Free Republic

Luxury Stores Brace for Slowdown By CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO and RACHEL DODES The luxury-goods industry is bracing for fallout from the global financial crisis. Some companies, including jewelers' Tiffany & Co. and Bulgari SpA, are considering a brake on future store openings to reduce costs ahead of a likely sluggish holiday season. French fashion house Dior SA may close some boutiques in smaller U.S. cities. Until recently, the world of luxury perfumes, leather goods, jewelry and designer clothing seemed impervious to the retail slowdown affecting apparel and home furnishings. Their resilience was due largely to growing business in emerging markets, such...

October 4, 2008 They’re Pinching Hundred-Dollar Bills By GERALDINE FABRIKANT The jet set, too, feels the pain. Louis L. Gonda, a regular on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans, has put two jets on the market. Interested parties could pick up the pair for $108 million. A private businessman who has given many millions to charities, Mr. Gonda, along with his father and a partner, sold their airline leasing company to the American International Group in 1990 for stock and cash. While it is not clear how many shares of A.I.G. he held onto or whether A.I.G.’s problems...

Kenya's cabinet 'soaks up 80pc of the budget' By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi Last Updated: 2:11am BST 17/04/2008 Kenya's expanded new government will spend 80 per cent of the entire national budget on luxury vehicles, inflated salaries for ministers and general running costs, a local anti-corruption group claimed on Wednesday. Raila Odinga speaking after he and President Mwai Kibaki [right] agreed to form a coalition government Of Kenya's annual budget of £5.4 billion, more than £4.3 billion will go on 93 ministers and their government's general running costs. Only £1.3 billion will be left for roads, schools and hospitals for...

It's amazing what $5 US per gallon of gas can buy... This palace is owned by the family of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the former president of the United Arab Emirates and rule of Abu-Dhabi. My Mom said to always look at the bright side of things -good things these people are doing so 'well'!

Life can have its little irritations when you're cruising around the world on your £100million superyacht. For example, the endless vista of clear blue sea fails to provide much greenery to ease the eye - apart from the odd tropical island. For the owner of a forthcoming craft named WallyIsland, however, this will not be a problem. For he, or she, will have a personal ocean-going garden. The 325ft-long yacht is to feature a growing area with shrubbery and flower beds, kept healthy by an irrigation system. It will also have a tennis court, pool and five accommodation decks including...

http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?cat=TopStories&referrer=welcome&id=20080125/47996cd0_3ca6_15526200801252003174801 MADRID, Spain - A speeding motorist who killed a teenage cyclist is suing the boy's parents over damage to his luxury car, the government says. Enaitz Iriondo, 17, died instantly in August 2004 when businessman Tomas Delgado's Audi A8 crashed into him at 100 mph near Haro in northern Spain, an Interior Ministry traffic report said. The speed limit was 55 mph. snip

IT was a retail juggernaut that swept through America’s shopping malls and bedroom closets, rewriting the rules of class and consumption. But affordable luxury is not looking so affordable — or sustainable — anymore. During the 2007 holiday shopping season, the middle-class consumers who spent the last decade splurging on $300 saucepans and $600 scarves, tightened their purse strings in the face of slipping home prices and rising energy costs. As a result, an entire economy built around aspiration is starting to collapse. Affordable luxury purveyors like Tiffany & Company, Nordstrom and Coach have experienced slowing sales and plunging stock...

KABUL, Afghanistan — An explosion went off Monday at a luxury hotel frequented by foreigners, reverberating throughout Kabul, police said. It was not clear if the explosion was inside the Serena Hotel or in its large courtyard where the parking lot is located. Police kept journalists and onlookers far from the building. -snip-

Being broke need not mean social death in Sweden - as long as you are well-educated. But for Americans and Russians having a good all-round education is no substitute for having cash, according to a new survey on status symbols in the three countries. The international survey by analysts United Minds asked 1,000 people in each country what values confer status. 'Bling' items such as expensive jewellery and designer clothes come well down the list for Swedes, while featuring more highly for Americans and, particularly, Russians. "Sweden is the only country where you can be penniless but well-read and still...

Stockholm's most prestigious department store, Nordiska Kompaniet (NK), has had to remove a set of black ragdolls from its Christmas window display after receiving a number of complaints from concerned customers. A visit to NK's Christmas displays has been a part of Stockholmers' staple holiday traditions ever since 1915. This year's theme was “A dream Christmas”. Puppies, dragons and polar bears danced side-by-side with sugar plum fairies and... what appeared to be golliwogs. When the windows were first available for public consumption on Sunday, one featured three of the black dolls emerging from a Christmas package. "The company that does...

