American's Spent $1 Billion on Nothing!

That's right, Nothing.

Of all of the Luxury Fund stats I've posted over the past couple of years, this one bugs me the most.

In one year, American's spent over a BILLION dollars on "virtual goods". Virtual goods are things that don't exist (like virtual crops for instance) that help a person in an online game. In a recent report by Frank M Magid and OpenFeint, American's spent $168 million in one year on mobile virtual goods, which were used for smartphone games. And that aint nothin! Annual sales of virtual goods for xbox live bring Microsoft $625 million a year. Just as startling is the estimated $600 million spent on Mafia Wars and Farmville.

It's easy for me to freak out about this, because I've never played any of these games and I don't know the joys of harvesting pretend corn, but really, is it just me, or is this crazy?

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Luxury Fund blogs are never intended to point fingers, blame or shame anyone. We are here to make people aware of the excess luxury spending in America and asking you to consider what luxury you can give up for the good of someone who has nothing.

Independence Day Spending

Every 4th of July over 87% of Americans spend time and money celebrating Independence Day. According to a survey conducted by BIGresearch Americans spent about $3 Billion this year to celebrate the holiday. Here's a dollar break down on this years spending...

$600 Million - Fireworks
$2 Billion - Backyard cookouts

• $92 Million - Chips
  
• $60.3 Million - Dip
  
• $193.6 Million - Hamburger meat
  
• $70.4 Million - Buns
  
• $86.2 Million - Cheese
  
• $203 Million - Mayonnaise, Mustard and Ketchup
  
• $161.5 Million - Lettuce, Tomatoes, Onions and Relish
  
• $111.1 Million - Charcoal
  
• $94.3 Million - Lighter fluid
  
• $167.5 Million - Watermelon
  
• $107.7 Million - Popsicles
  
• $341.4 Million - Beer
  
• $101 Million - Soda
  

That's not all. An estimated 35 million Americans traveled over 50 miles for their celebration. That carries quite the price tag too.



Luxury Fund blogs are never intended to point fingers, blame or shame anyone. We are here to make people aware of the excess luxury spending in America and asking you to consider what luxury you can give up for the good of someone who has nothing.