Store Adds Donald Trump's Picture To $150,000 Gold-Encased iPhones (cnn.com)

An anonymous reader quotes CNN's report about an iPhone 7 "encased in solid gold, encrusted with diamonds and bearing the face of Donald Trump." Priced around $151,000, it's just one example of the mind-blowing bling sold by Goldgenie, a store in the United Arab Emirates where the super rich do their shopping. "There are very wealthy, high-net-worth individuals all over the world and sometimes its very difficult to buy gifts for them because they have everything," said Frank Fernando, Goldgenie's managing director... But the phones are far from the most expensive item on sale. A gold-plated racing bike will set you back about $350,000. If you're thinking no one would buy a $150,000 Trump phone, think again. In the last month, they've sold ten of them.

Comments

Fuck yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll buy the next ten - V. I. Putin

Re:Fuck yeah

[PolygamousRanchKid]

I'll buy the next ten - V. I. Putin

Why would you want to buy a picture of something, when you already own the real thing . . . ?

Re:Fuck yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep! Sound like high end gold-plated dick sucking to me.
Slurp slurp slurp

Re:Fuck yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

Many people carry pictures of their children around in their wallets.

Re:Fuck yeah

[meerling]

I didn't know trump had gone to the UAE.

Re:Fuck yeah

[Anonymous Coward]

Copper fits his colouring better.

Re:Fuck yeah

[gtall]

I'm waiting for the Trump Bobble-Heads he'll be flogging for "special" access to the White House.

Re:Fuck yeah

[Cederic]

It'll be interesting to see if he tries that on. Although, it worked for Clinton..

The most primitive of the rich

[Anonymous Coward]

Gold is still such a powerful symbol to them.

Re: The most primitive of the rich

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize that I am an AC so you're free to disbelieve. I can not only buy one of these phones, I can sign some paperwork and take cash to pay for one of these phones.

Would you like to know why I can do this?

Because I don't buy stupid shit like this phone.

And a pointless observation... People who are rich would buy this. People who are wealthy would not. Rich people build mansions but serious wealth builds in stone. I am neither but I've got a few dollars. I have them because I don't buy stupid shit like this phone.

Re:The most primitive of the rich

[Anonymous Coward]

I abhor gold jewelry but still invest in gold. Today's gold prices are artificially low due to environmental and human costs aren't borne by the mining companies. They can pollute much as they want and use almost slave labor. If all the environmental impacts and fair labor wages are factored in, gold should be in the $4-5k range.

Re: The most primitive of the rich

[dgatwood]

For the most part, that's true, but there are actually two different groups of people who might buy this. The first are, as you mention, the sorts of people who get rich quickly and get poor again just as quickly. We'll call those "lottery winners" even though some of them get rich through other means, because it is still basically the same sorts of folks who come into a lot of money through some sort of luck and then don't know how to do anything with that money other than spend it.

But you're forgetting another group—people who are so enormously wealthy (the top 1% of the top 1%) that hundreds of thousands of dollars is pocket change. Obviously those folks are not likely to throw their money away on these sorts of things frequently. These are the same sorts of folks who could afford to use hundred dollar bills in the washroom if they so desired, but they don't, because as you say, they didn't get that wealthy by wasting money frivolously. But even wealthy people like to waste money on a lark every once in a while. And given enough wealthy people, even if just a fraction of a percent of the über-wealthy decide to buy one as a joke to get a laugh in the boardroom and then give it away as a Christmas gift to their nanny, or decide to give them as family gag gifts for Christmas, they'd still sell a few.

Re:The most primitive of the rich

[Plumpaquatsch]

I abhor gold jewelry but still invest in gold. Today's gold prices are artificially low due to environmental and human costs aren't borne by the mining companies. They can pollute much as they want and use almost slave labor. If all the environmental impacts and fair labor wages are factored in, gold should be in the $4-5k range.

That is the lamest excuse for the recent plunge of the gold price I have ever heard.

Re: The most primitive of the rich

[Anonymous Coward]

You are thinking from a western / capitalistic point of view. Even within the 1% of the 1% there are a lot of different factions. Only a small fraction are "capitalist" businessmen who earned their money 'legitimately". Among the 1% of the 1% there are the self made ones, the 2nd generation ones, the family legacy ones (3rd+ generation), the self-made illegally, the self-made but didn't earn it, the lottery winners, the war lords, the oil sheiks, the hackers, etc.

I can't speak for all these groups but the oil sheiks have what amounts to an allowance that they don't lift a fucking finger to "earn". Because they have this allowance money by default they don't really care about investing to earn more or investing to protect it... the government essentially handles that for them. The oil money is spending money. They have millions of dollars to blow every year and there are a ton of them. You can only buy so many million dollar cars before crap like this starts to make more sense than buying your 5th lambo.

Think I am full of shit? Watch some youtube videos of rich arabs traveling in packs of 100's of $500k+ super cars while they talk about the cars they didn't drive that day.

Bargains elsewhere in store

[SuperKendall]

sold by Goldgenie, a store in the United Arab Emirates

I guess all of the Hillary ones they had printed up earlier must be selling at a nice discount now!

Re: Bargains elsewhere in store

[Anonymous Coward]

A capitalist store doesn't offer clear losing products.

Re: Bargains elsewhere in store

[Anonymous Coward]

But they're already selling Apple products.

Re:Bargains elsewhere in store

[Anonymous Coward]

Which reminds me of something I saw the other day. It was post, with a confederate flag background , and the caption said "We won get over it"
Trump Trump Trump

Re: Bargains elsewhere in store

[ReedlyDeedly]

They got forwarded to the poor starving children of St. Bart's.

Re: Bargains elsewhere in store

[Anonymous Coward]

Your gay!

Re: Bargains elsewhere in store

[Anonymous Coward]

What's with his gay?

Just so everyone knows

[tempo36]

For when you're really rich and want to make absolutely 100% sure that everyone knows you'd rather spend your money on displays of wealth than anything remotely beneficial to anyone else.

(p.s. Remember, when we help the wealthy make more money, they become JOB CREATORS!)

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, sarcastic ye may be but... you're not wrong.

Someone had to actually make those gold-clad abominations after all. :/

Re:Just so everyone knows

[ShanghaiBill]

For when you're really rich and want to make absolutely 100% sure that everyone knows

If you are really "super-rich", you prefer to keep a lower profile. The big market for "bling" is for posers and wannabes. Do you see Bill Gates or Warren Buffett displaying bling? I have actually met a few billionaires (David Filo, Jerry Yang, Larry Page, Sergey Brin). They were wearing jeans and sneakers or sandals. No bling.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you see Bill Gates or Warren Buffett displaying bling? I have actually met a few billionaires (David Filo, Jerry Yang, Larry Page, Sergey Brin). They were wearing jeans and sneakers or sandals. No bling.

It's anti-bling. When you're at that level, you can wear anything you want. Walking into a business meeting where I have to wear a suit, they can show up in jeans and a T-shirt because of who they are. I walk in wearing jeans and a T-Shirt folks will wonder who the hell do I think I am.

