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BUSINESS

Upper East Sliders

Where cutting back means ditching the private jet. How the superrich are surviving tough times.

By Holly Peterson | NEWSWEEK
Published Oct 11, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Oct 20, 2008

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  • Posted By: kme919 @ 11/12/2008 2:30:30 PM

    Comment: Ms. Peterson,
    This information would have been better served to your friends at Swifty's in a sympathy card; not to the rest of America who have been battling to stay afloat. For American's who have lived simple and worked hard and lost 90% of their 401K (their only savings); your comments are abrasive and untimely. For American's who are having trouble keeping a roof over their heads and feeding their families; you seem out of touch and insensitive. For those who have growing children and are searching for their next pair of shoes at the local charity, your time spent writing this article is maddening. You were not writing and appealing to the masses; you were writing for a few city blocks and felt the need to post it for the nation? I think the article directly reflects your inability to capture the scene of the times.

  • Posted By: buddaman71 @ 11/11/2008 12:41:51 PM

    Comment: People with value systems like this caused this collapse.

  • Posted By: SVnDallas @ 11/06/2008 12:49:52 PM

    Comment: I haven't spent $10,000 on my clothes over a 45 year life span, much less on one dress. No I don't feel sorry for those people. They step on people like us, they aren't losing anything.

  • Posted By: rteed @ 10/25/2008 11:49:30 PM

    Comment: Holly Peterson... Are you kidding me??? You want us to feel sorry for all the rich patrons of Swifty's? Where to start...10,000 dollar dresses, 250,000-400,000 paintingus, and god forbid your seen in that same dress twice!!! You commented on how the rich would lose self-esteem, confidence and god forbid "HOPE"....PLEASE....are you for real??? this is the worst article at the worst time that i can remember!!! I can not pay my bills , let alone pay for gas, but .... oh my god...Holly and all her(poor friends) can"t afford a cocktail!! I HOPE HOLLY..... YOU CAN PICK UP ON THE SARCASM..YOUR ARTICLE WAS A JOKE....... AND IF YOU REALLY THINK THAT WE SHOULD FEEL SORRY FOR THE RICH.........THEN YOU ARE MORE CLUELESS THEN YOUR ARTICLE SEEMS TO SAY

  • Posted By: Notaneastsider @ 10/25/2008 5:55:03 PM

    Comment: YGTBFKM!!!! "a certain socialite whose outfits are studied like a bar exam ..." and can afford to wear a $10,000 dress once and then "donate" it to charity needs our (the poor) sympathy!! God forbid that she has to wear last years' outfit to 2008 gala and the outfit was photographed last year. The rich do live in a different world and good for them. But do not expect the other 95% of the population to care. Most of us can not afford a plane ticket and the wealthy think they are doing us (the other 95%) a favor by flying commercial, is a slap in the face.

  • Posted By: burtmanjack @ 10/23/2008 6:08:32 PM

    Comment: The author is the daughter of a billionaire. Cry me a river. Think those who are losing are their homes might be losing some self esteem, confidence, and hope along with them? Unbelievable. And I live on the Upper East Side, too, lest you think I'm anti-rich . . .

  • Posted By: rwilson1787 @ 10/17/2008 10:48:14 AM

    Comment: "remember many of these families face losing almost everything they've worked for over decades, or even generations"

    Just wanted to point out a couple of potential flaws in the verbiage, above, both having to do with the term "work." First, we assume that the East Sliders gained their wealth through work. Of course, not all did. And, as we all know so well now, many of them did work that was to the great disadvantage of our country. The second problem has to do with the implication that a "family" can work over generations. I would think it would be fairly clear to the author that generations of a family can work over generations. However, a particular family in this particular point in time, will most normally work during the lifetime of the worker in question.

  • Posted By: Nowforthetruth @ 10/17/2008 1:42:20 AM

    Comment: Whether McCain won or lost is not relevant. He succeeded in the first half hour to plant the seeds of a Reagan style wipeout. Reputable historians and economists overwhelmingly agree that the taxation imposed by and the "stimulus" spending and public works programs of FDR actually deepened and prolonged the Great Depression. See e.g. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx. It was the production demands of WWII that got the economy going again. And when the war was over, the economy promptly went into recession.

    Point is, Obama's programs are tax and spend, and it does not really matter who he taxes, those taxes are going to be passed through the economy. Any first year economics student knows that taxation is a tool used to contract an economy experiencing inflation, because it reduces demand by reducing the amount of money individuals and businesses have to spend. It is contractionary, which is exactly what you do not want to do when the problem is that the economy is contracting already into recession. Like FDR, Obama's plans will only make it worse for longer.

    Similarly, who "Joe the plumber" is is not the issue. The issue is what Obama's comments to him revealed. In the exchange with "Joe the plumber" we find out that Obama really is as radical as his early political acquaintances, and that he is into the failed economic policy of wealth redistribution. Obama's tax and spending plans alone would be bad enough, but add Reid and Pelosi to the mix, with the three of them controlling both houses of Congress and the executive without and effective restraint, and you have something that should be something that causes concern even among moderate Democrats. Don't think so? Watch and listen to a C-SPAN video clip of the Congressional hearings at roughly the time McCain's attempt at S.190. to fix fannie and freddie.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

  • Posted By: Nowforthetruth @ 10/16/2008 8:15:03 PM

    Comment: Baby I'll be there to take your hand,
    Baby I'll be there to share the land
    That they'll be giving away, when we all live together.

    So, in the exchange with "Joe the plumber" we find out that Obama really is as radical as his early political acquaintances, and is into the failed economic policy of wealth redistribution. Yahoo, back to the 70's we go! So now we know that an Obama presidency really would be as if it were Carter's lost second term after all.

  • Posted By: Jim Johnson @ 10/16/2008 1:42:35 PM

    Comment: Obama's view of the future of America - Socialism which is the next step to Communism!!


    Under socialism a ruling class of intellectuals, bureaucrats and social planners decide what people want or what is good for society and then use the coercive power of the State to regulate, tax, and redistribute the wealth of those who work for a living. In other words, socialism is a form of legalized theft.

    The morality of socialism can be summed-up in two words: envy and self-sacrifice. Envy is the desire to not only possess another's wealth but also the desire to see another's wealth lowered to the level of one's own. Socialism's teaching on self-sacrifice was nicely summarized by two of its greatest defenders, Hermann Goering and Bennito Mussolini. The highest principle of Nazism (National Socialism), said Goering, is: "Common good comes before private good." Fascism, said
    Mussolini, is "a life in which the individual, through the sacrifice of his own private interests??realizes that completely spiritual existence in which his value as a man lies."

