There’s a pretty nausea-inducing article about the influence of the super-rich in the recent edition of New York magazine (not to be confused with The New Yorker, which usually affects a patrician disdain for the discussion of moolah). Anyway the gist of the obsequious piece is that the ultra rich may provoke envy, may be crooked, and drive property prices into the stratosphere, but they’re shedding so much cash that entire industries have grown up to meet their tastes. Among these remoras attaching themselves to the sharks are a whole class of waiters, art dealers, private tutors, and general gophers. (There’s an anecdote—maybe apocryphal?—of the directors of a major hedge fund sending their shoeshine man off to retirement with a $1 million bonus. Shades of Bonfire of the Vanities.)What was really revealing—and perhaps consoling to 99.9% of the populace who do not fall into the category of ultrarich—was a sidebar that drools over the items that facilitate conspicuous consumption. Even if you had cash to burn, would your moral sense (assuming you still had one) not quail at forking out for these ludicrous items? Two caught my attention: Hot Dog–$19Old Homestead Steakhouse�s twelve-inch dog is made of Kobe-style chuck (the rear end of a Texan cow that�s been artificially inseminated by a Japanese bull) and served with Kobe-style beef chili, Vidalia onions, bell peppers, and melted Cheshire cheddar sauce�no additives or nitrates. The eleven-inch roll is made from an old-fashioned recipe by Tom Cat Bakery.A gourmet hotdog? Doesn’t that miss the point?Powder Brush $375Only 150 of these Botan brushes were made for the United States; ten found their way to Shu Uemura�s New York store. Just two a day are crafted from black Japanese goat hair by a septuagenarian in Osaka. Even a veteran satirist would be hard-pressed to come up with that last detail–the hardworking Osakan septuagenarian artisan threading goathair.