Only a billionaire can look like a slob and be taken seriously. See what I mean?

Another example is this restaurant in Greenwich, CT. Suit and Tie for everyone BUT Paul Newman when he was alive. He wore jeans, shirt and cowboy boots - because he was Paul Newman. Even the billionaire Wall Street weren't allowed in like that.

Doing what you want - especially where it isn't appropriate - is a sign of power.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep. If you are a billionaire and show up to a suit-and-tie type meeting wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops, it shows extreme hubris to other attendees of that meeting.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[shanen]

Insightful? If I ever got a mod point to give, yours would have been funny, for sure, for sure.

Anyway, I keep trying to imagine some constructive response to the Donald. This [the extremely conspicuous consumption topic of the article] was not it.

On the one hand, I want to regard Trump as a short term problem. Excellent chance he'll get Bill-Cosby-ed out of office within a few months. If he lives up to his Gettysburg promise and sues all of them, then he'll be forced to confess or perjure himself. If he doesn't sue them, then all of the other women will start selling their Donald stories when the values skyrocket next month. Maybe Trump can blow off the sexual predator tag, but Bill Cosby used to be far more popular than Trump ever was.

On the other hand, things could be much worse. Pence as president is bad, but Trump dumping Pence in 2020 and making Ivanka his VP would be much worse... If she became president, I guess that would mean America had become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump organization, whatever that is.

Point of clarification: How many times did Trump buy full-page ads about "social problems"? Was the Central Park Jogger thing just a one off?

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Opportunist]

Totally different market, totally different mindset. To understand how this works, you'd first of all have to understand the mentality of the target audience.

In the UAE, if you're wealthy and want to "count", you have to show that you have the money. Actually, you have to show that money is so unimportant to you that you can throw it away. And that's best done by buying shit nobody that actually values money would buy. It takes a while to get used to this, but once you understand how status works in that area, the whole insanity starts to make a lot of sense. What matters is not what you do, but how. You have to make a phone call, but you do it on a 150k phone. You have to go somewhere, but you have to drive there with a Ferrari. And of course it has to be some limited edition, because everyone and their dog can simply buy a Ferrari.

You're dealing with people who have a completely different idea of status. In the US, being rich means that you buy a football team because that is somehow an investment. Or you do charity because that allows you to connect with people. Or you do anything else that actually has at least a side benefit. Over there, status is measured by being able to simply throw away money for no tangible return. And to show that you can throw away money, you need to show off crap that is insanely expensive but has no "real" net benefit. A normal iPhone makes calls just as well as the 150k version, but that 150k version shows that you can throw those 150k away without getting anything in return.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[MightyMartian]

I have a hard time seeing Trump run in 2020, but if it happens I doubt even he's daft enough to make Ivanka his running mate. The reality is that she is going to be functioning as his First Lady, since it's pretty clear his wife has no interest in a full time White House residency.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

At a certain level of society, hubris, like greed, is good.

Virtues are only virtues if they are beneficial in a specific environment. Thinking you are a living god when you already have millions will attract millions more to you. That is why sociopaths are at the top and nuns are at the bottom.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[hey!]

When I worked in the non-profit sector I had some old-money (literally came over on the Mayflower types) trust fund kids working for me. I visited their parents' houses and they were full of treasures, but not bling. You had to stop and look to realize that the table you were sitting at was 250 years old or the portrait of great-grandpa hanging int he stairway was painted by John Singer Sergeant. I noticed in one dining room that the side board had a massive cast iron base; when I asked about it, I was told it was the 12.7 liter inline eight cylinder engine from a 1931 Bugatti Royale. When I expressed interest in that I was then shown what looked like a child's toy ride-in car under the piano in the living room, and was told was a tiny but fully functional automobile that had been hand built by Ettore Bugatti himself.

I mean, geez, it's not something anyone actually would have a use for, but as pointless things go it was literally a wonder.

After seeing the ancestral houses I can kind of understand the contempt people like the Boston Brahmins and Philadelphia Main Liners have for the nouveau riche; it's like these people were brought up in a museum full of exquisite and historically significant things. A lot like it in fact; in a way they're more like caretakers than owners, handing stuff they got from their distant ancestors down to their descendants.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[KiloByte]

sociopaths are at the top and nuns are at the bottom

What about sociopathic nuns?

Re:Just so everyone knows

[arth1]

For when you're really rich and want to make absolutely 100% sure that everyone knows you'd rather spend your money on displays of wealth than anything remotely beneficial to anyone else.

"Peacocking" is indeed an evolutionary trait. By showing that you have so much resources that you can waste some on frivolity, you show that you have more than enough resources to raise offspring.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[guises]

I have a little question for you, just something that I've been curious about: why do police in Dubai drive really expensive sports cars? They're Lamborghinis and such, but not all the same - high-end sports cars from a bunch of different manufacturers. How does that fit in to this mindset?

Re:Just so everyone knows

[dgatwood]

If memory serves, they buy a lifetime supply of discipline rulers and then teach third grade.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Bonus if you were one of the folks who bought the "I'm rich" iOS app before Apple pulled it from the store.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Cosby? Think Bill Clinton.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

A future display of wealth will be when Vladimir Putin becomes the junior senator from New York.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[meerling]

Actually the economists and their studies say that they don't. Actually they are a drain on the economy. Any money going to a middle or lower class person creates far more economic health & activity than it does going to a rich person. You wouldn't believe how huge of a difference!
This is of course, not based on common sense, because frankly common sense is an illusion, rather it's based on the mechanisms of economic systems.
You don't believe me? No problem, just go look it up, the documentation is out there, and it includes the work of people that won Nobels for their work in economics.
If you want to argue about it, argue with the world experts, not just an insignificant person like me that reads lots of things.

By the way, that entire trickledown economics stuff was discredited long before Regan espoused it. It's only taught by sub-standard and questionable places because the majority of economists already know it's total bunk.
(Also from world class economists. Really, you people should read some of their articles and reports.)

Re:Just so everyone knows

[DigiShaman]

The concept of excessive disposable wealth is not limited to the UAE, it's quite common among Asia too. It's basically a show of financial wealth that exudes a demigod level of power and status; as if they could own any bitch ass with a snap of the finger. But ironically, these are also the best customers. More often than not, they're not very selective of the pedigree of the seller. Anyone, and I mean ANYONE could open a storefront and sell overpriced crap under the guise of "exclusive" and "limited". Ultimately, the seller isn't selling a tangible product insomuch as an endorsement that only an ultra wealthy demigod could afford. BE THAT SELLER!

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is why those pissants will end up back in the sand fucking camels once their lottery winning oil revenue is gone.

They just happened to luck into sitting on top of something that was valuable, but not *quite* worth the effort of rolling in, smashing them flat, and taking it was.

even now all they know how to do is squander vast amounts of money. History is replete with similar cases and they all end up badly.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

If a bunch of women had legit Donald stories, don't you think they would have been dug up the DNC muck-rakers during the campaign? Why wait until he wins?

Re:Just so everyone knows

[fustakrakich]

I want to regard Trump as a short term problem.