    Socialism is the social system which institutionalizes envy and self-sacrifice: It is the social system which uses compulsion and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from the producer class for its redistribution to the parasitical class.

    Despite the intellectuals' psychotic hatred of capitalism, it is the only moral and just social system.

    Capitalism is the only moral system because it requires human beings to deal with one another as traders--that is, as free moral agents trading and selling goods and services on the basis of mutual consent.

    Capitalism is the only just system because the sole criterion that determines the value of thing exchanged is the free, voluntary, universal judgement of the consumer. Coercion and fraud are anathema to the free-market system.

    It is both moral and just because the degree to which man rises or falls in society is determined by the degree to which he uses his mind. Capitalism is the only social system that rewards merit, ability and achievement, regardless of one's birth or station in life.

    Yes, there are winners and losers in capitalism. The winners are those who are honest, industrious, thoughtful, prudent, frugal, responsible, disciplined, and efficient. The losers are those who are shiftless, lazy, imprudent, extravagant, negligent, impractical, and inefficient. [What about the role of luck­being in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time? R. R. Pope}

    Capitalism is the only social system that rewards virtue and punishes vice. This applies to both the business executive and the carpenter, the lawyer and the factory worker.

  • Posted By: Nowforthetruth @ 10/16/2008 12:18:53 AM

    Comment: Whether McCain won or lost tonight is not relevant. He succeeded in the first half hour to plant the seeds of a Reagan style wipeout. Reputable historians and economists overwhelmingly agree that the taxation imposed by and the ???stimulus??? spending and public works programs of FDR actually deepened and prolonged the Great Depression. It was the production demands of WWII that got the economy going again. And when the war was over, the economy promptly went into recession.

    Point is, Obama's programs are tax and spend, and it does not really matter who he taxes, those taxes are going to be passed through the economy. Any first year economics student knows that taxation is a tool used to contract an economy experiencing inflation, because it reduces demand by reducing the amount of money individuals and businesses have to spend. It is contractionary, which is exactly what you do not want to do when the problem is that the economy is contracting already into recession. Like FDR, Obama's plans will only make it worse for longer.

    Obama's tax and spending plans alone would be bad enough, but add Wright and Pelosi to the mix, with the three of them controlling both houses of Congress and the executive without and effective restraint, and you have something that should be something that causes concern even among moderate Democrats. Don't think so? Watch and listen to a C-SPAN video clip of the Congressional hearings at roughly the time McCain's attempt at S.190. to fix fannie and freddie.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

    • Posted By: Nowforthetruth @ 10/16/2008 1:44:17 PM

      Comment: Sorry, meant Reid, not Wright.

  • Posted By: LIKEITIS @ 10/15/2008 11:48:21 AM

    Comment: STARTING WITH THE BAIL OUTS THAT FOLLOWED THE GREAT DEPRESSION THIS COUNTRY WAS NO LONGER A TRUE CAPALISTIC DEMOCRACY.

    THEN COMES THE 1983 BAILOUT OF CHRYSLER.

    NOW THE BANKS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, AND AUTO INDUSTRIES ARE BACK WITH THE GREEDY HANDS OUT AGAIN.

    ALL THIS WOULDN'T BE AS TROUBLING EXCEPT THAT ALMOST ALL MAJOR INDUSTRIES IN THE COUNTRY ARE SUBSIDIZES AS WELL.

    I GUESS THE POINT IS .................THAT IF WE ARE INEXTRICABLY BEING TOLD THAT WE NEED TO TAKE THESE UNDENIABLY SOCIALISTIC STEPS.........................THEN IT IS THE TIME FOR US TO DEMAND A MAJOR INCREASE IN STANDARD OF LIVING FOR ALL............................AMERICAN CITIZENS!

  • Posted By: phiomalibumalibu @ 10/15/2008 9:04:30 AM

    Comment: Tax Revenue is down because we sent 10 million jobs overseas. Duh? The rich? No one has any money to buy their products anymore. People won't go to movies much anymore, no buying expensive organic products, no more new car buying. People are already brewing their own coffee at home. A few business' will do well, bars and fast foods. Even pet stores and pastry shops will suffer until we bring the jobs back.

  • Posted By: phiomalibumalibu @ 10/15/2008 8:58:59 AM

    Comment: Tax Revenue is down because we sent 10 million jobs overseas. Duh? The rich? No one has any money to buy their products anymore. People won't go to movies much anymore, no buying expensive organic products, no more new car buying. People are already brewing their own coffee at home. A few business' will do well, bars and fast foods. Even pet stores and pastry shops will suffer until we bring the jobs back.

  • Posted By: williambanzai7 @ 10/15/2008 2:27:58 AM

    Comment: Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains

    (to the melody of Big Rock Candy Mountains)
    Lyrics By WilliamBanzai7


    One evening as the DOW went down and the ABX was burning
    Down the track came a banker hiking and he said boys I'm not turning
    I'm headin for a land that's far away from Wall Street's crystal towers
    So come with me we'll go and see the Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains

    In Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains there's a land that's fair and bright
    Where the handouts grow from the bailout pros and you sleep sound every night
    Where the ABS books are all empty and the sun shines every day
    On the birds and the bees and the bonus trees
    Where the perrier springs where the squawk box sings
    In the Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains

    In Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains all the regulators have wooden legs
    And the shorts all have rubber teeth and the taxpayers lay golden eggs
    The traders books are full of fruit and the bankers play all day
    Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
    Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow
    In Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains

    In Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains you never sell your stocks
    And the glimmering streams of origination fees come a-trickling down the rocks
    The enforcers have to tip their hats and the bears and shorts are banned
    There's a lake of stew and of champagne too
    You can sail all around 'em in your custom yachts
    In Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains

    In Bush's Rock Candy Mountains white collar jails are made of tin
    And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in
    There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks
    I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day
    Where they hung that jerk from Berkshire Hathaway
    In Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains

    I'll see you all this coming fall in Bush's Big Rock Candy Mountains

  • Posted By: Nowforthetruth @ 10/15/2008 12:20:58 AM

    Comment: "Press Releases

    AJC Strongly Condemns Rev. Jesse Jackson's Comment on American Jews
    October 14, 2008 - New York - The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has condemned the Rev. Jesse Jackson's statement about 'Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades.'
    "Rev. Jackson's remarks, which appeared in an interview with the journalist Amir Taheri in today's New York Post, echo classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish power," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. 'This statement, regrettably, is not the first troubling comment by Rev. Jackson regarding Israel, Zionism and the Jewish people.'

