European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 05, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Joy of spending big bottles of French Champagne priced at $450 sell Well at a Caracas store. Sleek shopping malls Cater to the big by Peter Arnett associated press by a three foot tall Salazar of French Champagne from your local supermarket Price $450 not including the ice required to chill it. Transport your Purchase in a $45,000 White Mercedes Benz Sedan from any one of a dozen nearby dealers. And discreetly drink it with your Secretary in any one of a dozen private clubs membership fees up to $ 100.000 All these items Are available and have ready buyers in Caracas the capital of Venezuela where cascading Oil wealth has Given new meaning to the cliche  living amidst this scene of conspicuous consumption a .  official fretted. I feel More financially underprivileged Here than anywhere else in the world " the la Dolce Vita venezuelan style has its critics at Home. President Andros Carlos Perez complained in january that there is too much superfluous importation of things and vacations and spending abroad have reached a level Dis consonant with our population. Millions of dollars have been wasted by this frivolity which seems to prevent Many serious persons from taking responsibility for the present and future of Venezuela. Maybe Perez had in mind the 1977 Pacific summer cruise of the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2. It included 40 venezuelans who paid up to $90,000 each for the 79-Day or possibly he was thinking of the Disneyland shut tie the daily pan am 747 flight to Miami that returns to Caracas each evening with exhausted big spenders Laden with purchases. Few seem to heed the president s words. In the grand traditions of the Gold Rush Days of the 19th Century Vene Zuela s Nouveau Oil Rich Are spending profits with a Boyish enthusiasm unmatched in the world except maybe in the similarly Oil endowed Arab Sheik Doms. But the venezuelans Are much More Light hearted about spending Money than the arabs says a Swiss hotel manager who also worked in saudi Arabia. They enjoy it More i  the Joy of spending has Given venezuelan executives and government functionaries entre to the International u1"" a " � Assy parties in new Yore convinced of the venezuelans durable so Endine Oahu. Air France made Caracas the destination1 T of of its first regular concorde routes and an airline companies by inflation and widely publicized corrupt in. Ii to 1 Boom. Three million people now strive to Prosper in " sat