The "Trump" phenomenon is as old as the hills, like France's Le Pen, and the Philippines' Duterte, and a host of other right wing nationalists. He's just today's face.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[dryeo]

They worked at the residential schools (Canada) along with the sociopath brothers. The stories that have come out about how the good Christians treated the native kids, one they actually set up an electric chair and would laugh as they electrocuted the 3rd graders for minor infractions like using their birth tongue. Last school closed less then 20 years ago, usually Catholic with a few others sects thrown in.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

A normal iPhone makes calls just as well as the 150k version, but that 150k version shows that you can throw those 150k away without getting anything in return.

There was a time when people like that would be conquered and subjugated by more practical foreign invaders. It would seem that allowing effete weaklings to walk around with gold plated iPhones is what passes for progress these days.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[tempo36]

I'm confident in my guess that you could far better spend that money to make jobs than however that business is structured. It's a luxury item and I really doubt, just like the sales people selling Gucci bags, that the employees of that company are the significant recipients of the money being spent in the stores.

I mean, sure, it's a transfer of wealth from the very top to someone else, and that's better than nothing. But when someone buys a $150k iPhone, let's not pretend that it's their way of "giving back to the little guy."

Re: Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Sucks to be you though cause when that starts happening to them you'll be long dead after javing lived your shitty McDonald happymeal life scraping by while they live it up.

Re: Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Makes sense. You don'y want to live in the same house as your rapist.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[bluegutang]

How else can they keep up with the criminals in sports cars in a car chase?

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

I want to regard Trump as a short term problem.

The "Trump" phenomenon is as old as the hills, like France's Le Pen, and the Philippines' Duterte, and a host of other right wing nationalists. He's just today's face.

Trump is not a right wing nationalist. He just toots that horn to gain popularity ith people that have that mindset.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[shanen]

Hmm... I hadn't really thought about that angle of approach because I don't regard the First Lady as having much importance. I'd even say that was a negative factor on Hillary's resume, but in Trump's case I can now see how he would tout it as a qualification for naming her as VP.

I can sympathize with your having a hard time imaging him running in 2020. I still can't believe he ran seriously this year.

I'm TUSAD now. (Trump-Underlying Stress Anxiety Disorder)

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Hognoxious]

They go to India, discourage the use of contraceptives and then get saintified (or whatever the word is, I'm not a bead-jiggler).

Re: Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that I was fortunate enough to be born in the greatest country ever, and make a pretty comfortable living doing so.

I have no envy of sand n*ggers.

So go fuck yourself, terrorist lover.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[gtall]

Well, that explains their support for Daesh and al Qaeda.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[gtall]

It is possible that Trump self-implodes after he finds that no one believes anything he says due his rather mystical relationship with facts and truth.

There's another affect of Trump. He is addicted to publicity. The way he gets it is by making outrageous statements and then roils things further by his over-the-top responses. After awhile, he'll have run out of big ticket concepts he can stick pins into, news organizations will become jaded with covering his inane pronouncements as "There he goes again". What makes it particularly bad for him is that he has the attention span of a gnat. So he's incapable of executing any long term plan because he can see no further than the next 5 minutes and even that depends upon whom he's talked to last.

You can see the effect of this with his statement on a nuclear arms race. None of the news of the transition was coming out as particularly favorable and he wasn't seen as doing anything other than handing out favors. Most of the press was on the nominees, not Trump. He needed something to get the spotlight back on him.

He delivers rallies where he still whining about Clinton because he basks in the warm glow of his followers getting excited, its part of the fix he needs. The promotion of Putin isn't well-thought out or even in his best interest, it just generates news with Trump in the picture.

The composition of his cabinet shows just what an unguided missile he really is. It isn't a team as other administrations have sought to put together. It is a scattershot grouping of people he's run into that support him. He has no vision, no intellectual depth, no strategic vision.
 

Re:Just so everyone knows

[HanzoSpam]

Exactly, what's so wonderful about "the little guy" that the rest of the world should be bending over backwards to accommodate him? If he was doing anything of any substantial significance, he wouldn't be a "little guy".

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

They still live in the middle ages. With middle ages I mean in a feudal system, with a few owners and the majority of the population serves. They allow a bourgeoisie of traders who remain free men. It is the bourgeoisie who enable the owners, in this case people who own an oil well, to earn billions of dollars. But of course you live in the middle ages. Who wants to move from a modern nation to a nation that is stuck in the middle ages, including intolerant religions, inhumane religious laws, and serves living in deep poverty?
 
They attract people by creating a fairy tale land. That means having a police driving super sports cars. This means building the most beautiful and tallest buildings of the world. This means building water parts and green golf parks in the middle of a desert. It is no different than the old trade cities in medieval Europe with their city guards wearing expensive, shining armor and beautiful churches and town halls.

I've a friend who was a WRC Rally driver. He lived in Qatar. He earned about 20 million dollars a year back then, but still lived for free in Qatar. He had his own desert were he could train with other WRC rally drivers. They were there to attract people who love rally. They often drove rich people around the desert. It is all part of the fairy tail. It are these very rich people who think they got their wealth from God (or in their case Allah) who buy stuff like this.

Re: Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

that is why they are so primitve

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Anonymous Coward]

If only they would stick walking around with 150k costing iPhones. Some donate that money to the family of the martyr who drives a truck through a Christmas market or to the parents of a 9 year old who explodes himself in a police station somewhere in Iraq...
 
In places like Uganda, the wealthy even buy children to sacrifice to prevent them from having misfortune.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[unixisc]

Actually, that's what. Much as I disdain the way people live in the GCC countries, I'd rather they spend this cash on cases several orders of magnitude more expensive than the phones actually inside them. Seriously, Apple should do an iPhone 7 w/ 64GB RAM and 4TB of flash drive just to have something that these guys would buy. Price it a bit more than the cases.

That's a whole lot better than their Jerry Lewis sessions for the families of suicide assassins or people funding their own private Jihadist militias in Syria or Iraq

Re:Just so everyone knows

[fustakrakich]

That's why I said the "phenomenon", not the person.

Re: Just so everyone knows

[Zero__Kelvin]

You know that YOU are the little guy, right?

Re:Just so everyone knows

[KozmoStevnNaut]

That's probably the most precise summation of life in the UAE I have ever read, and precisely why I'm not in any hurry to go back there. I was there for a single day on a layover, and the corruption and internal rot of their society was blatant.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[KozmoStevnNaut]

I'm not going to defend conspicuous consumptions, but at least the things you mentioned the old-money types buying and owning have some inherent value. The old table is a durable and well-built piece of handwork that has stood the test of time. The painting was a genuine work of art that probably took the artist a significant amount of time and skill to paint. The bigass engine could be considered a work of engineering art in itself, once it had finished serving its original purpose. The child's toy car was a hand-crafted functional item, made with care and skill.

Over the top and ultimately unnecessary? Sure, but compared to Swarovski crystal-studded lambskin gift-wrapping paper and gold-plated consumer electronics, they almost seem like sound investments.