    Arguing as a private citizen that an Obama administration could bring significant change to U.S. foreign policy, Jackson was quoted as saying that "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" would lose much of their influence should Senator Obama be elected president."


    http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=849241&ct=6107743

    And people are upset about raciest comments some in the crowd are allegedly saying at Palin events? Isn't this the same Democrat leader who once called New York "Hymietown"?

  • Posted By: PKay52 @ 10/14/2008 4:47:19 PM

    Comment: As Phil Gramm said, "they'er just a bunch of whiners"

  • Posted By: PKay52 @ 10/14/2008 4:46:38 PM

    Comment: As Phil Gramm said, they're just a bunch of whiners.

  • Posted By: Willian C DeMuth @ 10/14/2008 3:11:53 PM

    Comment: I might take pains to remind the author and those of her ilk, of the fate of previous groups who cried ???Let them eat cake???.

    Perhaps they might be reminded that at least for the moment they still have their heads.

    Alas, their moment may be fading!

    So take cautions before speaking out to the starving masses, lest they be reminded that at best you are a well fattened source of protein that might finally become useful in the trying times to come.

  • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 10/14/2008 2:12:15 PM

    Comment: i keep coming back here to read bits of the article and the comments thereafter....it only makes me feel more sick every time i see what you wrote... i have a challenge for you, leave the area you live in and see the other side of things. wear your "worst" clothing, buy a 1,000 dollar car, get a job for a week working at walmart, rent an apartment for 6 months, a REAL apartment with only 300-600 sq ft. and do the daily routine that all us peasants do everyday to make our ends meet. this is a genuine challenge. i mean, its not like your going to lose anything right? you have millions and millions right? so this would be a sociological experiment for you, and im positive you can spare the time...and lets make it a solid 3 months, you pay car insurance, rent, bills, medical bills w/o insurance, and get this, your spending for a whole month is a mere $2,000. lets see you budget your money and effectively survive on our level. since you can just pay someone to clean, pay someone to drive, pay someone to cook, pay someone to pay things for you, and pay someone to manage what your paying for...come to our level where we do all that ourselves on top of work for pricks like you...and feed multiple mouths while attempting to put that little extra hard earned cash away for a "rainy day fund" or that "college fund" that the youth needs so desperately... or put money into a struggling small "mom and pops" store, or anything for christ sake...people like you are excactly why i spit and *** on expensive cars and material possesions... A GOD DAMN $10,000 DRESS WORN ONCE AND THROWN AWAY OR "DONATED"? that defies all logic. you defy the basic laws of morality, of human value...you spit on the common folk with this article...it was a mistake letting this get published ill tell you that, your pissing alot of people off with that nose thats stuck so high in the air...someone might just break that pretty plastic nose right off if your not careful what you say in this kind of economic climate...

    • Posted By: Smouse @ 10/15/2008 6:30:46 PM

      Comment: I think the point of the article is that the author needs YOU to "let a little humanity kick in" because she doesn't have the faintest idea how to do that.

      • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 10/16/2008 4:47:21 PM

        Comment: i can definately let "a little humanity KICK IN for her", give me an address and she can get a singing telogram from my size 14 work boot to her mouth...

  • Posted By: hrob27 @ 10/14/2008 1:55:35 PM

    Comment: A notice to the wealthy: the only reason why you and your families enjoy such wealth is because you are supported by the common folk who go out there and not only produce our society's goods and services through their daily toil, but also purchase those goods and services and therefore make you rich. When you balk at paying more taxes and thus vote republican, you are ultimately cutting your collective noses off to spite your face, because every time they get in office, the national debt runs out of control because of rampant de-regulation and corporate greed, and thus our economy suffers setbacks just like it did back in the eighties. The common man suffers, and thus you rightfully suffer as well. Higher taxes to support the poor, working, and middle classes are really sound investments that will actually increase your wealth and subsequent self-esteem in the long run. Remember this in November and assuage your guilty consciences by voting Democratic. LET'S GO OBAMA!!!!!

  • Posted By: lifeisart @ 10/14/2008 12:49:51 PM

    Comment: To the family who didn't buy the painting...a suggestion. Take a mere fraction of what you would have spent on one piece from that "coveted" artist and buy several pieces from "unknown" artists...guilt free bargain shopping! Feel free to slart with mine www.heatherpattersondailyart.blogspot.com The economy actually does need you (and others like you) to buy art...especially when the basics are so hard for the vast majority.

  • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 10/14/2008 12:45:06 PM

    Comment: after reading some of these comments i now realize that you are an heiress to billions...i wish you knew what it was like to have to live out of your bentley, or even better your Lamborgini...i hear they dont sleep well...i feel sorry for the ones that actually provided jobs, that donate large amounts to charity, i feel sorry for the people that give a damn about the employees that are losing they're jobs, but i feel resentment towards u...i will only feel sorry for the rich that are actually trying to accomplish some good with they're wealth...you only care about your friends losing portfolios and stocks...i wish i could meet you in public, or show you the countries ive been to with poverty everywhere, not a place like "Swiftys" in the entire country... i wish you could live in poverty for a day, or even live like a middle class average joe for a week, or even a day...you and your kind have zero sense of reality, most have never seen or crossed the other side of the tracks... the words "tough times" and "super rich" do not coincide.

    and whats funny about all these comments is that you will read them and scoff and laugh because you see us as lesser beings, david vs goliath, poor vs rich. you wont walk away with a better sense of the world, or yourself for that matter. most times you cant see who you are, while everyone around you sees you for WHAT you are, a high-brow, brown nosing, spoiled heiress with zero to nil credibility for the wealth you "have". scoffing at the "lower class" peasants you pass on the street and feeling lucky to have what you have while never giving back to those that put you where you are... go rot in your mansion or summer home you filthy spoiled bitch...

  • Posted By: CommonGal @ 10/14/2008 12:37:57 PM

    Comment: Pity these wealthy folks their new discomforts? No. What I do pity is their absence of moral compass. They who have benefited most in the good economic times should be the ones to stretch their hands out farthest to help others, not wring their hands over their "suffering" for having to fly commercial airlines or re-wear a dress. My gosh, how on earth do we find ourselves in a world with these people so ignorant of decency and oblivious to reality?

