DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm David Greene. Conspicuous consumption is the art of buying lots of expensive stuff, to show off. It is part of daily life in the Emirate city of Dubai, even for the police. They just added a slick, green and white Lamborghini - with a $400,000 price tag - to their force. It goes more than 200 miles per hour, which is useful in the fast-moving kingdom.

Police say about 15 percent of the speeding tickets go to motorists going more than 130 miles per hour. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.