I second your understanding of the contempt for the nouveau riche from the Old Money, I just wish the Old Money weren't such arrogant shitheels too.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Plumpaquatsch]

Do you see Bill Gates or Warren Buffett displaying bling? I have actually met a few billionaires (David Filo, Jerry Yang, Larry Page, Sergey Brin). They were wearing jeans and sneakers or sandals. No bling.

It's anti-bling. When you're at that level, you can wear anything you want. Walking into a business meeting where I have to wear a suit, they can show up in jeans and a T-shirt because of who they are. I walk in wearing jeans and a T-Shirt folks will wonder who the hell do I think I am.

So what does that tell us about the blingest (blingyest?) (self declared) rich person in the world?

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Plumpaquatsch]

I have a little question for you, just something that I've been curious about: why do police in Dubai drive really expensive sports cars? They're Lamborghinis and such, but not all the same - high-end sports cars from a bunch of different manufacturers. How does that fit in to this mindset?

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/04/2013411112032382393.html

But the green-and-white car will probably not be roaring after law breakers in Dubai, an emirate in which local media said 33 people had been killed in car accidents in the first two months of this year.

will be mostly dispatched to tourist areas to show - in the words of deputy police director General Khamis Matter al-Muzaina - "how classy Dubai is".

State Bling.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Plumpaquatsch]

If a bunch of women had legit Donald stories, don't you think they would have been dug up the DNC muck-rakers during the campaign? Why wait until he wins?

Maybe he had them all killed? Or have you heard of Jane Doe again? Instead his co-defendent was suddenly linked to Hillary Clinton in the Pizzagate Fake.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[shanen]

Most of your criticisms sound quite applicable to Dubya, but I'm still reserving judgment on the "real" Donald. At first I dismissed his lies as low level and low caliber, but now I'm not sure.

By low level and low caliber, I mean Level 0 lies of self-contradiction and Level 1 lies of counterfactual statements. Such lies are easily recognized and only work with suckers who want to be deceived. Maybe Trump only resorts to those lies for appropriate audiences and he is capable of higher level lies. I haven't detected many examples of Level 2 lies of partial truth, but I'm beginning to think he does use some Level 3 lies of framing. Maybe you can help me understand this "gas lighting" thing (that has been linked to Trump)? I thought it was a kind of framing, recasting the truth so strongly as to make the victim question his own sanity, but I'm less and less sure about anything that involves Trump.

If Trump is actually a skilled actor playing to his audiences, then America's situation may be even worse than it seems. Lots of people think Reagan was a good president, when in reality he was just acting the role, and he wasn't even an especially skilled actor. Unfortunately, I can't compare apples to oranges... Reagan did a few B-grade movies, but Trump was mostly involved in reality TV. (Though I think it should be called surreality TV.)

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Opportunist]

Same reason: Respect is earned by bling. You think someone would respect a policeman in a car that doesn't cost even 30k USD? Please. Just because you have flashing lights, why'd anyone stop for you in your toy car?

And even more important: The police is "owned" by the emir. And of course he has to equip his staff with respectable vehicles. Or can't he afford it?

Re: Just so everyone knows

[Opportunist]

Primitive is relative, that's just how status works over there. I mean, look at us, we're by no means better. Some would call us primitives because we think we have to keep up with the Kadashians despite them not having any really marketable skill that could remotely be called "important". Yet we hype them to celebrity status.

THAT is primitive!

Re:Just so everyone knows

[shanen]

AC said:

If a bunch of women had legit Donald stories, don't you think they would have been dug up the DNC muck-rakers during the campaign? Why wait until he wins?

Not sure if that was supposed to be some sort of a joke, but most people are not eager to talk in public about their private sexual experiences. Also, I believe that most of them were eager to "play" with the Donald, either due to his fame or for monetary aspirations. It's the second group that should be scaring Trump now, because the monetary value of their stories is about to skyrocket.

Actually, your use of AC seems to prove my point, though you would have a different reason for protecting your privacy. It is rational cowardice to protect your identity these days. You could well be in a situation where being identified as a Trump supporter could hurt you.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[fustakrakich]

but most people are not eager to talk in public about their private sexual experiences.

Unlike you!

Re:Just so everyone knows

[tempo36]

Please see definition of "Sarcasm" if you had difficulty with the original comment about Job Creators. Hence the bit about 100% not being beneficial to anyone else besides displaying your own wealth.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Archangel Michael]

It isn't conspicuous consumption, it is literally wealth that the IRS cannot tax. Those one of a kind pieces are designed for one purpose, to hide and appreciate wealth. How do you appraise one of a kind pieces that have never seen an auction or sale? How does one "tax" something that has no face value that is anywhere near what it is actually worth?

The Old Money is laughing at people like you, because you don't see it the way they do. They stuffed their mattresses with money, except it isn't stuffed with money, and it isn't in mattresses. That 25 Million dollar painting, is handed down from generation to generation and isn't included in the estate taxes. Those same taxes the average American has no idea how to avoid.

I've found that people mocking others in ignorance are kind of arrogant shitheads.

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Archangel Michael]

As opposed to "I did not send or receive any classified emails. There is no classified Emails" ?
Or how about "Sniper Fire"
Or ....

The problem isn't with Donald, or even Hillary, it is with the American People who dismiss Yuge Character Flaws in favor of sweet lies that they want to hear.

As Bad as a lot of people think Trump is, a nearly equal number of people thought the same of Hillary. Enough so, that Trump won when there was "no possible way" he could. Except that Hillary was probably the only candidate that COULD lose to Trump. And for everyone that keeps discounting Trump, please continue to do so, as I am sure you did before he ran, after he announced, after he won the (R) nomination and .... well you still haven't learned your lesson. I know, it is really hard to take him seriously, but he is actually counting on that. ;)

Re:Just so everyone knows

[Archangel Michael]

He's just today's face.

And yet, people continue to judge him for things he hasn't yet done, while ignoring the crimes happening under Obama. They like their version of tyrant better than the other tyrant over there ---->

International Tyranny is way better than national tyranny right?

Re:Just so everyone knows

[fustakrakich]

International Tyranny is way better than national tyranny right?

Don't really know. Which one is the easier sell to the public? I would say the nationalist kind that exploits normal natural tribalism. Worked 90 years ago, and works just as well today. It keeps the democrats and republicans in power, to the tune of 97% reelection rates. So personally, I don't expect much. And really, what has Obama done that wasn't done by the people before him?

And this ladies and gentlemen

[rsilvergun]

is why I'm a socialist. Let capitalism run wild and we'll spend our resources on crap like this instead of Ebola vaccines. And don't say it's a false dichotomy. We are nowhere near ready as a civilization to support this level of veblen goods and a decent standard of living for the remaining 99%. Hell, in my country we'll still arguing over who's gonna pay for type-I diabetics to have insulin...

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed.

You can do alot of good in this world for the price of that phone. But no, it's all about you, and that's where your money is going - to hell with everyone else.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

There's already plenty of food to feed the world, talk to the people running Africa and North Korea if you want to know why their people have no access to food.