Some modern ministers and ministries spend lavishly. But is that any of Congress' business? November 18, 2007 A U.S. senator is putting a new and troubling spin on the question: "What would Jesus drive?" Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who is pressing tax-exempt churches to be more open about their finances, told The Times that "Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey." Given that example, Grassley asked, "Do these ministers really need Bentleys and Rolls-Royces to spread the Gospel?" Actually, they do, according to a politician who attends a Georgia church that has attracted the attention of...

As my taxi pulled up at Changi airport, I knew this was going to be a special day - the day of the first A380 commercial flight was finally here. The airport had long been adorned with banners and posters declaring Singapore "A380 ready" and anticipating the flight.

By almost any definition — except his own and perhaps those of his neighbors here in Silicon Valley — Hal Steger has made it. Mr. Steger, 51, a self-described geek, has banked more than $2 million. The $1.3 million house he and his wife own on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is paid off. The couple’s net worth of roughly $3.5 million places them in the top 2 percent of families in the United States. Yet each day Mr. Steger continues to toil in what a colleague calls “the Silicon Valley salt mines,” working as a marketing executive for...

Malmö’s famous Turning Torso skyscraper is among the tallest housing blocks in Europe. Behind the ultra-modern exterior is one of the world's most luxurious apartment complexes, writes Paul Steele. People in the south of Sweden are total sceptics to new projects until they’re finished. The Öresund Bridge – no one will ever use it. The City Tunnel – complete waste of money. Turning Torso – Ha! Who would ever want to live there? I for one, and probably half of south Sweden and greater Copenhagen for another. One of the tallest accommodation blocks in Europe, Turning Torso is the leading...

- Family of six - and 600 staff - need extra space In the most conspicuous sign yet of India's unprecedented prosperity, the country's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is building a new home in the financial hub of Mumbai: a 60-storey palace with helipad, health club and six floors of car parking.

It's Official: Study Confirms Arabs Buy Flashy Jewelry More Than Most By Debbie Schlussel One of the stereotypes Arabs frequently complain (or, at least, complained--past tense--before Hollywood whitewashed them post 9/11) about is their occasional portrayal as swarthy, flashy jewelry-wearing persons with a fetish for the garish. Now, a Capgemini/Merrill Lynch Financial Advisory survey confirms the stereotype as based much more in fact than in fiction. The study found that while there are rich people around the world, wealthy Arabs spent 1/3 to more than double the percentage of their wealth on jewelry than those from other regions of the...

The number of millionaires in the world increased by 8.3 percent in 2006, with about 9.5 million individuals now estimated to have more than a million dollars in financial assets, a report said Wednesday. The survey by financial services group Capgemini and US investment bank Merrill Lynch said strong global economic growth and gains on the stock market explained the expansion of the exclusive club of "High Net Worth Individuals" (HNWIs). The financial assets owned by the group totalled 37.2 trillion dollars (27.7 trillion euros), an increase of 11.4 percent from 2005, with Singapore, India, Indonesia and Russia producing the...

oceanfront resort when police fired into their bungalow after they refused to drop a handgun, authorities said. Police were called Sunday to the Montage Resort and Spa by a security guard who said a man and a woman were engaged in a domestic dispute, said police Sgt. Jason Kravetz. "It may not have been domestic violence, but that's how we were called to the scene," Kravetz said. "Usually in a domestic violence (case) the woman doesn't go out and try to shoot at other people." Several 911 callers said a naked woman was running around the hotel waving a gun,...

Is it time to upgrade your current set of wheels to something a little more professional and comfortable? Are you trying to figure out how to drive something that looks like it should be on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but with a nickel-and-dime budget? So where can you find a car that will impress without breaking the bank? Check out this list of cars that are all high on luxury and under $30,000 on the lot.

(02-08) 09:45 PST WASHINGTON D.C. -- A political odd couple, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House spokesman Tony Snow, today slammed critics of Pelosi's bid to use a government plane that can fly her nonstop between Washington and her home district in San Francisco. "This is a silly story, and I think it's been unfair to the speaker,'' Snow told reporters. E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com.

Critics charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is abusing the perks of power by asking for a jumbo military jet with sleeping accommodations for her flights across the country. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession, with a military plane for added security during trips back home. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet. Pelosi wants a larger aircraft that can fly to her San Francisco district without stopping to refuel. Some sources are claiming that Pelosi...

Kim's life of luxury as the people starve By Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 16/10/2006) From imported lobsters to cognac and Mercedes-Benz cars, the expensive tastes of North Korea's secretive leader, Kim Jong-il, have never failed to stagger those who have witnessed his conspicuous consumption. However, his love of the finer things in life, in a country where his people have been allowed to starve, is now being challenged by the United Nations sanctions imposed at the weekend. They include a clause banning the export of luxury goods to North Korea and aim to cut off or at least greatly...

