The Rich are Feeling "Luxury Shame" | Newsweek Business

House Sweet House
Andrew Romano 5/22/2009 12:00:00 AM
As noted philosopher Dionne Warwick once said, a house is not a home. Now a growing legion of persnickety chefs want diners to know that their restaurants aren't either.
Dick Takes Manhattan
Howard Fineman 5/16/2009 12:00:00 AM
Dick Cheney hadn't planned to speak, but others at the dinner in Manhattan noticed him growing a grimmer shade of grim. He was listening to Nicholas Burns, a former State Department official in Cheney's own Bush administration, wax eloquent about the virtue of diplomacy: how a new joint effort with France, Britain, Germany and even Russia and China could prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and terrorizing the Persian Gulf region and the world. In other words, President Barack Obama's position. The host asked if the former vice president wished to respond. Yes indeedy, he did.
Paulson’s Complaint
Evan Thomas 5/16/2009 12:00:00 AM
Hank Paulson, former master of the universe, sits in a nondescript office in northwest Washington, D.C. He is trying to work on his memoirs, but he is struggling. He doesn't seem like the onetime All-Ivy tackle at Dartmouth, the Harvard M.B.A. who ran Goldman Sachs, the prince of Wall Street who went on to be come secretary of the Treasury. He comes across more like an athlete who has lost a game and can't stop talking about the dropped pass, the missed shot. He is trying to explain the weekend last September when Lehman Brothers went down—and the financial world collapsed.
Point of View
The Opportunity in Autos
5/7/2009 12:00:00 AM
The White House is at this moment trying to save America's auto industry and the tens of thousands of jobs that depend on it. Although nobody knows what the bailout is expected to cost, it's going to be huge—on the order of $100 billion. Spending this kind of money on a salvage operation will not work: business as usual will ultimately result in failure as usual. Incremental technological improvements will not help because foreign competitors will simply match them, as they have been doing for decades.
THE DIGNITY INDEX
Next Time, Einstein, How About a Heads-Up?
5/2/2009 12:00:00 AM
REAL ESTATE
How Low Will Housing Go?
4/22/2009 12:00:00 AM
Two weeks ago, Joyti Goundar, an agent at Redfin, a residential real estate brokerage, entered a bid of $420,000 for a three-bedroom, 1,625-square-foot La Crescenta home outside of L.A., listed at $299,000. When she lost the bid, she wasn't surprised. In July of 2008, Goundar bid $559,000 for a two-bedroom Arcadia house, also outside L.A., listed by Wells Fargo for $459,900. That one received 105 bids, driving the price up to $628,000, according to Los Angeles County records.