Hey Big Spender, Flaunt Your Scrimping

Recessions would be great for the rich—whose wealth insulates them from mercurial fluctuations in the economy—if it weren’t for the guilt they feel over rising poverty. But Chris Ayres has a solution for the loaded that may also revive the economy: “Flaunt your parsimony,” he advises in the Los Angeles Times, because “without spending, we all go bust.”

Calling his Keynes-inspired theory "conspicuous thrift,” Ayres urges the wealthy to splurge on money-saving items—pricey hybrid sedans and eco-friendly homes come to mind—while appearing to be cash-strapped like the rest of us. “Mark my words,” Ayres writes, “the second I get some cash, I'm off to buy some hens, hire a farmer, take out a mortgage on a ranch and congratulate myself on how cheap I get my eggs.”
(More recession stories.)