The federal program that provides legal assistance to poor Americans turns away half of its applicants for lack of resources. But that hasn't stopped its executives from lavishing themselves with expensive food, chauffeur-driven cars and trips to Ireland. Agency documents obtained by The Associated Press detail the many luxuries that executives of the Legal Services Corp. have given themselves with federal money — from $14 "Death by Chocolate" desserts to $400 chauffeured rides to locations within cab distance of their offices. The government-funded corporation also boasts spacious headquarters in Washington's trendy Georgetown neighborhood — with views of the Potomac River...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Diamonds are no longer a girl's best friend, according to a new U.S. study that found three of four women would prefer a new plasma TV to a diamond necklace. The survey, commissioned by U.S. cable television's Oxygen Network that is owned and operated by women, found the technology gender gap has virtually closed with the majority of women snapping up new technology and using it easily.

Turning Away Customers to Maximize Sales The glass door of Le plus Joaillerie, a jewelry shop in Seoul’s affluent Cheongdamdong, is always locked, though the inside is brightly lit. When a curious customer knocks on the door, a manager in a designer suit comes out and politely tells them to go away unless they have an appointment. Well-heeled Gangnam, the area south of the Han River, is seeing more of such snob appeal from savvy businesses. Instead of luring customers, they are more likely to turn them away, as if to say we don’t need you. Surprisingly, it works. Le...

Given the kinds of cases they’re getting these days, French courts are starting to resemble clown circuses. Last week a French court had to listen to “Goldfinger” George Soros’ whine about his human rights being violated for an inside trading conviction. This week, a French court gets to listen to Venezuelan “International Man of Mystery” Carlos The Jackal carp about not getting enough terrorist-issue Froot Loops inside his French jail cell. Apparently, pate and champagne aren’t happening for him these days in Paris. And for the Shagadelic Jackal, that’s no fair. The Austin-Powers-era Marxist terrorist is actually suing in a...

The owner of a Los Angeles car dealership is suing Mercedes-Benz, its parent company DaimlerChrysler and other affiliates, alleging that a $1.7 million car purchased in 2004 wouldn't run for more than 10 blocks without problems. The car, a Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK-GTR Limited Edition Roadster, was supposed to be one of only five made. In the lawsuit, the owner of exotic car dealership Grand Prix Motors also alleges that six were actually made, reducing the value of his car. A two-door sports car, the CLK-GTR has a carbon fiber body and a 6.9-liter 12-cylinder engine enabling it to go from...

    Auto Stuff Science Stuff Health Stuff Entertainment Stuff NEW! - Mobil Travel Guide Computer Stuff Electronics Stuff Home Stuff Money Stuff People Stuff Shop for Stuff Main > Money > Luxury Items Click here to go back to the normal view! How Maybachs Work by Marshall Brain Let's say that you've just won the lottery. Chances are that one of the first things you would buy is a new car. What kind of car would you get? It really depends on how much money you want to spend and what kind of image you want to portray...

THE world's ten most expensive cars include such dreams-come-true as a street-legal, ten-cylinder Porsche race car, the Carrera GT, and cars with over 1000 horse power (HP) each. These kinds of cars make Ferraris and Aston Martins look like relative bargains; despite their fame, they are much cheaper than the cars on the Forbes list. Of the ten most expensive cars, only two are made by brands with household names, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, although that depends on what your household is like.

The luxury plane was exported to Havana from Russia Cuba is buying one of Russia's most up-to-date airliners, carefully crafted for President Fidel Castro's personal comfort. The purchase is part of an initial Cuban order for two brand new Ilyushin planes worth $110 million (£63 million) which Russian officials say is a shot in the arm for their struggling airline industry. To head off criticism that a new presidential jet is an expensive luxury in austere times, Cuba says one of its new planes is being used to ferry workers to and from Venezuela. To finance the deal, Cuba has...

NEW YORK — In an era of bankrupt airlines and no-frills travel, something odd is happening over the Atlantic. On a jet designed for 220 people, Eos Airlines passengers stretch out in a spacious cabin holding a mere 48 seats. At the touch of a button, each motorized lounger reclines into a 78-inch-long bed, complete with a cashmere blanket. On these flights between New York and London, airline food is an on-demand multi-course meal, served within each traveler's 21-square-foot "suite." "Each seat is its own sort of ecosystem," said John Stevenson, an executive with a Connecticut firm that provides supermarket...

