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Which is dumber—buying "The Knot," a beautiful Bottega Veneta handbag made of woven satin and trimmed in python, or buying a tractor in the online game "FarmVille"? The first is real and costs $1,380. The second is virtual, priced under $20. I know which I'd choose. But then, I like python.

It's a trick question of course. They're equally dumb. Neither the bag nor the tractor costs anything near its purchase price to make and distribute. The value of most things—perfume, cars, houses, handbags—is, in fact, largely virtual. Always has been. And don't you, in the $260 jeans, try to argue.