To sum up this well-put article: Historically millionaires are not flocking to “donate” their hard earned income to the government. It’s a nice thought, but no Buffet, the majority of millionaires are not going to be willing to donate enough to make a difference.

Over a year ago I wrote a post about LuckyChic.com a site that allowed you to bid on luxury items like iPads and purses. The catch was that you had to pay for each bid and, as my post revealed, the company would end up netting significant profit. 

It seems as though the site has closed down and been revamped as yet another Gilt Groupe clone. I suppose I wasn’t the only one who figured out it wasn’t such a good deal after all. 

It seems everyone I know is kvetching that entry fees went up $60 this year to $255 to run in the iconic NYC Marathon. 

An article on Bloomberg today entitled “Marathoners Spring to Races outside New York as Entrance Fee Reaches $255” suggests that people are abandoning the NYC Marathon to run in other nearby races instead. Is that so? Not really, you’ll discover as you continue to read the piece and it goes on to explain: 

Eleven days after registration opened for the New York race on Jan. 2, 50,000 entries had been submitted for its annual lottery selection system, a total that took 38 days longer to reach a year earlier.

Ahh it seems that in fact the race is more popular than ever. Despite a price increase there are actually MORE people signing up than ever before. 

So what’s the problem? No, I certainly don’t LIKE spending more money, however clearly I value the experience enough to do so. If the price were raised to a point where I felt like the cost outweighed the value, I wouldn’t pay it. 

Now wait just one minute, you’re thinking, this sounds like simple economic theory. Supply and Demand. Yes, you would be correct, and yet it seems that it slips the mind of so many people as they bitch about it being “unfairly priced”.

Like somehow the organizers should feel badly for wanting to make a profit? Do you think Apple is taking advantage of you for charging $800 for your iPhone? Actually, don’t answer that, because your answer to the first begets the second. 

Even if you don’t buy the argument above, let’s consider that we actually do not know what costs go into putting on a race of this magnitude. A race which in effect shuts down large portions of New York City for an entire day. There’s also the little talked about tidbit that the NYPD are making the NYRR cover the costs of the increased police presence this year, where in past years the city had paid. 

Now if you want to argue about why anyone would be crazy enough to spend $255 to put their bodies through torture, you might have a leg to stand on. 

Any AT&T iPhone customer with an upgrade date in 2010 is being allowed to upgrade early, without penalty to the new iPhone 4G.  We are so used to mobile companies nickle and diming us this uncharacteristic act of generosity has everyone suspicious…