  • Posted By: WDOWEN8 @ 10/14/2008 12:13:42 PM

    Comment: IF ONLY TO WALK A DAY IN MY SHOES , THESE PEOPLE WOULD CRUMBLE TO THERE KNEES FOR THE LIFE WE HAVE AT THE BOTTOM. LOOKING IN THIER LIVES FROM OURS IT SEEMS AS SUCH A WASTE OF TIME TO THINK THEY REALLY CARE FOR HUMANITY AS IT IS FOR OTHERS . DISCARDING LIFE AS A RIGHT INSTEAD OF A GIFT FOR ALL TO ENJOY AND PROSPER. THINK ABOUT IT THE NEXT TIME YOU THROW OUT SOMETHING THAT CAN FEED A FAMILY FOR A YEAR. AND WITH THE ECONOMY IN THE SHAPE IT IS NOW WELCOME TO OUR LIFE , HOW ABOUT YOURS?????? HAVE A NICE DAY?????

  • Posted By: jaciclr@comcast.net @ 10/14/2008 12:11:54 PM

    Comment: You know what? I don't even care. While I'm trying to hold on to my job and keep my credit in good standing they're making really tough decisions like, "Do I fly commercial or take the private jet to Aspen for the weekend?" Puhleez!

  • Posted By: stbguy2000 @ 10/14/2008 12:10:46 PM

    Comment: WOW. Don't let the uber-rich lose HOPE!! In the last 6 months I lost my company, my home, my job, and my unemployment ran out and I am being evicted from my rental house because the landlord wants to move back in to her "starter house" because she can't afford her big one!! I guess the rich are just like me! I fly Jet Blue, wear the same clothes more than once, and stopped buying stuff on ebay... Welcome the the American Nightmare!

  • Posted By: TheVigil @ 10/14/2008 12:02:17 PM

    Comment: I do believe some of the rich are feeling pain as acute as that of the poor right now - in a different way - because a lot of them base their self-esteem on their wealth, as Ms. Peterson noted. The sympathy meter is still reading zero. If you have enough money to afford food and shelter without going into debt right now - I currently do and am grateful usually at least once a day for it, though I should be more - then any complaining is going to be met with a lot of righteous anger from people who worked hard and don't have these basic needs met.

    If any of the "super-rich" are reading this, go outside the first chance you get. Look at the sky. Realize that whatever happened to your money and assets, nobody has stolen the sun yet. Take a look at the people dying from civil war in the Congo and Sudan, think about our own Civil War. Be grateful that your life is not in immediate danger.

    COUNT YOUR *** BLESSINGS.

  • Posted By: TheVigil @ 10/14/2008 12:02:11 PM

    Comment: I do believe some of the rich are feeling pain as acute as that of the poor right now - in a different way - because a lot of them base their self-esteem on their wealth, as Ms. Peterson noted. The sympathy meter is still reading zero. If you have enough money to afford food and shelter without going into debt right now - I currently do and am grateful usually at least once a day for it, though I should be more - then any complaining is going to be met with a lot of righteous anger from people who worked hard and don't have these basic needs met.

    If any of the "super-rich" are reading this, go outside the first chance you get. Look at the sky. Realize that whatever happened to your money and assets, nobody has stolen the sun yet. Take a look at the people dying from civil war in the Congo and Sudan, think about our own Civil War. Be grateful that your life is not in immediate danger.

    COUNT YOUR *** BLESSINGS.

  • Posted By: bcrawf2033 @ 10/14/2008 11:59:27 AM

    Comment: Rich people aren't impacted by any of the economic crisis. They just sit back and laugh at the middle class. We are no more than a punch line at their dinner table, or a source of amusement. They have the money and we don't. I for one will not be buying into anymore of their disposable products that are broken when you take it out of the box. Houses that fall apart after 10 years of wear and tear. Cars that stay in the shop more than on the road. I do admire those few super rich individuals that give back and do marvelous humanitarian gestures in the world.

  • Posted By: JRWhittler @ 10/14/2008 11:47:53 AM

    Comment: Boo hoo!

  • Posted By: charijp @ 10/14/2008 11:33:22 AM

    Comment: What a joke! If anyone cares how the elite are fairing in this economic crisis, please stand up! Holly Peterson certainly has a lot of audacity comparing the loss of one's "self-esteem and confidence" to loosing a home, food, ability to cover medical necessities, and basic needs. Oh, and by the way, Ms. Peterson - the poor in addition to the aforementioned would also be loosing their self esteem and confidence (yes, we have that too). Ignorance at it's best, writing was mediocre.

  • Posted By: charijp @ 10/14/2008 11:28:20 AM

    Comment: What a joke! I don't even know how to respond. I consider myself a compassionate person, but truly... The "average American" could not care less how the elite are fairing in the economic crisis. There is a good chance that I will probably never own a home and times when I am not sure how the bills will get paid (and by bills, I do not mean society memberships). Yet, I am still amond the fortunate. What bothers me the most about this article is the closing paragraph, "It's not just the goods they're in danger of losing, it's their self-esteem, their confidence, their hope." The writer then tries to tie into "Main Street" as if their confidence and self-esteem somehow compares to losing a home, ability to put food on the table, medical necessities, plus self-esteem and confidence (yes poor people have that too). Seriously, if anyone cares please comment. It's amazing that poor people are typically considered ignorant!

  • Posted By: fredandethel @ 10/14/2008 9:55:31 AM

    Comment: Pitiful. Like I can feel their pain. So typical, this UES elitist nonsense of having the money but not feeling right about spending it. Typical in the author's inability to understand how others would react to passing up a chance to buy a $400,000 painting. And I have a strong sense of humanity, thank you very much. Don't tell me how to feel. I would like to know how many people lost their own wealth and opportunities due to actions of those at Swifty's Bar.

  • Posted By: gels @ 10/14/2008 9:53:25 AM

    Comment: Holly's cubic zirconia gem of an article deserves one last coda from me: you ask if "we" should feel sorry for these people? First up Holls, BFFs "we" ain't, and over 6 billion people on this planet detest not wealth, but the arrogance of those weaklings who suckle to its allure, like you. But I digress. Again, you ask if "we" should feel sorry for these people, like you. Not only have you opened the drapes on vacuous soul with the response "probably" not (why not, "hell no"??), but you beg us for attention and pity as you consign yourself to "their" crowd. In all honesty, you've just got to fire your therapist; you're a complete mess. (who use's tabloid journalism to beg common folk for the attention your daddy's billions can't buy.) Adios.

  • Posted By: brainofjfk @ 10/14/2008 9:41:08 AM

    Comment: Puhleease. Oh no the rich may lose thier confidence!!!! Oh no not that. They all have families and families with money. I do not think I have ever heard of a rich family I mean super rich actually losing everything and having to go back to living on say 20 grand a year. That sounds like a great movie idea actually. Instead of rags to riches. Riches to rags. FABULOUS!!!