Re: And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

You should move to Venezuela with the rest of the socialists. I'm sure they'll be spending loads on Ebola vaccines just as soon as they can afford some food.

Socialism is an even bigger train wreck than capitalism with all the inane useless gold phones and wall mounted talking bass.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[ShanghaiBill]

is why I'm a socialist. Let capitalism run wild and we'll spend our resources on crap like this instead of Ebola vaccines.

Except that we now have an Ebola vaccine, and it was developed by capitalists.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[hey!]

The scientists in the Public Health Agency of Canada are capitalists?

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[shanen]

Well, if it had been sufficiently profitable, then you can bet the capitalists drug companies would have been all over it!

Unfortunately, one-shot cures and vaccines are much less profitable than developing drugs for chronic and incurable diseases.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Opportunist]

What do they have to do with socialism? You might want to look up the word, it doesn't mean what you seem to think it does.

Re: And this ladies and gentlemen

[Opportunist]

Only because it's easier to see through it. The lie in socialism is "work hard and we'll all be living in paradise tomorrow". The capitalist lie is more insidious because it's more personal, "work hard and you'll have the money to also shit on the rest of the world like those that shit on you today".

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[ShanghaiBill]

The scientists in the Public Health Agency of Canada are capitalists?

Canada is a capitalist country. So, yes, this research was paid for by capitalists. If socialism actually worked, we would see all the big medical breakthroughs coming from Cuba and North Korea.

To get back to refuting the GPP's point, Canada certainly didn't fund this by outlawing "bling".

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[ShanghaiBill]

Well, if it had been sufficiently profitable, then you can bet the capitalists drug companies would have been all over it!

Merck has licensed the technology and is currently commercializing it.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

Communism isn't the only form of socialism, social-democracy is one too...

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[angel'o'sphere]

Plenty of deseases are cureable. But the medical industrial complex wants to keep you dependened on drugs. E.g. those many psychopharmaca or the time when they claimed ulkus was not treatable while in fact it is just a bacteria or diabetes (not sure if it is type I or II, one is healabke with diet changes, the other one with transplants and or diet changes).

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[angel'o'sphere]

First of all, North Korea is not socialistic. They are a military dictatorship, in case you lived the last 50 years under the rock. I believe they even call them self communists ... but well a dictator can call his reign how ever he wants and is not oblieged to use the words in the way the dictionary defines them. Also I bet the markets in NK are pretty capitalistic ...

And secondly: plenty of medical innovation indeed comes from Cuba. You indeed live under a rock, do you?

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[ShanghaiBill]

Communism isn't the only form of socialism, social-democracy is one too...

No it isn't. "Socialism" and "social democracy" are two completely different things.
Social democracy ("progressivism" in America): Redistribution to promote equality of economic outcomes.
Socialism: Government ownership of the means of production.

Many countries that practice social democracy are even less "socialist" than America. For instance, in Denmark, even the postal service is privatized.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

... still arguing over who's gonna pay for type-1 diabetics ...

Capitalist-socialism doesn't mean gold-plated bling is unavailable. It means that taxes are high so that sick people have a stable quality of life. Your country is arguing because it doesn't believe that rich people have to invest in the health and safety of everyone. As long as rich people control the discussion, "Fuck you, I got mine" will be a valid business ethic and nothing changes.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[shanen]

Well, if it had been sufficiently profitable, then you can bet the capitalists drug companies would have been all over it!

Merck has licensed the technology and is currently commercializing it.

So the obvious question is whether they got an exclusive license, or even control over any patents involved. Or maybe they don't care that much since the risky and expensive parts are already taken care of?

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Hognoxious]

And yet resources are irretrievably consumed in its manufacture that could be used for something else.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Swave An deBwoner]

For instance, in Denmark, even the postal service is privatized.

Something that conservatives have been long pushing for in the US as well.

http://www.thelocal.dk/20160503/denmarks-postal-service-just-got-even-worse

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[gtall]

Well, grasshopper, socialism has been such a raging success that countries the world over are adopting it. Forgetting that it leads to authoritarianism in many cases, it doesn't generate higher living standards. Ah, but you say "Sweden". Look at Sweden a bit more closely and you'll see them giving up their socialist mantra in favor of free market reforms. They started doing that in the 90's when it was clear their economy was circling the toilet bowl. For a faster flush, see Venezuela, and that even with enormous oil reserves. Even Cuba is going market because, errrr, the revolution just isn't delivering the goods now that they squeezed most of the initiative out of the people. Oh, and Venezuela cannot supply them with oil any longer in payment for their doctors and nurses.

There is also a question of staying power. Socialism doesn't wear very well in the long term. Well, it wouldn't seeing as it drives down standards of living due to no one wanting to work harder than anyone else. Why should they? What's in it for them?

A current example is the election Trump by people who will take it in the neck when the ACA goes away. The general feeling among those voters was that the ACA was good for them and they expected Trump and the congressional Republicans wouldn't take it all away from them, what they really expected was it would be taken away from those "other" people who clearly didn't deserve it.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[SumterLiving]

Context is everything.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course postal services get worse. Today people use smartphones to send messages. Old people even use email. Who uses the postal services to send text messages? The non privatized postal services didn't do a good job in package delivery. Private companies filled the 'niche' in the market. That's were the money is made. Of course you can keep it funded by tax payers money. Tax payers money keeps on coming, no need to give a better or cheaper service. There is no way to not break even because all the costs get paid eventually. Sometimes there is an attempt to cut costs and demand the postal services to become more efficient, this is often immediately answered with a union action or even strikes.

Socialism had its time. That time is over. The lie was that redistribution would make richer a little less rich and poor a lot less poor. This kind of worked except for the fact that the money was printed from thin air. The money was borrowed from future generations. The future generations the politician borrowed against are today's elder generation who no longer make money. To pay the retirement of those people who made their wealth by borrowing from our generation, we have to borrow from the next generation. But to pay back the money from the generation before that of the elderly we also have to borrow money. But we also have to live ourselves, so we also borrow to create our own wealth. But what about our children? Well there will be too little people to pay the triple borrowing scheme because socialism has caused us to no longer have children because we all had to have a career. A career so we could pay taxes to pay back the borrowing scheme, although tax money has never been used to pay back but to redistribute money. So now politicians want to borrow money from people who still life in a third world country. They still have to immigrate and to get them here we have to promise free houses, educations, money with the reassurance that the native population will adopt to their weird customs. To fund that system, they have to borrow money from future generations. We are still not thinking about paying back what we borrowed in the past.

This is were it starts to fail. People do not like to live with people who hate them. People don't want to give up doing stuff they have been doing for 20-30-40 years because it might offend a new comer who has a completely different culture. Especially when new comers start to become aggressive the native population starts to become angry. When the new comers even start to randomly kill people or blow things up, the native population might even vote for someone who is the opposite of progressiveness.

