Thread: The Rich Get Poorer

The Rich Get Poorer

Posted Dec 6, 08 2:36 AM CST
Business

(Newser) – Before Wall Street's woes reached Main Street they pillaged Fifth Avenue, the Upper East Side, and the Hamptons, upending the culture of Rich America in the process. Manhattan bankers—some of whom went from multi-millionaires to debtors—are offloading Central Park apartments, high-end art, and private helicopters in a dizzying spiral, writes Michael Shnayerson in Vanity Fair. There's even talk of coupon-cutting.

"Almost everyone has lost something—if not their jobs, then 25 to 50 percent of their retirement savings—and nearly everyone is glum, anxious, hung over," he writes. "Prudence is the watchword now: sackcloth after the brilliant silks and brocades of the gilded age." One social critic sees an upside—a chance for the money-centric and society in general to "rethink and restructure their values."

Source: Vanity Fair

http://www.newser.com/story/44389/the-r ... oorer.html

So true.

So true.

Good post, AS7!

Here's the rest of this article so us 'commoners and surburban riff-raff' can see just how much the rich and shameless are suffering:


Profiles in Panic


by Michael Shnayerson January 2009
Vanity Fair


With Wall Street hemorrhaging jobs and assets, even many of the wealthiest players are retrenching. Others, like the Lehman Brothers bankers who borrowed against their millions in stock, have lost everything. Hedge-fund managers try to sell their luxury homes, while trophy wives are hocking their jewelry. The pain is being felt on St. Barth’s and at Sotheby’s, on benefit-gala committees and at the East Hampton Airport, as the world of the Big Rich collapses, its culture in shock and its values in question.

A snapshot: East Hampton, late summer, a lawn party at a house on the ocean overlooking the dunes. The host is a prince of private equity known for dressing well. One of his guests is Steven Cohen, the publicity-shy billionaire whose SAC Capital, with $16 billion under management, is perhaps the most revered of the 10,000 or so hedge funds spawned by this giddily rich time. Nearby is Daniel Loeb, of Third Point, one of the better-known “activistâ€