    These people Could use some downsizing so they can feel what the rest of us are feeling. Earning money habd over foot on the backs of people who actually make the products or do a job is pathetic. The jobs these rich people have generaly are not making or really doing anything. They are paper pushers never getting their hands even remotely dirty in what the rest of us call work.

    When the dollar is gone and we all start over with the Amero or if by some stroke of luck we can have greenbacks we will really see everyones worth as we will all be at square one.

  • Posted By: brainofjfk @ 10/14/2008 9:35:17 AM

    Comment: PUUUUUHHHLEAZE spare me the ending of this article. Oh no they lose hope waaaa or self esteem waaaa. I am all for humanity but trust fund babies and making money hand over foot for years on the backs of workers who actually make the goods I simply don't give a damn.

  • Posted By: Give2Charity @ 10/14/2008 9:16:01 AM

    Comment: What would $10,000 for a dress, or $80,000 for a ride to Aspen do at a local charity. How many could be helped by the Red Cross, the local soup kitchen, or even your university's college scholarship fund. The people in this article are revolting! I like Warren Buffet. Lives in the house he grew up in. Wears sensible clothing, and gives billons to a charity founded by Bill Gates which is making a real difference in the world.

  • Posted By: arkay @ 10/14/2008 9:13:18 AM

    Comment: I have many heated discussions with my Saturday morning group regarding the expanding wealth gap and the fact that many of those earning the millions have performed as well as the maintenance man as CEOs. It is no wonder that so many people have flocked to Obama. There is o shame among these people and their friends who have handed over other people's wealth to them. At least the "Robber Barons" constructed something. Unfortunately this is not the only article that you will about these "poor" people; I expect that we will see Money with an article on the forced retirement at 45 of a Wall Streeter who was bounced from his job and only has an annual retirement of package of $300K to live on.

  • Posted By: gels @ 10/14/2008 9:03:39 AM

    Comment: Oh, Ms. Holly- I must append my last comment. Now I learn you are not journalistic ear adrift in a sea of wealth, but rather the daughter of a billionaire. The stench of this article would appear disturbingly familiar, were Jeffrey Dahmer to flirt along the keyboard gossiping about the morgue. Heads up, Holly. A generation from now, in your "platinum" years, the downslope of Peak Oil will drive the common folk toward a run not on Banks, but on pitchforks and flaming brooms. What a disaster you are.

  • Posted By: squidburns @ 10/14/2008 8:50:54 AM

    Comment: Fine time the 'ultra rich' wake up and realize that their money is free game for the ultra elite Bush/Clinton Co. and it will be taken away just like everyone else. Perhaps they will finally realize that the ultra elite that run the game are NOT their friends and their money is fair game to be swindled away. The ultra elite have kicked the poor and middle class to the curb, stolen from the upper middle class, and finally have their sights on the rich and all their oodles of cash lying around. It's just the way the game is played, and they are fools to think otherwise. I also hope that the 'ultra rich' realize that no one down here cares about them at all and hope they learn a little more humility when their piles of cash becomes worthless paper blowing in the wind. It's nice to see them squirm a little and wake up in reality... if for just a moment.

  • Posted By: gels @ 10/14/2008 8:44:37 AM

    Comment: Ms. Holly, let me reiterate what a disgusting, shallow, and morally obtuse individual you are for pushing this slop. I have to work my entire 30's just to pay my loans for college that allowed my to get the job in the first place. I don't even have health insurance, so I can't afford the medicine I need to clear the horrific chronic illness (psoriasis) I will suffer for the rest of my life .The end result is women are disgusted, and I will have no mate, and no children. I pray for schedenfreud with respect to your hollow worthless existence. Seriously, F()ck off.

  • Posted By: damcanally @ 10/14/2008 8:34:54 AM

    Comment: I totaling agree! How can you write a story like this when so many Americans have lost their jobs, houses and so much more.......! I mean please, look at what is going on and you really think anyone cares how those people are getting along. I too skimmed through it and all I can say it WHO CARES!!!

  • Posted By: EastCoastCurmudgeon @ 10/14/2008 8:21:16 AM

    Comment: It seems incredible to me that anyone would write a story about the "struggles" of the ultra-affluent. And, lest you wonder, I didn't read it, merely skimmed it for the inevitable hubris. Imagine the horror: having to wear the same $10,000 dress more than once--we really are in an economic fix.

  • Posted By: jackal1 @ 10/14/2008 3:29:00 AM

    Comment: I hope the HAARP will be mistakenly aimed at these rich A$$ like Mr Peterson and we'll see what happen.

  • Posted By: jackal1 @ 10/14/2008 3:26:31 AM

    Comment: Elitest biyatch. Survive this A$$.

  • Posted By: jackal1 @ 10/14/2008 3:25:21 AM

    Comment: Hills have tongue. Holy A$$, tough times for the wealthy? give me a F*ckin break. Can you change the topic ? you are making me sick!

  • Posted By: ploughman @ 10/14/2008 3:22:21 AM

    Comment: Geez, stories like this are Exhibit A of why peoples' cynicism about media is growing as much as the cynicism about politics. Stop being so LAZY with stories like this (and "list" articles, while you're at it) and start doing stories again that require investigating or digging. For a newsmagazine with such a wide swath of potential subject matter, using newsprint on this sort of thing is like phoning it in.

  • Posted By: jackal1 @ 10/14/2008 3:21:46 AM

    Comment: F@ck the rich and famous. Holly Peterson, you are an elitist. Why don't you change the topic on how you can help those poor people in this tough times.

  • Posted By: porochi @ 10/14/2008 1:14:20 AM

    Comment: Hardship? We hardly know ye. Real hardship was my great-great grandfather living in a muddy ditch for 10 months during the Civil War's Petersburg seige, or my uncle who served on three Navy ships in the Pacific during WWII and all three were sunk, or watching my grandfather care for my Alzheimer's afflicted grandmother for 12 years, when he could have taken the easy road out and put her in a nursing home. Watching your 401k take a hit, likely a temporary one at that, and calling that hardship makes a mockery of those that have lived out the real meaning of the word...

  • Posted By: sparkly @ 10/14/2008 1:03:53 AM

    Comment: Holy m^^^^^f*****, what the hell do you think you are doing here? If that chic doesn't want to wear that $10,000 dress, tell her to donate it to me, it will pay tuition for my girl for 2 full years at our state university. To hell with her confidence or hope, I don't give a rat's ass about it.