Our country has a population were 87% directly or indirectly earns money from tax payer money. That means that 13% of the population is responsible for the wealth that is created and redistributed. This number was about 30% 20 years ago and about 60% when social democracy started. This system is no longer sustainable, especially when wealth producing factories are moved to low wage countries. The only way to stop the declining number of wealth producers is to reverse the progressive taxes. Instead of punishing people who create wealth through high taxes, they should be allowed to reward themselves. This might be some free time, a nice car, or a freaking golden iPhone with the picture of Donald Trump. If instead they have to pay 500,000 in taxes to give it to people who don't produce anything, they might think that it is a good idea to move to a country where they are allowed to profit from their work.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

You sound like those Muslim jihads of love who claim the Muslim jihads who behead people in the Levant are not really Islamic. Islam is peace and every Muslim who isn't peaceful is not really a Muslim.

In reality North Korea is socialist and on their revolutionary way to the communist paradise, South Korea is conservative. North Korea is well know for its dictatorship and potential nuclear threat. South Korea is well know of its guru influencing the president and consumer products producing organizations like Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, ...

About the medical innovation of Cuba. There is no medical innovation in Cuba. That's the big lie. There is also no love for old cars that cost a lot of money, there are only old cars that were there before they started their socialist experiment. You can buy cars if you want, but a car that costs 15,000 euro in France, costs 90,000 dollar in Cuba. But the average wage in Cuba is so low nobody can afford to pay 90,000 dollar (it is an amazing 108 dollar a year on average compared to the 22,000 euro a year in France).

Of course you can claim that every failed socialist country is not really socialist and only give successful socialist countries as the reference for socialism. But even then there is not much of a reference because there is not one single successful socialist country.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[hey!]

Well, if you search for the right definition you can make any statement true-ish.

By "capitalist" I mean someone who supports himself by investing in assets as opposed to someone who supports himself by labor. I'm not including everybody who might think that free markets are a good idea for some things.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

is why I'm a socialist. Let capitalism run wild and we'll spend our resources on crap like this instead of Ebola vaccines.

Johnny, can you please tell the class the ratio of vaccines to economic systems, capitalism versus socialism, have been created and the number of lives saved by each?

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong on the first. They call themselves a Republic. It's in the damn name DPRK! And not one citation for the second, let alone "plenty".

Given that the first half is provably wrong and the second half has no proof, why should anyone believe either?

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Swave An deBwoner]

I'm tempted to reply with "citation needed" but given that your post is entirely opinion rather than objective fact, I'll forego that exercise.

However your closing statement:

Instead of punishing people who create wealth through high taxes, they should be allowed to reward themselves. This might be some free time, a nice car, or a freaking golden iPhone with the picture of Donald Trump. If instead they have to pay 500,000 in taxes to give it to people who don't produce anything, they might think that it is a good idea to move to a country where they are allowed to profit from their work.

is egregiously wrong. You have taken down the pictures of children without an adequate economic environment in which to grow up and become free individuals helping to further the prosperity of all in a just society; of the old who can no longer properly even shelter themselves because they are being priced out and kicked out of their lifelong homes; and the working classes who toil in a futile effort to sustain themselves and their families and thus must receive assistance in the form of food stamps and public medical subsidies despite operating the tools of production for 40 or 60 or 80 hours per week. And in place of those you have erected a statue of the wealthy elite, "punished" by high taxes, without free time, without a nice car, and - sadly - without a gold-encrusted iPhone. If we don't stop "punishing" these creators of wealth then they will leave our country and build their wealth elsewhere (as an aside, where do you think the iPhones are being built if not "elsewhere"?).

What, you might ask, is possibly here that would keep a wealthy elite person from leaving?

Given that the timeline of your complaints go back several decades, let me ask you - why have they not already left?

I think that the answer to that question is more complex than a simple count of how many gold-encrusted iPhones one can shove into one's pockets.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Anonymous Coward]

>Well, grasshopper, socialism has been such a raging success that countries the world over are adopting it. Forgetting that it leads to authoritarianism ...
>A current example is the election Trump by people who will take it in the neck when the ACA goes away.

I would have preferred the socialistic a single payer system rather than ACA, which has been a raging success in countries the world over that are adopting it.
The authoritative "Death Panels" really have not been much a problem.

 

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[blindseer]

If socialism is so great then why must it be enforced at gunpoint? If socialism is go great then why is it that so many more patents come from nations with capitalism?

As with so many things we have to take the bad with the good. People with enough freedom to dedicate their lives to medicine and develop vaccines is also the society that has people free enough to take the money they earned in business and spend it on useless crap like a gold plated iPhone.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Archangel Michael]

Ah yes, the "no true Scottsman" argument.

Re:And this ladies and gentlemen

[Archangel Michael]

Redistribution to promote equality of economic outcomes

Equality of Outcomes is fundamentally unequal in application. Which is why it is inherently evil. To do so, is to view the world as success is evil, and failure is good. This is why we set up a tax code to punish those that work and are successful and reward failure. Guess what happens when you do this over a long period of time? Guess what kind of world that leaves?

There is no way to make outcomes equal or even equalize them.

Sand nlggers

[Anonymous Coward]

are setting standards of consciousness in liberal world, is that it?

Re:Sand nlggers

[Anonymous Coward]

Goldgenie is a London based company, so you can't blame the sand nlggers for this one.

speed dial?

[Anonymous Coward]

Does the phone have tramps personal number on speed dial? If so, then $150k is pretty cheap actually.

Mammon

[PopeRatzo]

It's the reason for the season.

Meh.

[Frosty Piss]

Not sure why this is news, I can probably order a case with anything etched on it, even gold if I want, though platinum turns me on more.

Re:Meh.

[mlts]

There are places which will throw gold and encrust gems on anything. A few years ago, there was a place selling gold flecks in a capsule so one could have blingy poop.

The fact that the phone is expensive and has Trump's name on it is notable, but if someone wanted the same thing with someone else's face, I'm sure Goldgenie would be more than happy to do that.

As for a phone, an iPhone 7 is OK... but if one is going to spend the big bucks, why not a phone from Vertu? Might as well have the name recognition as well.

Have a look at the gold Mac Book Pro...

[Frosty Piss]

At £9995.00, the gold Mac Book Pro isn't that far off list price... ;)

Re: I'm glad our new President is a capitalist...

[Anonymous Coward]

I prefer neither.

His face is not even engraved on the case.

[Provocateur]

It's as if he weren't expected to win, and they quickly overlaid all the Hillary ones. Then decided to charge $1000 more.

FYI, that is the way the filthy rich negotiate discounts. They bicker while bringing the price upwards, as onlookers shout their disgust.

$151,000 is a lot of money

[McGruber]

for an anal dildo.

Re:$151,000 is a lot of money

[Anonymous Coward]

Was it good for you? - V. I. Putin.

On the bright side.

[Anonymous Coward]

The phone case will also act as a vibrator for women weather they like it or not.

To each their own

[No Longer an AC]

Lord knows I've blown money on overpriced cheap crap before. If $150,000 to them is not much more than $50 in my mind and they're fans of Donald Trump - let them blow their money.

I do think the conspicuous consumption is a bit perverse though. On this Christmas Eve though, I am thankful for the things I do have and remind myself not to be envious.

