I think that the author has found a very insightful way to describe the problem as it currently exists. However, part of Mr. Cosby's point is that the problem of conspicuous consumption has grown in recent times. I don't know whether his argument is true or whether it's nostalgia for an imagined past, but it's worth asking whether consumption of luxury goods among poor black households has increased over time as a percentage of their total income, controlling for their neighborhood demographics. Forty years ago, were poor black households as geographically concentrated as they are now? If so, is Cosby's memory -- and that of many other of his generation -- of more restrained spending in the past accurate?