Happy Friday, folks. While you’re reading these stories about money, my cruise ship is in port at Edinburgh, Scotland — one of my favorite cities! Here’s what I’ve gathered for you today.
The reason luxury goods are booming. [Vox] — “The explosion of luxury resale and rental platforms might not have directly fed the sales of luxury brands, but they engaged a new generation of consumers — it’s an easy entry point into the world of its aesthetics and sensibilities.” [I’ll admit: I too have been buying more premium brands. But I have a very clear reason for doing so: I’m tired of paying for crap. I want quality. I’m in a position to afford it, so I buy it. Truthfully? This decision has made my life better.]
Once a fringe theory, “greedflation” gets its due. [Axios] — “The idea that profits drove our current bout of inflation surfaced in the last few years among progressive economists and lawmakers but was waved away by more mainstream types as a ‘conspiracy theory’. That changed earlier this year.”
The ugly truth behind “we buy ugly houses”. [ProPublica] — “A ProPublica investigation — based on court documents, property records, company training materials and interviews with 48 former franchise owners and dozens of homeowners who have sold to its franchises — found HomeVestors franchisees that used deception and targeted the elderly, infirm and those so close to poverty that they feared homelessness would be a consequence of selling.”
To close things out today, here’s something completely unrelated to money. Here’s Titus Burgess belting out “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid. It’s fantastic!
Man, that is so much fun!
You know what else is fun? The weekend! And you’re heading into it. Enjoy. We’ll see you next week.