I refuse to donate money to the orphans unless I see some goddamn razzle-dazzle

The current economic downturn is making it tough for charity organizations to raise money from the wealthy.

Ms. Murray explained, however, that there is pressure in the philanthropic world, despite the economic downturn, to always outdo past performances.

“There was some talk about getting a normal tent — our budget is about 10 to 15 percent lower than it was a couple of years ago — but we don’t want to give people less,” she said, adding that Mr. Simmons rented a free-span tent two years ago and didn’t want to do without it this year. “What does it say about you if you’re charging less or giving them less? Each year we’re expected to grow this event. People want to see some razzle-dazzle.”

Of course, if you want to maximize profits, you must first minimize labor costs.

Eliza Rand, a spokeswoman for the Children’s Museum, said planners realized a week before the July 12 gala that they would fall short of their $280,000 goal, so “we decided to downscale in order to maximize what we were bringing in.” Out went the cover band, in came the local teenagers and museum instructors, performing free or for $75 stipends.

Things are so bad that even the daily flower arrangements aren't being outsourced.

It might be too early to call this the East End’s summer of austerity, but Jeff Pennington, a high-end florist, said he had noticed that many of his steady private-home accounts had fallen off. “They’re asking for estimates, which they never used to,” he said. “For weekends when they don’t have guests, people are just doing their floral arrangements in-house.”

What I think this shows is charitable giving by the rich is often done in an atmosphere that does not require them to be somber or reflective. Rather, it is a way for them to engage in their already-hedonistic lifestyle with the added exoticism and thrill of it ostensibly being for a humanitarian cause. It is a fetish where excitement is enhanced by the fake selflessness that promotes it.

Via Ohio

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/nyregion/19galas.html?_r=4&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The Sinking of the Titanic: An Illustration

When the Titanic went down, 3% of the first class passengers drowned.

How about the third class passengers?

45%.

Only one first class passenger refused the opportunity to board the lifeboats.

How many third class passengers refused to board the lifeboats?

None. That is, none were given the opportunity as they were told to stay below deck while the ship sank. Some were held there at gunpoint.

The value of human life is directly related to the socioeconomic position of its body.

Info from: Gilbert, The American Class Structure (2003)

Mudville gentrified

The only things fans really get from new stadiums are price increases. Just ask Peggy Gavan and her husband, Joe Ebler, of Warwick. For three years they've owned two seats as part of a 12-game Saturday package. They are called "MVP Tier," located in the upper tier between home plate and the Yankees' on-deck circle. Good seats. They've paid $55 a seat which, with a couple perks, makes for a pretty good deal.

Then they opened the mail one day and inside was a glossy packet from the Yankees containing 2009 ticket information. Their seats, now called "Terrace Level Outdoor Suite," would "start at $100 per seat/per game." So the 12-game, $55-seat package that now costs $660 per person will cost at least $1,200, almost a 100 percent increase.

But here's the kicker — Peggy and Joe must buy all 81 homes games, and they might have to sign up for multiple seasons. [...] At best, the couple will have to come up with at least $16,200 for seats that currently cost $1,320.

So the Yanks probably will lose two more common folks from their new fan-friendly stadium. Peggy's been going to games for 30 years. Joe was there in '77 when Reggie Jackson hit three home runs against the Dodgers in Game 6 of the World Series.

From: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/SPORTS/807150327

It's not a handout unless you're in coach. Then you must 'pay for what you use'

Clients traveling Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic flights are being offered wine tasting at the airline's Heathrow Terminal 3 Clubhouse this summer.

The airline has teamed up with I Love New York, the New York State division of tourism, to sample six wines from the state's wine regions during July and August. The regions include The Finger Lakes, Long Island, Niagara Escarpment and the Hudson Valley.

"It is our aim to offer our Upper Class passengers an ever-changing and stimulating experience in the Heathrow Clubhouse," said Paul Dickinson, director of sales and marketing for Virgin Atlantic. "This will give passengers the opportunity to experience wines from one of the wine regions which is less well known here in the UK. We're absolutely certain that it is going to be an educational and enjoyable experience."

VS.

US Airways will become the first major U.S. airline in August to charge domestic coach passengers for soft drinks, juices, coffee and bottled water as part of a shift to what it calls a "pay-for-what-you-use" business model.
The $2-a-pop beverage charge is the latest in a raft of new charges airlines have been imposing to help pay for record fuel costs.

Free nonalcoholic beverages have been one of the last freebies handed out by domestic airlines, which already charge for alcoholic beverages and - except for Continental - for meals and even snacks on domestic flights.

