How much excess can we stomach from the Super-Rich? groans Mrs. M. After all most of these billionaires were fairly ordinary folk only a few years back, if not peasants in Russia!

While most of us are worried about spending on petrol to get to the charity shops, the billionaire class is topping all previous levels of extravagance.  This grotesque showing off is clashing with the credit crunch's levels of economic gloom...food riots, petrol strikes, sinking house values.  Also, the super-rich are causing a rise in prices for the rest of us.

According to Forbes Magazine there are now 1,125 billionaires worldwide.  87 of these live in Russia, and all of these have made their wealth fairly recently, since 1999-ish.  This was thanks to the bargain-basement sale of resources when they were privatised in Russia, mainly oil  There are 75 billionaires living in Britain, 40 originating from Israel, Russia and India (according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008.)

These new ‘robber barons' think nothing of spending £55m on super-jets, buying apartments for £36m, or even £225 for a cocktail.  Why should they?  We hear they are flying their pets across the Atlantic in private jets, so that Fido doesn't have to ride in the hold.  An unfriendly carbon footprint ‘pet-stop' in Canada (so their pooch can have a pee on green grass)...costs £55,000.  Actually, I'd much rather think of dogs enjoying these flights than their masters.

The art market, the jewellery market, luxury clothes, and the £1m handbag are in over-drive.  We're not immune to the effects of all this as it sends up prices for everyone, especially schools, nannies, restaurants, contemporary art, etc.  The neo-billionaires don't care what they spend.

They are as rich as Croesus.  It makes even moderately wealthy individuals start thinking longingly of bringing back the guillotine, at least in terms of a windfall wealth tax. Why shouldn't these Croesus-es, who have nothing to do with their money but waste it on absurd luxuries, be financing poor third world countries or the NHS?  A £1m handbag could solve a lot of woes.

I bet a lot of people would vote for an economic guillotine...I certainly would!