real people, real pain

With Wall Street grabbing all the headlines we often forget how the turmoil in the financial markets hurts real life people. Take Annette Pucci, a New York retail manager, for example. We read in the WSJ today that Mrs. Pucci had planned a $15,000 face lift for her 50th birthday. She had to settle for a $1,200 botox treatment instead. "It was a very big disappointment," Mrs. Pucci is quoted as saying.

Or take Mr. Provost, 53, who lost his job and will have to foreclose on his $2.5 million villa with its own boat dock in Sarasota, FL. "A foreclosure would be devastating," he says. "My wife and I would have to start from scratch."

Our heart goes out to these unfortunate victims of tragedy. To those who will have to forgo caviar, face lifts, nose jobs, servants, expensive vacations, hummers, and suffer endless unimaginable hardships. These innocent victims of a crisis deserve our sympathy. And they are not alone. Their pain will spread to hard working retailers selling luxury yachts, SUVs, Rolexes, Prada shoes, and other vital necessities of life.

I guess the world is just too unfair.