The yacht is a broken window

"Broken window" theory states that the destruction of property belonging to someone of means is actually a net positive for the economy. Within this theory's bounds, the breaking of a window can cause more good than harm through the motivation of currency movement. When a window is broken, the owner must hire someone to fix it, and that someone gets paid. Then that someone has to pay for their supplier, and that supplier pays for their raw materials, and so forth. This theory is pushed by the kind of people who also push Keynesian economics. The idea is that the initial loss of property motivates a net gain through the growth or action of the economy. 

Now the same people who push broken window theory also vehemently hate rich people who buy yachts and mansions and such. I believe this is hypocritical. At the very worst, a yacht is a complete loss for the overall economy, as it does not contribute to any kind of need that an ordinary person could have. This is different from a train or a plane of equal value whose use is to provide service for the economy. A yacht, therefore, can be compared to that same "broken window" that so eponymously describes the theory around it. Even though the yacht has no economic value, it stimulates the jobs of thousands of people, and that ten million dollar price tag is distributed throughout the community of people who worked to build that yacht. Thus, it has the same function within an economy as a broken window. The two pictures are the same here. 

The people who harp on the rich for frivolous spending fail to realize that almost all of the money they spend goes to the everyday joe who worked his ass off to build whatever it is they buy. You know Birkin bags? Yeah, there's some everyday guy with skill in leatherworking who benefits from that. The luxury goods and services industry is filled with ordinary people who just want to stay alive, and do so because of the frivolity of the rich.

That's not to say that they should lick the rich people's shoes. Far from that. But one must understand that the phrase "don't bite the hand that feeds you" applies in quite a few cases around this industry.