Why do poor people buy high end luxury goods? Read this and think about it.
You have no idea what you would do if you were poor until you are poor. And not intermittently poor or formerly not-poor, but born poor, expected to be poor and treated by bureaucracies, gatekeepers and well-meaning respectability authorities as inherently poor. Then, and only then, will you understand the relative value of a ridiculous status symbol to someone who intuits that they cannot afford to not have it. (via Why Do Poor People ‘Waste’ Money On Luxury Goods?)
Barbara K Iverson 