Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008
Game over. Suckas.
CNBC: Luxury Brands Struggle to Attract Clients
The Wall Street stockbroker had used FlatRate Moving, a high-end moving service, a half-dozen times over the years. They moved him from a modest apartment on the Upper East Side to a grander one on the Upper West. He called when he moved to an even better building in Midtown. Most recently, FlatRate helped settle him and his wife and child into a 3,000-square-foot loft in Soho, one of Manhattan's priciest neighborhoods.
FlatRate got another call two months ago. The client was packing up his family for a two-bedroom apartment in the less expensive Park Slope, Brooklyn. He had lost his job and was no longer in a position to pay the $3,000 to $5,000 a month he'd shelled out before.
"We did the move almost at cost"—for under $1,200, says FlatRate's vice president of marketing.
13 Comments
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1. inflation is eating my savings said...
I'd rather live in Park Slope than mid-town any time. Midtown is spectacular as a tourist but becomes like Tottenham Court Road on a windy day when you live there.
2. lvmreader said...
But Park Slopes isn't exactly cheap. I remember 5 yrs ago when that was seen as a somewhat desirable address. How about Brooklyn Heights?
What will be interesting will be the fate of Trump's Yard Developments and Mort Zuckermann's endeavours too. Since Macklowe got foreclosed, there will be a lot of fear in Manhattan.
Trump Place (also known as Riverside South and Trump City and Television City) is an apartment complex originated by Donald Trump on the Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, New York.
The $3 billion project on a 56 acre site between 59th Street and 72nd Street was to include 16 apartment buildings with 5,700 residential units, 1,800,000 square feet (167,000 m2) of studio space, 300,000 square feet (30,000 m2) of office and retail space, and a 23 acre waterfront park. The studio and office space was not approved. Nevertheless, Trump Place is the biggest privately-developed complex currently being built in New York City.Trump Place is projected to be completed by 2009. It will consist of sixteen apartment buildings, condominiums, and lease properties. As of the end of 2007, there are seven buildings completed and have been mostly rented out (and the condominiums are completely sold out). It is projected to pay for itself within ten years of completion.
3. little professor said...
Nice to see you back, lvm.
The Times publishes a pullout section on Saturdays, Luxx, a 'luxury lifestyle magazine' devoted to 'the finer things in life' - reading it was a fascinating insight into the excesses of the uber-rich, many of whom will now have lost their job, their executive bonuses, and will no longer be able to spend £1,800 on a Hérmes "apple carrier."
4. alan said...
James Pethokoukis itemises The 11 Blunders of Hank Paulson in the "Big Picture" blog.
Strategist Ed Yardeni says that “everything that [Hank] Paulson has done or endorsed has worsened the credit crisis and sent stocks reeling.” Like what, for instance? Like these, and I quote:
(1) Paulson’s Super-SIV proposal was a distraction that went nowhere. It was the first clue that he likes half-backed schemes that are hard to implement.
(2) The vaunted “Teaser Freezer” hasn’t worked. Neither has the Hope Now Alliance. Indeed, many borrowers who’ve been foreclosed never even heard about these new outreach programs to keep them in their homes.
(3) Letting investment banks borrow from the Fed’s discount window just after Bear Stearns failed suggests that letting the firm go was done as a risky gesture to the principle of avoiding moral hazard, which has subsequently been thrown out the window.
(4) The government’s unwillingness to provide transparent rescue plans started with the mysterious $29bn Bear Stearns portfolio acquired by the Fed.
(5) After multiple assurances that Fannie and Freddie were solvent, they were seized and put into conservatorship. Stiffing owners of their preferreds opened an estimated $25bn black hole in the capital of regional banks that owned these securities. It also seized up the one market that financial firms had for raising capital.
(6) Refusing to support the suspension of mark-to-market accounting was Paulson’s second biggest mistake.
(7) His biggest mistake was letting Lehman go under. Dick Fuld should have been forced out, and Lehman should have been rescued. A guy who ran GS and all the MS advisors around him should have known that letting Lehman go under would blow up money market funds and the commercial paper market. It also blew up the prime brokerage business and massacred the hedge fund industry, which sent stock prices into a free fall.
(8) When AIG was seized, the terms of the government’s rescue package were punitive. They’ve been recently eased, but the firm can’t raise funds by selling only 49% of its various non-core assets, as required by its “bailout” deal.
(9) TARP was a really bad idea that was sold to Congress and the public by inciting a panic, and sending the global economy into a tailspin. Claiming that the Treasury could purchase one-of-a-kind troubled assets in reverse auctions made no sense. The RTC solution to the S&L crisis of the early 1990s won’t work to end this crisis.
(10) The Capital Purchase Program of TARP, started on October 14, is providing capital to banks that probably should be forced to fail and to those that don’t even need it. Hopefully, Congress won’t give the second $350bn installment of TARP to the Treasury.
(11) Paulson has been aiming to kill “bad” hedge funds. The result of his disjointed fixes has been a massacre of innocent bystanders, including long-only investors getting killed in all the stocks that hedge funds are being forced to sell.
My take: I think Paulson’s credibility with the financial markets has been exhausted.
So, what next?
5. little professor said...
What's next? Forget TARP, it's time for the ABCPMMMFLF!!!
6. gardeniadotnet said...
Why wasn't Lehman rescued?
7. gardeniadotnet said...
How do you say 'nouveau riche'?
8. gardeniadotnet said...
Now that I have your attention, can anyone prove that anti-terror legislation hasn't been used against Iceland?
9. little professor said...
Look, gd, I know you're lonely now that malct has finally been banned, but really there's no need for this.
10. lvmreader said...
@lp
Hi there. It is good to be back.
11. gardeniadotnet said...
> really there's no need for this
for what?
Engage
12. theboltonfury said...
has Malct been banned?
13. Malct said...
no I'm still here