extravagance

When the base is humble, the smallest extravagance reads as grace.

From tech moguls buying private islands to media personalities flaunting extravagance, cultural conversations have shifted toward asking whether extreme wealth should come with a moral obligation.

The trend toward extravagance dovetailed nicely with the emergence of baby boomers and older Gen X–ers with more disposable income, the hankering for less-traveled international locales and a generational shift toward more creature comforts.

Thomas Jefferson’s addition of the east and west colonnades “faced immediate criticism for their cost and perceived extravagance,” he writes.

The answer might be less about extravagance than ease.