. Folks who were teleworking got an effective pay raise via not spending money on things like gas, car maintenance, etc. That money got spent more than saved, I believe.

Fortunately I buy none of those things.

All the explanations of unemployment payments keeping people from working or supply chains shutting down don't explain why the price of 30 year old cars (Ferrari Testassaroni) is skyrocketing.

Prices on parts for my "classic" '72 toyota are skyrocketing also. And I've heard from one of the parts dealers that specialize that orders I've had were backed up not because of anyone getting sick or increased health and safety requirement, but inability to keep up with demand.

An extra $300 a week, for someone who's unemployed, doesn't suddenly make any Ferrari affordable.

So far, 20 states have announced they are ending the supplemental $300 unemployment payment. Effective dates vary but generally around the end of June. That will make for an interesting comparison for states with and without. My bet is we will see a surge in new jobs shortly after the supplement ends. Funny how that works.

Here’s how it’s relevant. Supply and Demand. Supply chains are disrupted across all goods and services because workers are staying home and living off unemployment. That reduces supply which causes higher prices on all goods, including luxury goods.

How does this supply chain issue impact the price of 30 year old Ferraris or any other collectible car? While it explains lumber and microchips and new cars... I doubt it has much to do with Rolex's, perfume, or much of this other designer junk.