I thought this was a pretty interesting article about the things we thought were must-haves a few years ago that we now look at and go, WTF?  Granted, some of these things are still pumping today so the total sh-itsplattering of the current economy hasn’t wiped away all of it yet.

Among my favorites is the Birkin Bag.  I remember the absolute raving over this ridiculous thing.  It’s the epitome of shallow, people.  Remember that.  And as sure a way to get jacked up and mugged as wearing a neon sandwich board begging for it.

Another one?  Reality TV.  I think this one is still exploding, what with vapid, brain oozing shows like Daisy of Love and Paris Hilton’s My New BFF but I don’t think any of these come even close to the soul-burning show, The Swan.  You remember that?  That was the TV show where they chose a bunch of butt fugly guys and girls, amped them up with various amounts of plastic surgery, hair dye and make-up (yeah, you might have gotten a clip or two of them on treadmills but let’s get real here, anything they needed to lose was surgically removed), parade them around in a fashion show only to tell most of them that they still weren’t good enough and send them home.  You remember that?  I wish I didn’t.  Thankfully it didn’t last very long but that was seriously a WTF? moment in reality TV show shows.  I’m sure that had people asking, “What devil did those producers sell their souls to?”

Another awesome one are those pool table-sized plasma TVs.  Those things were not made to go in an eight by twelve living room.  But tell that to Joe Schmo that’s sitting with his nose pressed up against it now.  I know people like that.  They complain money’s tight but they’re paying $100 a month for cable and are watching it on a screen as big as my bed.  And somehow I’m supposed to feel sorry for their lack of funds?  It just doesn’t make sense.

And let’s not forget deregulation!  Yay!  Thanks to deregulation my electric bills have doubled despite the fact that my energy consumption has been cut in half!  Yay!

I’m sure in another four years we’ll be able to have another article just like this one.  And then the next four years after that.  And after that.  And after that . . .