I've got my old Android phone which will never receive another update and I think someone installed systemd on my Windows laptop so I've got that going for me. The check engine light in my car isn't lit anymore, although that could be just because it's broken too.

But I've got it better than a lot of people. That phone doesn't even cost as much as my home! It's just another trinket to the super-wealthy just like the Hot Wheels car on my desk.

Merry Christmas Slashdot!

Well, it just goes to show.

[hey!]

Being rich doesn't mean you have taste or sense.

Re:Well, it just goes to show.

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever noticed that gold anythings, larger than a brooch or a watch, always looks tacky?

I watched a news clip the other night. It was how the original DeLorean car, there was a deal to make 10 gold plated cars. In the end only 4 were made and only 2 of those were actually sold.

My point is, think about it. How tacky would a gold DeLorean car be? Super, super tacky. The original, non-gold model is of course dated, but at least it doesn't look like it is owned by a pimp trying to impress his posse!

Re: I'm glad our new President is a capitalist...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry to bust your bubble, but the last real capitalist went extinct a while ago. It is mostly scammers, lobbyists, etc. now. And you just killed the middle man by handling the government directly to corporations. Congratulations.

This

[rsilvergun]

so much this. People don't realize that just about every major health initiative is funded by the gov't. The basic science in particular all gets done by the gov't because it's not profitable enough quick enough to attract investors. Then a corp moves in, do cheap the finishing touches to turn it into a product and sell back the public works to us.

Re:This

[Dutch Gun]

And the government is funded by capitalism. It takes both to make things work.

Re:This

[bluegutang]

It not so much about being "profitable quick enough". It's that the investment would all be by one company, but the rewards would be spread out over many companies (since the intellectual knowledge acquired is not practical enough to be patentable). So it wouldn't be profitable for any particular company, no matter how long they wait.

This is a case of "externality", which is one of the few cases where even many libertarians would admit that government involvement is justified.

Re:This

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, no.
The US provides more than half of all medical R&D in the world, and less than 25% of that is funded by the government. It's the companies that are desperate to find the next Big Thing that do the research and development of all the drugs and tools that come to market. Without that profit motive, there would be only a tiny fraction of the medical advancements that we've seen these past few decades.

The government *does* fund a disproportionate amount of basic research - companies tend to be more practical research and application oriented.

Re:This

[Anonymous Coward]

so much this. People don't realize that just about every major health initiative is funded by the gov't. .

Just curious, where did the gov't get the money to fund those initiatives?

Take your time, I'll wait.

Re:This

[Anonymous Coward]

Except for the internet, medicine, the FDA, enforcement of building codes, highways, pure research, getting to the Moon, policing, defense and sanitation, what has the state ever done for you?

Re:This

[Anonymous Coward]

From the wikipedia article linked above:

and licensed it to a small company called NewLink Genetics in 2010 so that the vaccine could be developed, approved by regulatory authorities, and made available for use; NewLink in turn licensed the rights to Merck in 2014.

The capitalist part took the potential science, refined it to be workable, put it through the various approvals necessary for it to be available to the market without the government putting them in jail, and put together a manufacturing process.

If you think those are "cheap finishing touches", I have a bridge to sell you. Troll not included.

Re:This

[penix1]

so much this. People don't realize that just about every major health initiative is funded by the gov't. .

Just curious, where did the gov't get the money to fund those initiatives?

Take your time, I'll wait.

Mostly from China. The national debt caused by both bailing out failing capitalists and handing out military / homeland security contracts like water has made China, a communist country, the holder of most of our debt.

Trump bought them

[Anonymous Coward]

10 already sold? Probably by The Donald. Once he dissolves his philanthropic foundation and has more liquid cash, he'll get the rest of the stock.

They will engrave whatever you want for £180

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not some sort of Trump glorification organization. It's a company which sells gold phones, tablets, covers, etc.
For £180 they'll have their laser engraving service etch a picture on the cover.

If you're going to pay £1198 for a phone cover... then why not splash out the last £180 for a little customization.

Sigh

[nospam007]

"A gold-plated racing bike will set you back about $350,000"

And about a few billion brain cells, if you really think adding a layer of heavy metal on a 'racing bike' is a good idea.

Re:Sigh

[Highdude702]

This is for fans of bike racing, not the people racing.. you think the people racing bikes are billionaires?

Re:Sigh

[dbIII]

I used to get things plated with gold so I could see them under a scanning electron microscope. A few grams covers a lot of square metres.
That isn't saying it's a good idea, just ridiculous for reasons other than weight.

I'd love to see someone buy this..

[nawcom]

.. and then cover it up with an Otterbox case or something

That's mostly US and European Billionaires

[rsilvergun]

because they're still in a position where their grotesque wealth might be taken away if anyone took the time to notice. In the UAE they just brutally repress their populations. I suspect sooner or later the Larry Page's and Gates of the world will get around to doing the same to us if we let them, and judging from the results of the last election we're going to... :(.

Why

[dohzer]

Why would rich people be able to afford this? Oh... wait....

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

They're standing on the shoulders of giants

[Anonymous Coward]

They're standing on the shoulders of giants. They work using equipment build by capitalists, their salaries are paid from taxes collected from capitalists, and much of the research and techniques they rely on is invented and published by capitalists. So yeah, I'm gonna go with the assertion that without capitalism we wouldn't have an Ebola vaccine.

Far too long has tech becoming smaller and lighter

[Anonymous Coward]

We're beta testing making them heavier now.

Will Become Collectable

[BrendaEM]

It will become collectable once Trump is impeached.

Re: Will Become Collectable

[Anonymous Coward]

I was hoping for a 2018 Hillary half dollar. Which I will sadly now never have for my collection.

Re: Will Become Collectable

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't feel too bad. I think you can still get a Hillary lump of coal.

Re: I'm glad our new President is a capitalist...

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you mean "capitalist" in a True Scotsman sense? Because most of your comment reads as gibberish.

Re: I'm glad our new President is a capitalist...

[ReedlyDeedly]

I think that's a pretty rude way to talk about FDR, but I'm no saint. Oh, unless you meant Obama was a socialist? That's funny - sorry for ruining the joke.

When you have everything...

[K. S. Kyosuke]

sometimes its very difficult to buy gifts for them because they have everything

What about buying a grammar checker? ;)

Re:When you have everything...

[yes-but-no]

grammar is for others :p

Doesn't make sense

[Anonymous Coward]

A nice gold coating on a peasants phone?

French revolution needed every now and then...

[Anonymous Coward]

The revolution can't come fast enough to chop the heads off these parasites.

Re:French revolution needed every now and then...

[Anonymous Coward]

Parasites? I assume they got their money by providing goods or services to somebody. How do you get yours? Voting for it?

I hate to break this to you, but the revolution has already arrived. Unfortunately for you, you aren't leading it, you're on the business end of it.

Hail Anders Breivik!

You can't buy good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Money can't buy you good taste or style. When you lack style maybe you can buy expensive shit but that's not the same. This phone for one sounds fugly.
Looking at pictures of the donald house is also a good example of 'money but horrible taste'

Certainly a conversation piece.

