[ericd]

I think you have a pretty simplistic view of rich people - on average, they're much more complex than just wanting to show off to the masses. I fall into the same trap with a lot of things, but it's important to realize that a lot of them are extremely smart, and there are a lot of motivations there.

But with your original point on luxury goods, luxury goods are usually subjectively, if not objectively better than less expensive alternatives, even when noone knows which one costs more. Your govt. ID, if it's only a pure status symbol and carries no weight, might be valued by some, but truly rich people wouldn't care. They don't need validation from "people they consider inferior". You're describing a small subset there. In general, they just want the best of everything, and the marginal utility of the money they're giving up is meaningless in comparison.