The rich are struggling with
this pandemic.
And while finances might not be
their struggle,
they're struggling with boredom
because they cannot travel, there
are travel bans all over the world.
So what are they going to spend
their money on as they have become
wealthier during the pandemic and
the poor have become poorer?
Well, they have decided to
spend their money on
overvalued collectibles,
even as most others in the country
are struggling to pay rent.
For instance, an executive over
at Estee Lauder has found his new
obsession with luxury watches.
His name is John Dempsey, and
he says this,
all I do is go through watch porn,
which I think is a clunky sentence.
Maybe be a little more careful in
how you construct your sentences as
an executive.
But nonetheless, he says, Was,
I am selling watches,
I'm buying watches.
It's crazy.
I have no reason right now to buy
a watch.
I am at home all day at a computer.
Time is
staring me right in the face.
What reason do I have to look at
my wrist?
But i want a tangible sign
of something, so
I'm looking at watches.
And I'll give you examples
on how much those watches cost,
but what do you make of this?
>> I mean, at least watches,
the luxury kinds anyway,
are a decent investment.
If you go out and
you buy Rolex tomorrow,
in a year or two or five years, you
will be able to get pretty close to
however much you paid for it.
At least it's not something like
the digital art crap.
I mean, in my world, NBA Topshop,
which is just straight up,
they're selling YouTube highlights
to people.
Thery're selling Lebron dunked
on somebody.
We're selling a YouTube video of
that dunk and
you get to claim that it's yours.
That thing's not going to be worth
diddly in a few years.
Trust me, this is a complete and
utter scam and a sham.
On the digital art thing, I mean,
I'm reminded of the Martin Shkreli
guy buying the one Wu Tang album
that was in existence and
basically holding it hostage.
That kind of stuff,
whatever, those one offs
are what they're going to be, but
yeah, rich people are going to find
ways to squander money, and yeah,
not pay their fair share in taxes.
Of course,
this stuff all goes hand in hand,
obviously.
>> Yes.
And that's the issue
I have with it, right?
They fight so hard to maintain this
system that leads to inequality.
They fight so hard for it.
And so, if you're fighting that
hard for something,
it must be worth it, right?
What are you spending your
money on?
Is it significantly improved?
You think that this Estee Lauder
dude is happy?
If you need to buy these watches to
feel good about yourself, there is
something going on psychologically.
Physical things, consumerism, that
stuff might on the surface, maybe
temporarily it makes you feel good.
But it's not something that
fulfills your life,
it doesn't give you purpose,
it doesn't make you feel better.
And they're willing to destroy
the entire country just to maintain
this system of inequality so
they can buy these nonsense things.
And by the way,
right now, because of the fact
that the pandemic led some of these
watchmakers in Switzerland to shut
down, the value of some of these
existing luxury watches increased
in value, right?
Because there
is now a limited supply.
But they're going to open up
again, guys.
They're going to open up again.
And the New York Times is like,
yeah, they're such smart investors.
They really have their finger
on the pulse.
They know what they're doing.
No, they're not smart investors,
they're morons.
They're spending their money on
something that's going to decrease
in value as soon as the watchmakers
begin producing more of these
stupid luxury watches.
And Rolexes are ugly.
I'm going to say it.
They're ugly, they're gaudy.
I don't get it.
I don't get it. [LAUGH] >> So we
talked about this John Demsey guy,
loves to spend money on watches.
And honestly, believe it or not,
he is not the worst offender in
this story.
There are certainly people
who are worse, including those who,
I am sorry, are willing
to spend literally millions.
They won't pay taxes.
They'll fight to avoid
paying taxes.
They'll evade taxes in some cases,
but they do it because they want
to spend their money on really
important things like million
dollars on Donald Trump
digital art.
In February, a digital artwork of
Donald Trump facedown in the grass,
covered in words like loser,
sold for $6.6 million.
It's digital.
You can't touch it, okay?
A record for a nonfungible token,
or NFT, so called because there is
no physical piece for
the buyer to take possession of.
Fittingly, the image, by the way,
was paid for in Etherium,
a form of cryptocurrency that,
among millennials,
is almost as well known as bitcoin.
Two weeks later, Christie's sold
another NFT by Beeple,
this time for $69 million.
But thank God, I mean, what else
could we do with that money, right?
