Generally, I agree with this. Not quite w/ regards to Nike and some other brands, (most of Nike's competitors, Apple) , since they put the logo on everything as part of their design asthetic. Whether you like that or not is personal choice, of course. Personally, I miss the old colorful Apple logo.

With luxury brands, yeah it's a blatant cash grab extracting money from poorer people by selling them the mirage of owning something luxurious. The stuff you buy at the mall isn't sold at their Rodeo Drive location! That said, some luxury brands do qualify for "buy it for life" status, though having the kind of quality isn't exclusive to luxury brands (see also: Zippo lighters, and many many other solid, reasonably priced brands).