Slideshow: The Things Money Can Buy

We plebeians love to peruse the pages of Architectural Digest or scan the web for the latest celebrity gossip in our attempts to live vicariously through the anointed lives of celebrities and billionaires. Yet, however much we look up to these fortunate people, most of us can't help but be envious of the ease with which they get to live their lives. Few of us were lucky enough to be born into wealth and fewer still will ever achieve the riches we love to idolize. Most of us live life from one month to the next balancing our finances in a never-ending battle to stay ahead of the cost-of-living freight train.

Our envy is balanced by a logical question: Why do these people have so much more? Especially, considering that their jobs, in large part, are no more or less difficult to perform than anyone else's job. 

That said, the sheer volume of waste that the upper crust produces is simply astonishing. Super wealthy people consume vast amounts of scarce resources in their quests to own more, build more, collect more, and, simply, spend more. "Conspicuous consumption" is a badge of honor rich people wear to hide behind incredible arrogance, selfishness, and superficiality.

Time put a short slideshow together to make the rest of feel insignificant about our inability to hit life's financial lottery - visit Time via the button at the bottom of this article to see the slides.

A few of the items Time profiled include:

Motor Yacht A
Price tag: At least $300,000,000
This 390-ft. custom-designed yacht is notorious for its radical design. The vessel, a creation of Created French designer Philippe Starck, is owned by Andrei Melnichenko, a 36-year-old Russian billionaire industrialist.

1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder
Price tag: $10,900,000
This vintage convertible, formerly owned by actor James Coburn, was sold to popular British radio host Chris Evans. It broke the record for the highest amount paid at a car auction.

The Eton Diamond
Price tag: $46,000
The "World's Most Expensive Shirt" was released to celebrate the 80th birthday of Eton Shirts Ltd. The Eton Diamond has seven colored diamonds that adorn the shirt studs and cuff links.

The Burger
Price tag: $200
The world's most expensive burger's ingredients include Wagyu beef, white truffles, a bun dusted with Iranian saffron and white truffles, pata negra (cured ham) slices, Cristal champagne onion straws, 25-year-old balsamic vinegar, lamb's lettuce, pink Himalayan rock salt and hollandaise-shallot mayonnaise.

And the pinnacle of conspicuous wealth ...

Villa la Leopolda
Price tag: $500,000,000
One of several villas built by King Leopold of Belgium as a present for his mistress, La Leopolda was purchased by Roman Abramovich, owner of the soccer club London of Chelsea.