It's good that this person takes
advantage of the opportunities
provided in this country but
doesn't pay back by just paying
their fair share in taxes.
Look, I don't know who the specific
buyer is,
maybe I am being unfair to them.
But my point is there is
an intentional effort to maintain
and even exacerbate a system that
allows for people to become so
fabulously wealthy that they're
able to spend $69 million on
garbage while most Americans during
this pandemic have struggled to pay
rent, have struggled to pay
their health bills,
because they have been laid off and
lost their health insurance as
a result of being laid off.
These are real problems that
Americans have been facing.
And the reason why we are never
able to pass common sense
legislation is because at the other
nonsensical end of all of it
are wealthy people who just don't
want to provide the revenue through
paying their fair share of taxes to
fund the programs that we need.
That's why, that's why I have
an issue with this, right?
And also, all of the luxury items,
I have never really understood it.
I had a time in my life, Was,
where I got brainwashed.
I was a teenager, high school,
I am like,
yeah, of course, you're nothing if
you dont have a Gucci bag.
And then I realized no one
cares about Gucci bags.
>> Yeah.
>> You buy that kind of stuff to
try to impress other women, and
I'm not interested in impressing
other women.
I'm interested in impressing my
husband with a nice everything, and
he doesn't care about my Gucci bag.
[LAUGH] >> So- >> I was just about
to say, Ana, at no point when you
and Christian were consummating
your marriage or relationship did
he think to himself,
I wonder how this would have been
if she had a Burberry bag.
At no point, not that anybody wears
Burberry bags honestly,
if we're being honest.
[LAUGH] It's s got to be Hermes or
YSL or a couple of but
we're not going to get into that
right now, Ana.
But this is the thing,
rich people are going to spend
their money on ridiculous things.
I think that's part of the reason
you even become rich is to do
really gaudy things like that.
But I think I am heartened by
something that you said earlier
in the show, and no, not pollution
penis, but when you talked about,
the sort of culture of not
worshiping excess and being like,
that's so great is calming down.
I can remember somebody like Jay Z,
who I am a huge fan of, right,
and every time he make another
businessman was like, this
guy is so great, he's so genius.
And he would make songs about it,
like, isn't it great that I'm so
rich and
I'm black, and since you're black,
you get to feel good about it.
Isn't that just a great gift I just
gave to you? It's such a cynical
reading on the American
capitalistic system, but I think
now people are sort of hip to it.
He did his little freaking
champagne deal with Louis Vuitton,
Moet Hennessy company.
And he sold a majority stake in
Tidal, even though when it started,
it was we're taking this back,
it's ownership and blah, blah blah.
It was just another freaking
startup venture to eventually sell
and make money.
And great,
right, Jay Z is now really rich and
his children and his family will be
rich for eons and eons, and
that's nice for them.
But I think even in hip hop where
a big part of the culture is I'm
better than you, I have
got a better car, I've got a better
house, I've had sex for better
looking women, that's the culture.
I think having sex with women
still matters.
But people aren't as enamored
of the sort of the acquisition of
goods and money and hoarding it and
all of that as people used to be,
which I think is pretty heartening.
So, as disgusting as
this New York Times story was,
I think the culture at
large is moving past that.
>> You probably don't remember
this, but you said something to me
once that I'll never forget, and
it was probably the best compliment
that anyone's ever.
This is not hyperbole.
I genuinely believe it was the best
compliment that anyone's given
to me, and I don't even know
if you meant it as a compliment.
But you said to me, Ana,
you're not a show off.
And I think what you meant there is
I'm not a flashy person and
I don't really care about, I don't
really dress in name brand stuff.
I drive a used Honda Civic and
I love it.
I I don't care about that.
But it's- >> We got to get
you a Tesla.
I know Elon is evil, but
we got to get you a Tesla, Ana.
>> I like my car, I love my car.
>> You will look so
amazing in the model three,
come on.
>> I already look amazing.
[LAUGH] >> I don't need
a Tesla to do that.
I love my my Honda Civic so
much that when I got into a car
accident that totaled my original
Honda Civic in the beginning of
2020, I was on the warpath to
literally look for
the exact same used Honda Civic.
[LAUGH] >> JR was like,
did you just buy a car that's
exactly like the car you crashed,
that's years and years?
>> Yeah, it's old. I don't care.
I love that car.