Capitalism still has some contradictions

In the Style section of the NY Times today is an article about prices of clothing, specifically that ordinary clothing (such as Walmart or Macy's sell) is going down in price, while luxury goods, sold at stores I can't even name, continue to have the price that the traffic will bear. Anyway there are two wonderful paragraphs:

“We as a business cannot afford to have a customer take a second look and ask, ‘Do I need this?’ ” said Bud Konheim, the chief executive of Nicole Miller. “That is the kiss of death. We’re finished, because nobody really needs anything we make as a total industry.”

The divergence of price extremes has become so striking that some fashion executives, including Mr. Konheim, are openly asking whether prices have reached both their nadir and apex at the same moment. “As far as bottom costs go, we’re there,” Mr. Konheim said. “I think we’ve exploited all the countries on earth for people who really want to work for nothing.”