Cry me a river

The NY Times chronicles the travails of the Manhattan elites who have gone from very, very, very rich to merely very, very rich:

THEIR spouses could leave them when they discover that their net worth has collapsed to eight figures from nine. Friends and business associates could avoid them as they pass their lunchtime tables at Barney’s or the Four Seasons. And these snubs could trickle down to their children.

“They fear their kids won’t get invited to the right birthday parties,” said Michele Kleier, an Upper East Side-based real estate broker. “If they have to give up things that are invisible, they’re O.K. as long as they don’t have give up things visible to the outside world.”

It's actually pretty sad and shows once again that above a certain income level (and one could argue whether this level is $80K or $20K), relative wealth is far more important that absolute wealth. Thus, the 'struggling' rich sell diamonds they don't wear and paintings they don't display so that their friends won't realize the extent of their difficulties.

This is one of the better arguments I've seen of late for increasing the income tax on the top 1% - just make them all less wealthy!