Desperately seeking bigger breasts

There has been plenty of interesting news this week from the world of breast enlargement.

First, the British family known as the “boob job family” because they collectively spent $77,000 on silicone implants so far, appeared on the This Morning show to defend their multiple operations, The Daily Mail reports.

It all started with the mother, Chantal, 53.

The mother of nine said her very first boob job left her with what she says looked like “balls in socks.” It was only the third operation that‘s brought her the kind of contentment she was looking for, according to the Daily Mail.

“I'm now a 32GG and I'm immensely happy,” she said in the story.

Not many people can say that. I, for one, didn’t even know they made bras so far down the alphabet.

Four of her daughters soon followed their mother’s lead.

Ripley, 21, who used a loan to fund the three surgeries she has had said she went from a size 32C to a size 32E because she wanted her “slim figure to look curvier.”

Then, there’s Terri, also known as 34HH. She said she always liked the artificial breasts look, which is how she ended up with the largest ones in the family.

“I'm greedy,” she said to the Daily Mail. “I like the fake look. The full look.”

Or, take Emma, who had her breasts inflated from a size 34B when she was 17.

Now that she is happy with the way her chest looks, she's planning to give her buttocks a bit of a lift. "So you don't have to do all the squats,” she reasoned.

The only female family member resisting the movement so far is 14-year-old Britney, who was quoted as saying: “I want people to take me seriously.”

Instead, Britney wants to pursue more noble goals: go to university, become an actress and, um, “get wealthy.”

See their photos and their endowments here.

But that’s not even the only boob job story that’s hit the headlines this week.

In Akron, Ohio, 37-year-old Chrissy Lance staked out the corner of Manchester Road and Carnegie Avenue to collect money with a sign that read: "Not homeless. Need boobs," NBC2 reports.

Lance, who actually got a license to panhandle for this, says she raised about $90 in just a few hours and she is determined to not leave her spot until she reaches her goal.

She told NBC2 she worked in a bar and she hoped the implants will "help improve her self esteem."

The plastic surgery business has been enjoying a boom, despite the weakening global economy, The Guardian reports.

Breast augmentation in the US alone rose four percent last year, to a staggering 307,180 procedures.

The number one reason stated for having plastic surgery is "getting bigger self-esteem."

Now, the rest of the world would probably argue that the last thing the United States needs is bigger self esteem, but that's not clearly how Americans themselves see it.

And being happy with one's body surely wouldn't keep the economy spinning. Take Buddhist monks. They make terrible consumers.

Speaking of economic terms, the cyclical theory seems to apply here, too. Where there’s no bust, there's definitely a boom.

Now, where is my Nobel Prize in Economics?