Conspicuous Overconsumption

By Mike Schuster Jan 29, 2009 4:00 pm

The nine worst products and services born from our dearly departed bull market.

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You've just cracked open a bottle of old cognac to keep you company as you watch those Lehman Brothers shares appreciate in value. Leaning back in your $5000 massage chair, you congratulate yourself on a job well done as the patented kneading action does things to your deep tissues that only your spouse should ever do.

Remember those heady days?

Now that the new frugality is upon us, it's easy to forget the old lunacy. Some products -- as extravagantly useless as they are insultingly ostentatious -- could only have existed when the Dow was at 14,000 and it seemed like the only place to go was up.

Now, Minyanville cordially invites you to take a trip down recent-memory lane: The 9 worst examples of consumerism born from the unchecked arrogance of our dearly departed bull market.