American Businesses Learn to Cater to a Stratified Society
“With disparities
in wealth greater than at any time since the Gilded Age, the gap is widening
between the highly affluent — who find themselves behind the velvet ropes of
today’s economy — and everyone else.
It represents a
degree of economic and social stratification unseen in America since the days
of Teddy Roosevelt, J. P. Morgan and the rigidly separated classes on the
Titanic a century ago.
What is different
today, though, is that companies have become much more adept at identifying
their top customers and knowing which psychological buttons to push. The goal
is to create extravagance and exclusivity for the select few, even if it stirs
up resentment elsewhere. In fact, research has shown, a little envy can be good
for the bottom line.”