From: http://www.luxurytravelmagazine.co.uk/article/828038/virgin-offers-wine-tasting-upper-class-clients/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.drinks13jun13,0,2294921.story

The problems of being a psychotherapist to the rich; or, we can hash out the CBT in the limo

"Dr. Karasu, known as an expert in treating the wealthy and powerful, recognized a common pitfall among his peers: Rich people can be seductive. "The therapist wants to identify with the patients and comes to see it as his role to help them get more wealthy," he said. [...] it can be hard to resist the temptation to sycophantically adopt their point of view.

"It used to be that my patients were the children of the rich: inheritors, people who suffered from the neglect of jet-setting parents or from the fear that no matter what they did, they would never measure up to their father's accomplishments," he recalled. "Now I see so many young people - people in their 30s and 40s - who've made the money themselves."

Dr. Stone said those two kinds of patients tended to have different problems: "In my experience, there was a high incidence of depression in the people who were born rich. And by contrast, the people today who are making a fortune are so often narcissistic in a way that excludes depression."

Dr. Karasu and several of his peers voiced a concern that a rich person today was ever more inclined to view his or her psychotherapist as nothing more than a highly skilled member of his personal army.

He added: "It's King Ludwig Syndrome. In the 19th century, Bernhard von Gudden was the psychiatrist for the Bavarian royal family and began to treat King Ludwig II, who was psychotic. In the end, the two of them drowned in a boat. So I teach my people who are treating wealthy people, 'Don't get in your patients' boats.' "

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/nyregion/07therapists.html?_r=2&ei=5087&em=&en=f3c64fc677840da0&ex=1215576000&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

Our leaders must eat, too

Yesterday, the Prime Minister [Gordon Brown] and other world leaders sat down to an 18-course gastronomic extravaganza at a G8 summit in Japan, which is focusing on the food crisis.
The meal was served at the Windsor Hotel, on the shores of Lake Toya, where the presidential suite costs £7,000 a night.

The dinner, and a six-course lunch, at the summit of leading industrialised nations on the island of Hokkaido, included delicacies such as caviar, milkfed lamb, sea urchin and tuna, with champagne and wines flown in from Europe and the U.S.

On Sunday, Mr Brown called for prudence and thrift in our kitchens, after a Government report concluded that 4.1million tonnes of food was being wasted by householders.

He suggested we could save up to £8 a week by making our shopping go further. It was vital to reduce 'unnecessary demand' for food, he said.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1032909/Summit-thats-hard-swallow--world-leaders-enjoy-18-course-banquet-discuss-solve-global-food-crisis.html

They're just minor growing pains

Montauk, N.Y.

Lauren Morris’s gold lamé high heels kept getting stuck between the planks of the patio deck. Her only alternative were flip-flops, which she only wore “to not touch the floor in my share house,” said Ms. Morris, an account executive in a fashion showroom. “They’re gross.”

Wearing a sun-yellow tube dress, Ms. Morris held a glass of champagne, with a blueberry, a blackberry and a strawberry floating in it, and surveyed the scene. A reggae-influenced band played loudly as young men in pressed oxford shirts and jeans with complicated back-pocket designs were sprawled on ottomans. Eyeing them were tan women in skimpy floral-print sundresses.

That’s right, Montauk, known as “The End.” Not Bridgehampton, East Hampton or Southampton, where the thumping fabulousness on display at the Surf Lodge has long been a mark of summertime. Montauk, the easternmost tip of Long Island, is a town that has for generations been distinctly, and proudly low-key, the un-Hampton, where commercial fishermen live and work, and where middle-class families could afford hotel rooms, miniature golf and soft-serve ice cream.

The Surf Lodge, owned by the same group that runs the clubs Cain and GoldBar in Manhattan, is not the only sign of the new Montauk. Chic boutiques dot the village, old seaside motels are being turned into million-dollar condominiums, and an international marina developer who wants to attract megayachts is renovating the rundown 79-year-old yacht club.

Liveable Home, a furnishings store opened last fall by Adrienne Valenza, an interior designer.
“My partner and I thought it would be great to have a store to address things that are missing from Montauk,” Ms. Valenza said, sitting behind a desk not far from a glass “rock bowl” selling for $172. “Montauk is becoming this great shopping destination, so why not?”

Vogue and Women’s Wear Daily have done photo sessions there, and the hotel rooms, about $450 a night, are booked every weekend for the rest of the summer, said Steve Kasuba, an owner.