  • Posted By: burbank @ 10/14/2008 12:30:05 AM

    Comment: Tell me again, Holly, Why are we suposed to feel sorry for these bastards? Is it because they have to agonize over whether to spend precious resources on fine art? Recycle their designer dresses? Please. In reality, we do not care how the rich fare. Let them eat cake.

  • Posted By: ChiefSeattle @ 10/14/2008 12:26:17 AM

    Comment: It's all relative I guess. For every one of us who complains about the brats and their $10,000 dresses, there are 10 other people around the world who continue to face war, famine, crippling diseases and death, and probably think us Americans are just a bunch of whiners complaining about nothing.

  • Posted By: brownman @ 10/14/2008 12:11:48 AM

    Comment: Jeeeeesummmka's people--get a clue.
    1. This was clearly written to stir you up
    2. Seriously, if we don't have rich people in society and we tax everyone to equality, why would we aspire to anything?
    3. Do you really think that all (or even any real number) of "rich people" wear $10,000 dresses once and toss them?
    4. It takes two to tango---how many people now in mortgage trouble now chose back then to ignore the little man tapping them on the shoulder and the griping father in law or uncle and just wanted to believe that they could afford that way above their income house and it would all be ok?

  • Posted By: jcbbrown03 @ 10/13/2008 11:09:13 PM

    Comment: Ms. Peterson, you and your rich #&$^'s can go to hell. I don???t care if this is a tongue and cheek story trying to get an arousal. #%*@ you, @%&# Newsweek, and @$&# everyone else out there who doesn't realize what middle class is going through. I was never reckless with my money or credit and I never ran up credit cards and debt with new cars or house hold toys and @$&$ like that. But I did take out loans to pay for me and my wife to go to college. Now after we graduated I got a descent job but my wife has struggled to find something due to poor job opportunities. My wife now works at a Kroger in the deli section to make ends meet and she graduated *** Laude in Marketing and Business Administration. We barely pay our bills each month and have actually put off having children due to the fact that we are to afraid that we will not be able to provide for them. So I again say #$%^ you. #$&$ corporate America. And $%&* our current American way of life.

  • Posted By: jcbbrown03 @ 10/13/2008 11:08:25 PM

    Comment: Ms. Peterson, you and your rich #&$^'s can go to hell. I don???t care if this is a tongue and cheek story trying to get an arousal. #%*@ you, @%&# Newsweek, and @$&# everyone else out there who doesn't realize what middle class is going through. I was never reckless with my money or credit and I never ran up credit cards and debt with new cars or house hold toys and @$&$ like that. But I did take out loans to pay for me and my wife to go to college. Now after we graduated I got a descent job but my wife has struggled to find something due to poor job opportunities. My wife now works at a Kroger in the deli section to make ends meet and she graduated *** Laude in Marketing and Business Administration. We barely pay our bills each month and have actually put off having children due to the fact that we are to afraid that we will not be able to provide for them. So I again say #$%^ you. #$&$ corporate America. And $%&* our current American way of life.

  • Posted By: lizpgh @ 10/13/2008 10:50:06 PM

    Comment: I have no issue with the rich, especially the entirely self-made. I respect them. I take issue with the pain of the rich being compared to the pain of the rest of the country during these trying times. I simply cannot take pity someone that thinks a financial loss is having to wear a $10,000 for the second time.

  • Posted By: GeorgiaGirl @ 10/13/2008 10:29:57 PM

    Comment: Well...with all this hostility, I know the middle class is having a hard time. But I'll be different. Even the rich are human beings. We are not a socialist country, and there are some who are rich. I'm not rich, I'm pretty middle class (a government retiree on a pension), but I thought the article was interesting and mildly amusing. I'm not enraged by these rich people; I think they are intriguing although a totally different culture, kind of like people from China or Mars. I do support Barack Obama under whose administration these Upper East Sliders would be paying higher taxes than now, which I think should make some Newsweek readers (myself included) more satisfied. And I think Ms. Peterson is a human being trying to do her best, like the rest of us.

  • Posted By: MaggieNMurray @ 10/13/2008 10:17:28 PM

    Comment: I know it's difficult to feel pity for the ultra wealthy. Keep in mind though, these are the people who create jobs, fund scholarships, and donate massive amounts of money and $10,000 dresses to charity.

    • Posted By: Jack313 @ 10/14/2008 8:47:02 AM

      Comment: They create jobs??? Are you kidding me??? They win on others' losses. That's how wealth is transferred. Fair enough. But don't tell me then how hard it is for them to have to wear a damn $10,000 dress twice instead of taking a tax deduction for donating it to lesser folk. You've bought into the claptrap - protect the rich because they create jobs. Right. Spending my money at the grocery store creates jobs.

      • Posted By: brainofjfk @ 10/14/2008 9:47:53 AM

        Comment: would not need charity if rich people were not constantly ripping off the little guy for PROFITS>The only way to make a profit is by increasing scarcity of the items or profiting off the backs of the actual people hwo do the work and make the products.

    • Posted By: tcantrellews @ 10/14/2008 8:04:36 AM

      Comment: Exactly what jobs are they creating? They outsource most of them to India and foreign countries to add another .25 to the shareholders dividends checks and another million to their golden parachutes. I get sick of hearing about all the jobs the rich create. They are the architects of their demise. They have been laying off and out socurcing the jobs of their consumers for years. Karma's a bi@tch, aint it?

  • Posted By: lizpgh @ 10/13/2008 10:10:11 PM

    Comment: Ms. Peterson, I regret to inform you that you are a sad, arrogant piece of garbage. I can't believe that Newsweek would publish this pompous trash. Maybe your spoiled behind should step off of Park Avenue for a moment and take a gander at what's really going on in this country. Maybe you should jaunt down here to middle-class Pittsburgh where honest, hardworking people are losing their jobs, homes, and self-respect on a daily basis (in many cases due to the gross negligence of the people that you observed in order to concoct this study in financial gluttony). You expect that the rest of us should "let a little humanity kick in"? For people who's biggest financial worry is that they might --GASP!-- have to fly commercial? Or that while they occupy multi-million dollar homes in the Hamptons, they're a little cash-poor? I think that I just squeezed out a tear for the poor, poor little rich people on Gin Lane. I hope that you and all of your Upper East Side neighbors choke on your beluga caviar and break an ankle in your Jimmy Choo stilletos.

