Nordstrom has a waiting list for a Chanel sequined tweed coat with a $9,010 price. Neiman Marcus has sold out in almost every size of Christian Louboutin “Bianca” platform pumps, at $775 a pair. Mercedes-Benz said it sold more cars last month in the United States than it had in any July in five years.

Even with the economy in a funk and many Americans pulling back on spending, the rich are again buying designer clothing, luxury cars and about anything that catches their fancy. Luxury goods stores, which fared much worse than other retailers in the recession, are more than recovering — they are zooming. Many high-end businesses are even able to mark up, rather than discount, items to attract customers who equate quality with price.

“If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?” said Arnold Aronson, managing director of retail strategies at the consulting firm Kurt Salmon, and the former chairman and chief executive of Saks.

The underlying assumption here is that parents have a right to have everyone else conspire to keep information from their children that could, once absorbed by the children, make them realize that for all their parents’ blather about “family values”, they literally care so little for their children’s future that they’re willing to destroy the planet they leave to their children just so they can air condition buildings to sweater temperatures and drive oversized status symbol cars.

I’ve never understood the idea that Rupert Murdoch’s support was essential to a stable British government. The notion got started in the Margaret Thatcher era and has informed every election since. Oh, Murdoch’s papers have always been capable of causing trouble for politicians who got in their way, but the true source of his power, if you want to call it that, has been his superb political timing. He knew precisely when to withdraw his support from the Conservative Party and mount the Labour Party’s Tony Blair and then have his way with Tory leader David Cameron (sexual innuendo intended, thanks!). I can demonstrate similar clout by pointing to the east in the morning and commanding the sun to rise.