[Anonymous Coward]

I am just not sure I'd want to have that conversation.

Public masturbation of 1673220

[shanen]

ZZ

To quote Syriana...

[overlook77]

"What are they thinking *hah*? What are they thinking? They're thinking that it's running out. It's running out, and 90% of what's left is in the Middle East. Look at the progression: Versailles, Suez, 1973, Gulf War 1, Gulf War 2. This is a fight to the death. So what are THEY thinking? Great! They're thinking keep playing, keep buying yourself new toys, keep spending $50,000 a night on your hotel room, but don't invest in your infrastructure... don't build a real economy. So that when you finally wake up, they will have sucked you dry, and you will have squandered the greatest natural resource in history."

I Am Rich

[Anonymous Coward]

If only Apple would allow the return of the I Am Rich app to go with the bling.

And leftist heads explode!

[Anonymous Coward]

Suck on it, bitches!

Re:And leftist heads explode!

[SumterLiving]

I have to admit, my head didn't explode because I now understand Republicans will buy anything ... even an Donald Trump iphone cover for $151,000. I have admit also, I am jealous of your tribe. A tribe who embraces their extremism and will publicly display their stupidity for everyone to admire.

It's a magnet

[SumterLiving]

It's a "pussy magnet." All the women will see my yugely best iphone, know I'm a star and let me grab em by the pussy. If not, I'll just go after them like a bitch and, lose all control, pop a few "blue tic-tacs", and start kissin on em. As a Republican in the U.S. I obviously I would buy my gold iphone in a Muslim country because I love them?

Well they had to find a reason for ...

[Anonymous Coward]

... the substantial rebate. I mean, if the phone is gold plated at 300K, you have to have a reason to sell the same amount of gold for 150K...

No thanks

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd sooner buy one emblazoned with Madea on it! LOL

That contributes nothing to the discussion

[fustakrakich]

Try to learn to tune out if you can't act like an adult, you pervert!

DISCLAIMER / WOOKIE NOTIFICATION

[TheRealHocusLocus]

This promoted item uses country level targeting and triggering and may have been shown to you because of your location and fragile mental state.

Yeah I noticed that too.

It's about time a Wookie had broad grassroots support for a clear and decisive win. They're the best damned engineers in the galaxy, loyal and mission-focused to a fault, do not become distracted with petty emotional concerns or shallow drama, If you need to set things right and rebuild your manufacturing base, elect a Wookie to get the job done.

"Letting the Wookie win" (but only for the less consequential things like card games) has been beyond offensive to them. Though they have made contact with a great many civilizations a lot their humor is based upon humans, at our expense... with nuances they will never explain. They had learned our language well before first contact and studied us.

Note the particular lack of surprise as the Wookie fails to receive a medal.

In fact, this gold-encrusted Trump iPhone would make an excellent medal for the Wookie.

Re:DISCLAIMER / WOOKIE NOTIFICATION

[TheRealHocusLocus]

With all the best karma and thoughts out to Carrie Fisher in this difficult time...

What are you talking about

[rsilvergun]

there's plenty to be patented. There just isn't a lot of money to be made in vaccine invention. It takes billions. The money is in manufacturing them _after_ all the work is done. This is painfully obvious.

That's the trouble with libertarians. They're not anti-government, they're anti-"The Kind of government I don't like". They're cheerfully in favor of government as long as it does what they want it to do. And they'll cheerfully crap all over freedom when it's in their interests. There's basically two types: The ones that don't like being told what to do and the ones that want to tell everyone else what to do but can't get away with it on a national stage (State's rights).

Re:What are you talking about

[Anonymous Coward]

there's plenty to be patented. There just isn't a lot of money to be made in vaccine invention. The real money is in "treatments", not "cures". After all, you can't keep sick people paying for your products if they're no longer sick. This is painfully obvious..

FTFY.

Re:What are you talking about

[Archangel Michael]

They're cheerfully in favor of government as long as it does what they want it to do.

Nice Strawman, but I'll bite. I am a Libertarian, maybe not like any you have ever (never) met.

Here is my take of Government. I has ONE purpose, to protect the rights of the individual from the mob. If you look at the Bill of Rights, those are mostly (if not all) Individual Rights not Granted by government, pre-existing government, which are to be protected by government. In the backwards Statist view (socialism, communism, fascism etc) the rights of the Individual are set aside for the rights of groups. Different groups in each case, but groups none-the-less. Mob Rule. My mob is more important than your mob.

Mobs are now being made by skin color, religion, sexuality, ethnicity and so on. My skin is darker (or lighter) than yours, I am more important than you. My religion (or lack thereof) is more important than yours. And so on.

Mobs are being made now by class (upper, middle, low income), by work type (College Educated vs Blue Collar).

And your comment about "states rights" verses "national" ones is evidence that you have a statist view. Rights start at a person, not a community, not a county, not a state, not a nation. I should decide how I should live my life, more than someone that I have never met living in a different kind a community than I live in. My way isn't right, or wrong, neither is their way. But a lot of statists seem to think that people in Los Angeles and NYC should be able to dictate how a person is Wyoming should live.

SO, MY kind of government isn't the one size fits all approach that far too many statists believe. If you don't like your community, you can move to one that better suits you. But can you move to another country when this one becomes an intolerable tyranny of political correctness that is offensive to every core value that it claims it upholds.

I am a Libertarian. I support LIBERTY, even when it seems to go against my own personal self interests. Why? Because tyranny is always going to be worse for me (and you). Any government big enough to give you everything you need, is big enough to take everything you have. I support a government that is capable of defending liberty, and no bigger.

Does that answer your strawman?

Re: I'm glad our new President is a capitalist..

[Anonymous Coward]

Capitalism requires a well regulated market to function correctly. Without regulation, it tends to degenerate into oligopoly. What we currently have is a lack of regulation and, unsurprisingly, the rise of oligarchs who have sucked all the money out of the system and effectively run the show. So one can be capitalist and against the current system at the same time.

Re: I'm glad our new President is a capitalist..

[Plumpaquatsch]

Capitalism requires a well regulated market to function correctly. Without regulation, it tends to degenerate into oligopoly. What we currently have is a lack of regulation and, unsurprisingly, the rise of oligarchs who have sucked all the money out of the system and effectively run the show. So one can be capitalist and against the current system at the same time.

But you can't possibly be all that and still vote for fucking Trump. At least not if you have a brain.

Public masturbation of 1673220

[shanen]

Z^3

You are a sick little perv

[fustakrakich]

Get help...

Why did Donald feel the need

[Anonymous Coward]

to buy five phones

Public masturbation of 1673220

[shanen]

Z^4

Automated response

[fustakrakich]

Z^111

Public masturbation of 1673220

[shanen]

Z^5

You dream of masturbation

[fustakrakich]

Must be because you can't get any

Public masturbation of 1673220

[shanen]

Z^6

Public masturbation of 1673220

[shanen]

Z^7

Sorry, "experience" no, I meant frustration

[fustakrakich]

You keep nothing about that private...

Public masturbation of 1673220

[shanen]

Z^8