  • Posted By: FatBear @ 10/13/2008 9:55:13 PM

    Comment: The poor things are going to lose their self-esteem, their confidence, their hope? You mean, like the guys on the street corner with the cardboard signs never had those things to lose. Or the young couple trying to get their family into a house when the whole gigantic construction/mortgage industry is lying, cheating and downright ripping them off? Screw 'em. Their narcissistic ilk are what holds back our world. Just a small fraction of the bailout for these jerks could pay off all of our mortgages in this country. So why not do that? Because we are the ones who PAY, not the ones who receive. The time will come when We the People wake up and hang these scheisters from a lamppost for the crows to dine upon.

    • Posted By: Tabi @ 10/13/2008 10:12:16 PM

      Comment: Funny thing about killing the rich, it is a little difficult to define. During the Russian Revolution, the rich were sometimes defined as the people who owned a couple more cows than anyone else. Also, a feeling of self-worth is even more important than wealth. Though one can perhaps question why they deserved to receive what they received, that is no reason to wish them ill.

      • Posted By: Jack313 @ 10/14/2008 8:58:56 AM

        Comment: LOL. I see a little of your "humanity's kicked in," Tabi! You know, I don't wish them ill for the sake of it, but more for their own spiritual growth. They obviously don't have a clue about real suffering. Imagine how liberating and enriching it would be for them to experience the real world for just a moment - like losing their livelihood rather than a percentage of a portfolio, or not being able to afford a velvet Elvis much less the latest $4,000 abstract down on Spring Street. They'd be better people for having gained a shred of understanding of what real pain can be. As it is, they're vacuous, arrogant, unfeeling snobs who don't deserve the energy of your defense.

  • Posted By: maytheforcebewithyou @ 10/13/2008 9:30:11 PM

    Comment: If the dress is $10,000, I just want to know if it is blue. If I pull out and *** all over it, she will shreik and melt like the wicked witch of the west. And all I could say is " sorry, it just slipped out".

  • Posted By: trimm25 @ 10/13/2008 9:23:03 PM

    Comment: You know there is only one good thing I can think of when I consider the entire country going belly-up. And that would be the fact that the worthless, stuckup, idiotic, babied, cold hearted, narrowminded super rich people will have to walk a day in 95% of the rest of the countries shoes. So it almost makes it worthwile.

  • Posted By: k217 @ 10/13/2008 9:07:01 PM

    Comment: never again will I read "Newsweek" even if I'm in the dentist's office and the only other magazine is "LPGA Golf". They undoubtedly published this BS to stir us up to buy their rag. I am from the west coast so am not familiar with her name but cannot believe a major publication would publish her crap

  • Posted By: k217 @ 10/13/2008 8:57:17 PM

    Comment: After reading more about this "C word" I now know Newsweek only publishes her @#$% because it will piss us off and sell more of their toilet paper. Yes I believe her to be what she is but I have no intention of letting her profit from that which she can use to wipe off her mouth...IF she wipes. She is no doubt one of those bugs that keep your septic tanks clean

  • Posted By: Texaseic @ 10/13/2008 8:39:24 PM

    Comment: I have never been more convinced of the validity of the estate tax and Obama's tax plan than I am after reading this article.

    Instead of dispair, I recommend these poor-rich take advantadge of this time to find out who they are beyond their clothes, homes and tax bracket. That's where they will find self-esteem, confidence and hope that has nothing to do with the whims of the marketplace.

  • Posted By: Ron Paul For Pope @ 10/13/2008 8:26:44 PM

    Comment: This is EXACTLY why we have an estate tax -- so that a hereditary class of parasites like Mrs. Peterson can't exist.

    The fact that they still do means there's more work to be done...

  • Posted By: Ron Paul For Pope @ 10/13/2008 8:17:36 PM

    Comment: Presumably this is the same Holly Peterson who wrote "The Manny". From www.oneminutebookreview.com:

    "If you believe novelists should remember America???s firefighters even when writing about adulterous sex in a linen closet ???

    See page 167, the part that begins with 'Now she was on her knees ???' and ends with 'like a fire hose in her expensive mouth.'"

    and

    "A status symbol for some mothers is a male nanny...Peterson wrote a lively story about this for the New York Times that explained why she had hired men to care for her 3-year-old son."

    *******************

    In other words, Peterson's one of them. One of those who raped this country of its dignity and future.

    It takes quite a bit of chutzpah, Mrs. Peterson, to demand sympathy from people who are worse off than you -- because of you.

    She's not sorry that they did it. She's sorry that they can't do it any more.

  • Posted By: k217 @ 10/13/2008 7:50:52 PM

    Comment: HMMM Holly? You obviously sound like a spoiled little brat to want to post an article on a public server like this. What possessed you to think that 95% of Americans could give a rat's ass about you and your cronies who are crying in their soup because they don't know how to pay their bills. I would give anything to see you and your people huddled over a burning trash can trying to keep warm and tryin to line jump to get the next bowl of soup. I pray for most people in this world but never have I prayed for you or your people and never will

  • Posted By: obzerver @ 10/13/2008 7:42:24 PM

    Comment: and there is why the USA should have embraced communism

  • Posted By: k217 @ 10/13/2008 7:38:18 PM

    Comment: Uhhhh forgive me if I don't puddle up for these folks. These are the same people who look down their noses at even the "upper" middle class and excuse me but most of them didn't even make the money they HAD but inherited from generations ahead of them. I hope the term "old money" haunts them as now they don't know what to do to keep it. I'm sorry I have more compassion for those that lost their retirements due to scandalous business practices. The rich who have lived the high life off of their ancestors' hard work can get in the soup line!!

  • Posted By: k217 @ 10/13/2008 7:37:22 PM

    Comment: Uhhhh forgive me if I don't puddle up for these folks. These are the same people who look down their noses at even the "upper" middle class and excuse me but most of them didn't even make the money they HAD but inherited from generations ahead of them. I hope the term "old money" haunts them as now they don't know what to do to keep it. I'm sorry I have more compassion for those that lost their retirements due to scandalous business practices. The rich who have lived the high life off of their ancestors' hard work can get in the soup line!!

  • Posted By: reggie66 @ 10/13/2008 7:30:58 PM

    Comment: How dare you write such an article Holly Peterson!
    You must be in their league, whereas, you live in the same neighborhood for 30 years.
    Write about the people losing their homess due to an inept and corrupted government.
    Write about the people losing their jobs, i.e. "GM to shut Mich. plant, cut 1340 jobs.
    Write about people losing their life savings or seeing it wither away to nothing.
    This, by far, is the worst article ever written at the most trying time in our County's history.
    Shame on you Holly!

