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The New York Times reports that the rich are suffering. Since last August when the subprime collapse surfaced, rich Wall Streeters have seen their net worths plummet. And they're eating more to handle the stress of losing their jobs. The evidence is clear to their personal trainers who see them step on the scale and read their eating journals.
One has seen his net worth fall to $8 million from more than $20 million, and he thinks that his wife will leave him. He has borrowed money to keep up with his wife's appetite for extravagant clothes and vacations. People are selling million dollar jewel collections that they never wear -- and they keep driving their Bentleys -- so that their friends won't notice.
But the weight gain is the worst. One Wall Street executive snacks on nuts in her office all day to manage the stress of potentially losing her position, while another confesses to inhaling four bowls of cereal at 10 p.m. The Times quotes a dietitian as saying: "The number one concern that they have is the state of the financial market. There definitely is a correlation between the stock market and weight gain."
It also quotes Clay Burwell, a personal trainer for some Wall Street executives, as saying that a year of eating more, drinking more and working longer hours has started to hurt their health. According to Burwell: "They come into the gym with a dark storm cloud over their head. They look like hell."
It's no longer just the poor who have weight problems. It's people who have less money who eat more to cope with their stress. Despite diminished circumstances, at least the rich can still afford better food.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-31-2008 @ 1:55PM
william lindblad said...
I don't feel sorry for them. On the other side of the coin people are eating less.
5-31-2008 @ 2:03PM
da responder said...
wheh, wheh, wheh; give me a break. there are plenty of rich folks with ef-ed up health. Its all hype. Don't blame the economy. What does this trainer know/and how does he know. Rich well to do are not open books. They want you to believe that the poor are the only ones suffering from health. Even thats exaggerated. Rich people hide from the truth, when they are doing bad they hide and hybernate. The poor say ef-it, we keep on living. We're not about status. So this report is for what? The poor should have compassion and run out and shop. Wishful thinking. The rich already took all our money--listen closely, 'there isn't anymore'. ok jerk offs/ the economy is bad cause corporations ripped us off. To think we have more money tells me they aren't that intelligent like they would like us to believe.
5-31-2008 @ 2:37PM
sherry said...
SORRY, we do not feel sorry for the rich!!! They never worried or cared about the poor!! Such a shame that they have to sell their million dollar jewelry collections..just terrible...and they cannot keep up with buying designer clothes and expensive vacations...Just breaks my heart!! And the men who wives are leaving them!! Get a life, and find true love
5-31-2008 @ 3:27PM
Anne said...
uh, the dude's net worth is 'only' eight million and that makes him 'poor'? And we're supposed to play the violin? You're STILL driving your 'Bentley' and you can still afford a PERSONAL TRAINER- and you're 'poor'? There are people living in TENT CITIES thank you very much. That's always been the difference between the rich and the poor- the rich suffer comfortably.
6-01-2008 @ 4:33PM
T.J. GALLAHAN said...
CLASS WARFARE, NYT'S REPORT, HATE THE RICH. I MYSELF HAVE SEEN ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT MOST PEOPLE WHO BECOME RICH DON'T DO IT BY CRUSHING THE POOR BUT INSTEAD DO IT BY TRYING TO HELP THE POOR AFFORD WHAT OTHERS BUY AT HIGHER PRICES, FOR LOWER COSTS. WAL-MART WAS CREATED FOR SUCH A PURPOSE, BUT ARE HATED BECAUSE THEY DON'T TOW THE LIBERAL LINE LIKE OTHER COST EFFECTIVE STORES, AND YET THE POOR STILL SHOP THERE GO FIGURE. I'VE ALSO SEEN ENOUGH POOR PEOPLE WHO ARE OVERWEIGHT BY WAY OF SPENDING MY TAX MONEY ON SNACKS WHILE WATCHING T.V. INSTEAD OF LOOKING FOR A JOB!
6-01-2008 @ 5:19PM
arthur Rubin said...
I love it!!! What a simplistic wealth envy blogpost by Peter Cohan.
Truth be known, most people on Wall Street are not rich but give the appearance of being so. Remember when JP Morgan died, his fortune was only $100 million (mostly in bad art), and a true rich man, John D. Rockefeller said, "And to think, he wasn't even a rich man." Rockefeller, at the time, was worth about 6 times as much.
With the current value of the dollar, no one should be considered "rich" unless they are worth at least $500 million, ultra-rich at least $1 billion.
If the Wall Street crowd really wants to maintain their lifestyles, they should live simply and frugally without preaching "green" crap (like Cramer, who's also taken it in the shorts, I hear). Most people on Wall Street are dealers in image who make money as useless middlemen. To paraphrase Stewie Griffin, "Thier uppance will come." By the sound of this blog, it appears it is on its way.