Conspicuous consumption
ECONOMISTS talk about discretionary spending: parting with money when you want to and not when you have to. This boom is notably heavy on spending and light on discretion. Most forms of spending, however extravagant, leave you with some- thing to show for them, but a gastro-binge can only leave you with a hangover. It is not for me to put you off your food, but what I see in this boom is conspicuous consump- tion, with the supply of gastrodomes expanding into line with the supply of money. As always happens with booms, it will go over the top. Someone will open a 10,000-seater dome (The Old Gasworks?) and find that nobody turns up. Until then, the most reliable pointer to the state of the economy will be to call the nearest local gastrodome and try to book a table. If, instead of a sneering snub, this draws a wel- coming response — 'Certainly, and when shall we expect you?' — this will show that the Gastrodome Factor is at last receding.
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