... At the bottom of a document that detailed Ellison's 2000 debt load, Simon had scrawled a rough accounting of Ellison's lavish spending, according to deposition testimony: "1) Life Style -- annual $20m 2) Interest Accrual -- annual $75m 3) Villa in Japan -- $25m 4) New Yacht -- $194m -- over 3 yrs 5) America's Cup -- $80m -- over 3 yrs 6) UAD -- 12m over 3 yrs." It's not clear what UAD refers to. Since this rough budget, Ellison has reportedly spent $200 million building a Japanese-style estate in Woodside, which includes a reproduction of a 17th-century...

WHETHER it's providing a helicopter pad or installing jade-inlaid marble in the master bedroom, William S. Smith III has grown accustomed to satisfying every request from his custom-yacht customers - except when it comes to finding places where they can park their outsized boats. Many megayachts have grown so big - sometimes as long as a football field - that their very size rules out docking at most marinas, which don't have large enough slips to accommodate them. To combat the crunch, Mr. Smith, vice president of Trinity Yachts in Gulfport, Miss., one of the top custom yacht builders in...

IN an effort to capitalize on the megadollars that megayachts can bring to a harbor area, coastal resorts around the globe are racing to build or retrofit their marinas to accommodate the colossal cruisers. [. . .] . . . new marinas . . . are being developed . . . To keep megayacht owners busy - not to mention spending - while their boats are parked at the marina, developers are surrounding their ports with high-end restaurants and retail shops. To entice yacht owners and their entourages to stay longer, they are also building luxury condominiums and five-star hotels....

Throughout the year, from among the hundreds of thousands of homes on the market, Forbes.com selects a few dozen luxurious residences to showcase as Homes of the Week. There are modern masterpieces and examples of antique architecture. Some are pedigreed, others haven't stood long enough to acquire a patina of any kind. They range from the merely high-priced to the shatteringly expensive. They are pocket-sized houses tucked into modest lots, and sprawling mansions that occupy just a small portion of the estate. What they have in common is that each house has some special quality that makes it distinctive, if...

Was it a fight or an oil change? Nobody is quite sure what happened to Kevin Federline's Ferrari 360, but speculation seems to be everywhere. People reported in its Dec. 19 issue that the prized possession of Britney Spears' husband disappeared after he and his pop-star wife had a big fight days before her birthday. Popular belief held that Britney had the Ferrari towed or repossessed in retaliation for the argument. Needless to say, whatever happened has received a ton of coverage, in outlets ranging from MSNBC to www.divorcekevin.com. This proves that a fascination with cars of the stars goes...

Ukraine's president Viktor Yuschenko is getting quite the present, a fancy new plane. ITAR-TASS reports that Ukraine has raised 12 million dollars for a luxury plane for President Viktor Yushchenko. The presidential An-74 plane was decorated with amber, mahogany and 18K gold and is being tested at the Kharkov aircraft plant. The lining of the interior features rare gems and the lamps and handles are all gold per the demands of the first lady, Yekaterina Yushchenko.

VW Will Start Selling Costly Bugatti in the U.S.; Zero to 62 in 2.5 SecondsAfter seven years of false starts, a $1 million car billed as the world's fastest factory-produced automobile is about to arrive on American shores. Volkswagen AG is launching early next year the Bugatti Veyron, a curvaceous two-seater with air-intake scoops and a large radiator grille that prominently displays the Bugatti badge. For the German car maker, it represents an unusual bet on the high-end market at a time of cost cutting for the company and as U.S. car makers continue to struggle with slow sales. The...

Money bags: With no sign that business at luxury retailers is slowing, ultra-rich aren't done yet. Balenciaga lace jacket (above) for $4,450. The worse the rich feel, the more they seem to spend. ....... most luxury retailers are confidant that sales of $75,000 Bottega Veneta handbags and $140,000 Ferraris will hold their own against the gloom gripping general retailing. Retailing polls say most consumers want only bargains, and plan fewer purchases due to higher energy costs. "The rich have a lot of money and they don't have to worry about the price of oil," said luxury retailing analyst Pam...

$215,000 & SCENTS: The Clive Christian perfume bottle, including crystal stopper, gold collar and diamond stud, gets the kid-glove treatment yesterday at Bergdorf. Photo: Thomas Hinton The most expensive perfume in the world just got more obnoxious. Clive Christian yesterday unveiled a $215,000 bottle of luxury perfume with a five-carat brilliant cut diamond on the neck, an 18-carat solid-gold collar, and a Baccarat crystal stopper, styled like Queen Victoria's crown. The British perfume company, Crown Perfumery, which normally charges $2,510 for one ounce of No. 1 perfume, unveiled a limited edition of only 10 bottles called the Imperial Majesty...

