something that is objectively unnecessary but gives comfort or at least the illusion of comfort
i think of it like the laws of diminishing returns
think of a shitbox $3,000 used car. assuming the engine is more or less running, you get like 80% of the benefits of a car
it gets you from point A -> B - the primary purpose of a car
then you spend another $10,000 for a $13,000 5~6 year old Toyota or something. now you have A/C, that gives you an extra few % benefits. You get a carplay so you have a nice little screen for a GPS, another few %. you get a key that unlocks your car, etc.
so you went from 80% to lets say 90%. but that base 80%, getting you from point A -> B hasn’t changed.
that extra $10,000 bought you 10% extra
then let’s say you spend another $100,000 for a $113,000 car
you get all the benefits of the previous cars, but you maybe can speed up a little faster. you have heated seats. you have a sport mode or something.
that extra $100,000 bought you another like 7% so now you’re at 97%
Luxury is that last 20%. The closer you wanna get to 100%, the more expensive each % costs. This is a status symbol
I agree with your example, but I disagree that the luxury cutoff is at 80%. For me it is at 90% in your example. A car that only mostly runs is a liability and may even end up costing more per year than the 90% one because of repairs. At least it is like that here in Norway.
Removed by mod
The hell you talkin bout boy
What is bro yapping about
Necessity, if you don’t need it to survive but it makes your feel good it’s a luxury, and those things change with time. Today a home Internet connection is nessicary to make it in the world, but 20 years ago it was a luxury and 30 years ago it was a novelty.
Removed by mod
In other words, a monopoly created by greedy corporations
You could do the job with less, but you’d grumble about it.
I think the shower in my current house is luxurious because it’s large enough that I can turn around without knocking things off the shower caddy.
Stupid people.
I always liked drinking water directly from the tub but in the majority of counties people can’t do that so I consider it a luxury. The fact that I live now in a country where it is not possible amplifies that for me even more.
All wares whose demand increases disproportionally with an increasing income.
Bread for example is not a luxury. If you were to earn twice as much, you wouldn’t buy much more bread than you already do. The same isn’t true for jewelry for example.
