• Seattle Post-Intelligencer/Bloomberg, USA Today , Thursday, November 6, 2008 10:30 AM

"Conspicuous consumption is less fashionable this season," according to a headline on a Bloomberg News story in the Post-Intelligencer. That means bad news for the likes of Saks, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus.

And Chris Woodyard reports in USA Today that hard times have even hit the chrome custom wheel business. His lede avers that "the bling-bling is going out of the fancy custom wheels business," and the article cites a lot of anecdotal evidence to back up the assertion.

But then, in a journalistic self-rejoinder, Woodyard concludes by quoting a sales manager for Velocity Wheels, who says "the bling-bling is going to be here for a long time. There's nothing to stop it."

They said that about Godzilla , too, didn't they? What can I tell you? I'm into Japanese videos this morning.

Read the whole story at Seattle Post-Intelligencer/Bloomberg, USA Today »