As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. Lew Harris, who founded this great site, asked me to do it maybe seven or eight years ago, and I loved writing this column so...

Game park's wildlife dies of thirst as Mugabe lives in luxury By Peta Thornycroft in Harare (Filed: 31/10/2005) Wild animals in Zimbabwe are suffering and dying as the sun beats down during the year's hottest season. Like so many humans, they are victims of President Robert Mugabe. This dehydrated buffalo reached water but was too exhausted to drink and collapsed and died in the trough In Africa's most densely populated game park water from underground bores is now available only intermittently because there is no money to fix engines pumping it to the surface. Plains animals, in particular buffalo, are...

Proving nothing is sacred, Hongki—longtime official supplier of cars for Communist Party officials in China—showed a design concept at the Shanghai motor show that most observers doubted they would ever see: a Chinese interpretation of the magisterial Rolls-Royce Phantom II. At 20.75 feet long, six and a half feet wide, and sitting on a 12.8-foot-long wheelbase, the Red Flag HQD is even more imposing than the Roller thanks to its slabbier styling, squared-off front wings and immense (dare we say “International”?) grille. The unveiling took Rolls’ Goodwood team by surprise: “We knew nothing about it,” said a Rolls-Royce official. Chris...

Have you ever been issued a "guaranteed" reservation by a hotel? You know the drill: they take a credit card number and tell you that you will be charged for the room if you don't show up. But in return, you comfort yourself with the assumption that your access to an actual room at that particular hotel is "guaranteed" even if you show up at 4 AM. Maybe if you did this, you assumed that it meant that the hotel had already sold the room to you, and that, barring acts of God like a tornado, no matter how late...

Five-star luxury on the ocean floor: undersea hotel planned in the Bahamas 2 hours, 23 minutes ago Offbeat - AFP MIAMI (AFP) - Anyone willing to dish out 1,500 dollars a night might soon get a chance to come face to face with sharks from the comfort of an undersea hotel room a Florida entrepreneur plans to build in the Bahamas. AFP/DDP/File Photo "People who are interested in experiencing something they can't find anywhere else in the world will find it a real bargain," says Bruce Jones who heads the 40-million-dollar project. To date, there is only one such underwater...

Former Venezuelan Minister of Defense travels in style, despite US' Patriot Act By Lorenzo Barquero 10.01.05 | Reporter Patricia Poleo of El Nuevo Pais, publishes today information that former Minister of the Interior and Defense in the Chavez administration General Lucas Rincon was picked up right before Christmas at a local Venezuelan airport by a Lear Jet, number N 58 ST, owned by The Wilmington Trust Co. a subsidiary of financial group The Wilmington Trust Corp, which engages in banking and wealth management activities. The retired General reportedly traveled to the US on Dec. 21st with his whole family in...

ADLAI STEVENSON once argued that a politician is a statesman who “approaches every question with an open mouth”. If the performance of Jan Egeland, of the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is an indication, the same is true of those paid by the United Nations. A week ago, despite just one day having passed since the Asian tsunami, with the reported death toll one tenth of what it is now believed to be, and ignoring the fact that public holidays are never the easiest times to start organising an aid effort, Mr Egeland saw fit to dismiss...

I rec's this email from an "asscoiate"...can anyone help to verify/dispute it? She says she thinks she saw it on Fox. Thanks for the help. I saw an interview with the mother of a woman who was caught in the tsunami. The woman & her husband happily survived with minimul injuries. They worked through the night assisting others to hospitals, aid stations, shelters, etc. They managed to get to the airport a Bangkok, Thialand. Countries who had large numbers of citizens in Thialand had set up at the airport to assist their citizens on their journey home. This included replacing...

ANSWERING A FAIR TAX QUESTION During yesterday's show a caller asked what would happen to her 401K funds if the Fair Tax bill became law. No income taxes had ever been paid on that money residing in her 401K. If, by the time she starts drawing that money out, the income tax is history, will she have to pay some sort of penalty? One month ago I would have rattled off the answer. No. No penalty. No taxes. You take the money and run. Yesterday, however, I was a bit more cautious. I've spent many hours over the past weeks...

Freedom is not a Luxury Freedom is a divine gift that accompanies our salvation. That freedom, however, does not necessarily relate to political, social, economic, and other external freedoms. It is a condition of the heart rather than a state of external being. There are external freedoms that are an essential part of our democracy that should be cherished and adhered to by all. The enjoyment of those freedoms, though, has inevitably limitations. I remember a college professor at one of the colleges I attended saying, "My freedom ends where your nose begins." There is a price associated with our...