  • Posted By: make love not war @ 10/13/2008 7:16:09 PM

    Comment: Does anyone really care about the "suffering" of the super rich? I know people who are trying to figure out whether to pay the gas bill or feed their kids. Bush, one of the super rich, says when our unemployment benefits run out we should "get a job." What does dummy think we've been trying to do? This needs to be addressed right now, not after the lame duck congress; when our benefits run out it doesn't matter how low interest rates are; no one will be able to buy anything. But I'm so glad there's plenty of money to help Wall Street, banks, etc. to help the rich get richer. Bush and the super rich are the worst thing that's happened to this country since the Great Depression. I hope there's a special place in hell for these arrogant, self obsessed bastards.

  • Posted By: firemedic258 @ 10/13/2008 6:36:30 PM

    Comment: I hope these superrich can hear the tiny little violins that I am playing just for them. Having to wear a $10,000 dress for the second time! Indeed! Americans are losing their homes, their jobs, their paltry savings, their health insurance, but NOW it is obvious that SOMETHING MUST be done about this crisis. We cannot have our socialites be seen in the same clothes twice. I probably won't sleep tonight knowing the suffering of this woman. She is in my prayers.

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/13/2008 6:21:11 PM

    Comment: THE GREAT BUSH DEPRESSION
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    He perfectly predicted the current meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen next
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything seen in generations
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand how its been broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use quantum mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He was the last to know somthing was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a budget surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that
    Stand up and hold them accountable
    Bush isn't on the ballot this year but his policies are
    Elect Obama Biden 2008






    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/13/2008 6:21:01 PM

    Comment: THE GREAT BUSH DEPRESSION
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    He perfectly predicted the current meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen next
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything seen in generations
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand how its been broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use quantum mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He was the last to know somthing was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a budget surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that
    Stand up and hold them accountable
    Bush isn't on the ballot this year but his policies are
    Elect Obama Biden 2008






    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: cani77 @ 10/13/2008 6:20:51 PM

    Comment: THE GREAT BUSH DEPRESSION
    I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
    He perfectly predicted the current meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen next
    is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
    The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
    The government took them over because they are bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
    the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything seen in generations
    McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
    That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand how its been broken.
    It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use quantum mathematical models very few people understand.
    Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
    Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
    Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
    No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He was the last to know somthing was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
    It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
    even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a budget surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
    If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
    When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
    So why are the polls even close then ?
    Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
    which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
    They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
    Let's teach him we are smarter than that
    Stand up and hold them accountable
    Bush isn't on the ballot this year but his policies are
    Elect Obama Biden 2008






    Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

  • Posted By: palero8 @ 10/13/2008 5:57:21 PM

    Comment: "It's not just the goods they're in danger of losing, it's their self-esteem, their confidence, their hope. And that's a place it seems where everyone, from Main Street to Fifth Avenue, is stuck for now. And maybe for a long way down the road" WELLLLLLLLLLLL, welcome to the club, but the big difference here is that main streets feels it first, longer and has nothing to fall back on, nor do they look down their noses at anyone else in their same boat or otherwise, we lend a hand or a pat on the back or share the leg up, Main street has a class of people that by their hearts alone display what real class should entail.
    I do not believe the rich need be scorned by any means but the table turning is better than what the aristocrats in Russia faced during the Revolution, and talk on the streets was beginning to sound a little nostalgic for those bad old days. In the end guys, guess what..............Heart is all we have left so lets show a little and turn society around and all have a good look at ourselves!

  • Posted By: madsen.peter @ 10/13/2008 5:39:14 PM

    Comment: I'm sorry - I just don't have any compassion for these folks.

    These "Captains" of industry have lived too far out of whack from reality for too long. I'm sure Exeter, Hotchkiss, Deerfield etc ingrained in them the sense that this was their due but the reality is this: Your lineage made you no smarter and a hell of a lot greedier than most. Did you really believe that you had some inherent right to make so much more for doing jobs that honestly aren't that special or difficult.

    Perhaps you are inclined to tell me that you really are something special and brilliant in a way I could not understand. I would challange that I would not have bent over for Credit Default Swaps and Mortgage Backed Securities when they were clearly flawed and the models more so.

    Reap what you sew - the only shame is that more of you will not fall further. It is disheartening that Newsweek could compare you to main street where honest men and women are paying a great price for your avorice.

  • Posted By: Smouse @ 10/13/2008 5:36:37 PM

    Comment: People seem to be taking this article at face value when it seems to me that the author is purposely playing on the readers' emotions.

    To the well heeled influence peddlers it's a pandering, obsequious, acknowledgement of their suffering, the likes of which the plebeian will never truly understand. Of course the fact that the author occasionally rubs shoulders with these tortured souls or that they might be in a position to help advance her career had no bearing on her remarks.

    To the average reader it's a sharp slap in the face designed to shock them out of their complacency long enough to look at the author's name and vow never to read anything by her again. Of course the hope is that such unsophisticated minds will have forgotten all about this in a couple weeks when they see her book on a bargain table at Wal-mart and mistake the nagging feeling that there is something they were supposed to remember about her as a sign they should buy the book (on credit naturally).

    • Posted By: gels @ 10/14/2008 10:35:17 AM

      Comment: The "face value" of Holly Peterson is est. $1.7 Billion dollars; daddy's money of course. He is Senior Chairman of the Blackstone Group- small world round there in UES, right Holls? She is a baby of an adult whose editorial position at Newsweek can only be justified through her family connections. This junior high school quality article screams for "negative attention", just like her --controversial-- youtube clip about the 'Manny". "Everyone look at me!!" isn't that right Holly?

      • Posted By: gels @ 10/14/2008 10:59:18 AM

        Comment: Strike that comment on Holly Peterson's daddy's net worth: Peter Peterson was actually the 165th richest person in the United States in 2007, with a net worth of $2.5 Billion. As a top US captain and former chairman of the Councel on Foreign Relations, I'm quite sure he had more than passing interest in ginning up the case for war in Iraq. Way to be, Holly and fam-ily. Your father is apparently exceptionally bright. However, as evidenced by the poor quality and redolent immaturity throughout your "work", he neglected to pass along such positives to you.

  • Posted By: Support America @ 10/13/2008 5:22:50 PM

    Comment: The way I would see it is in 2007, the amount of money made by Pro football teams was over 2 trillion dollars. That would have effected a lot of peoples lives and is certainly more than the 700 billion in tax payers moeny spent bailing out the companies that robbed the people to get us into this mess to start with. How about helping all those people who are loosing homes due to predatory lending practices that are still not being regulated?

    All those tickets of the fans who go to watch sporting events ma