A photo from Poseidon Undersea Resorts took up a large part of the front page of my newspaper this morning. Staying a week at the undersea resort in Fiji planned to open in 2009 will cost $15,000. I don’t get to decide how the ultrarich spend their money, but I can think about why they spend $15,000 for a place to stay for a week. We all like to hang out with people who are either as good, or better, than we are. Last weekend we spent a night at a beach front motel. We spent $150. The room and the view were great, but the drinking, smoking, and noise of other guests made me wonder how much a person has to spend to escape the “riff raff.” I tried to avoid the more substantive issue of attitude and motives.

When a person gets a room for $15,000 a week, they don’t have to worry about seeing people like me in the parking lot.