Another Surf Lodge owner, Jamie Mulholland, said the issues raised by the town are “minor growing pains” that are normal for any fast-growing business.

...the signature drink [at the bar] is the Yachtini, a mixture of rum, lime, pineapple juice, almond syrup, Grand Marnier and Champagne. A Mega-Yachtini is $100 and comes in a martini glass big enough to hold a carp.

“Montauk is a special place,” Mr. Farkas said in a telephone interview. “What we are trying to do is cultivate that feeling.”

Not too many decades ago, developers sought to attract a different class of people to Montauk. A new book by Paul Sahre, “Leisurama Now” lovingly chronicles the history of 200 low-key ranch houses that were sold in Montauk in the mid-60s by Macy’s. The price: as little as $12,990, including land and all furnishings. Now, an enlarged Leisurama house can sell for $800,000, according to Mr. Sahre. New two-bedroom attached houses on the property of the Panoramic View Hotel are being sold for $2.8 million, luxury oceanfront cabanas included.

At the Shagwong, a bar and restaurant, where fishermen, construction workers, realtors and vacationers have been drinking since 1969, a group of Montauk old-timers were grousing about the changes. “Look at all the places that used to be like this that are gone,” said Harold Foster, a semi-retired carpenter who has lived here since 1967. “The Windjammer, the Harvest, the Blue Marlin. This place and Liar’s are the only places left you can come meet your friends.”


From: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/fashion/06hampton.html?_r=1&ref=style&oref=login

Surely this marks the beginning of a dialectical shift

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- With oil near record highs, the Persian Gulf is awash in cash, stimulating a return to some very conspicuous consumption.

Ferrari S.p.A. says sales in the Middle East leapt 32% last year. BMW Group's Rolls-Royce Motor Cars says the UAE, a country with a population of just 4.6 million, is now one of its top five global markets. All those expensive cars clogging the roads have given rise to another must-have status symbol: a prestigious license-plate number.

Earlier this year, Abu Dhabi businessman Saeed Khouri made headlines and the Guinness Book of World Records when he paid $14 million for the tag simply sporting a "1." The "1" tag bought by Saeed, 25, was a coup for the family, says his 21-year-old younger brother Hamdan.

"We are lucky. We have the money to get what we want. We want to be the best," Hamdan says.

From: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121487292883417859.html?mod=hpp_us_pageone

I love the look of that king crab

"Safeway opens a posh downtown Bellevue store Friday designed to cater to an affluent crowd with extras such as a nut bar, wine cellar, fireplace, sushi bar and -- of course -- a Starbucks.

'In the Seattle division, this is our first elite-lifestyle store,' store Manager Patti Kennedy said Thursday, standing next to the gelato bar while employees readied the place for customers.



A baby grand piano has been set up near the cash registers to play live music through Sunday.



Up to 40 percent of the produce is organic, the pharmacy in the back is outfitted with cherry wood and looks like a doctor's office and the wine cellar is temperature controlled, encased in glass and features bottles that cost up to $550. A wine steward will be on hand each day to help luxury condominium dwellers choose the perfect bottle.

Among other upscale features, the seafood bar has doubled in size and features whole octopus, shark steaks and Chilean sea bass. [...] Safeway has brought in a chef from Chateau Ste. Michelle to prepare crab leg samples.

An entire king crab was on display Thursday.

'I love the look of that king crab,' Wampler said. 'They flew that in from Alaska a couple of days ago.'"





From: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/368597_safeway27.html

Keeping slaves is a value: approximately the same cost as a low end BMW

A wealthy New York woman has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for keeping two Indonesian women as slaves. Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 46, and her husband Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, kept them as slaves and abused them physically and psychologically.

In addition to prison, his Indian-born wife was fined $25,000.

"I was brought to this earth to help people who are in need," said Mrs. Sabhnani.

The wealthy couple, who run a perfume business and have four children, had brought the women to their large house to work as housekeepers, and forced them to work up to 18 hours a day. The couple were arrested after one of the women was found wandering the streets dressed in only trousers and a towel.

The two Indonesian women had been punished for misbehavior such as sleeping late and stealing food from the dustbin to supplement their meager meals. The women said they had been beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, made to take freezing showers and climb stairs repeatedly. One said she had been forced to eat several hot chillies and then her own vomit.

Lawyers for the accused had argued that the housekeepers practised witchcraft and may have abused themselves. The pair were described as "model citizens" who wanted only to clear their names.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7476927.stm