Guardian UK: Ah, love. Until the credit crunch do us part

[marmar]

Ah, love. Until the credit crunch do us part
Barbara Ellen
The Observer, Sunday July 13, 2008



Ah - there's nothing like a tragic love story. And indeed what follows is nothing like a tragic love story. For, if you listen carefully, you may just be able to catch the sound of high-end scuttling from the other side of the pond. That would be the Manhattan rats leaving the sinking ships or sinking husbands - pretty much the same thing.

It appears that the credit crunch has sent top-flight New York divorce business rocketing, up 40 per cent, as the trophy wives of Wall Street's beleaguered super-wealthy (executives, hedge funders, property developers) race to lawyers to cite 'irreconcilable differences', which in this case roughly translates as: 'He's poor now.'

It's got so bad that some Wall Street husbands are trying to hang on to their wives by taking out huge loans to maintain their mansions, yachts and Saks accounts. However, lawyers are saying that wives aren't interested in standing by their men, opting instead to end their marriages as quickly and clinically as a bad credit card snipped in half in front of you in a restaurant. The whole debacle amounts to a somewhat ruthless: 'If the gravy train is over, then so are we, darling.'

The only appropriate response is how appalling. What kind of cow leaves a marriage just because the helicopter has left the lawn? Indeed, any decent person should despise these women, right?

Well, no, actually, wrong. It seems to me that these women are loyal to a fault, that is, loyal to the deal that was originally struck. When you think about it, there is a world of difference between being a trophy wife - waving hubby off on his private jet while you face another day of lonely, unfulfilled spending in Barneys - to being a real wife - having some sacked bitter bozo under your feet all day, reliving past glories, hogging the remote control and asking too many questions about your lipo-fund.

More to the point, before we all start working ourselves into a righteous lather over the behaviour of the trophy wives, these masters of the universe knew what they were getting into. After all, weren't they the ones who brokered the 'deal' in the first place - their cash and status for a trophy wife (someone to make their peers drool)? ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/13/creditcrunch.usa

[tanyev]

1. Those ladies think they're going to snag another zillionaire in these tough times?

Good luck with that.

[Warpy]

2. No, they think they're going to get enough of the assets

to be able to retire, if not in style and comfort, at least in leisure.

Face it, the deal the trophy wife got has been going downhill ever since the limp willie drugs were invented. Back in the good old days, she only had to put up with the honeymoon period for about six months, crank out one kid and she was done, a personal trainer restoring her to arm candy form for a decade at least of being a decorative accessory trotted out for important parties. Once Viagra hit the market, she was expected to provide services and a male heir, not just a single baby.

The trophy wife marriage has always been an economic relationship, at its heart, even if there was an emotional component to it in the beginning. She got an extremely comfortable life and unlimited spending potential. He got visible proof of his continued virility that helped keep him at the top of the silverback power structure.

A lot of prole marriages based on love and companionship and a shared history break down when retirement hits and a wife is confronted with a physically and emotionally dependent spouse under foot at all times. It's no wonder that an economic marriage would break down under those conditions.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Read something similiar

in the post today too.

[MicaelS]

4. Just like the old Lefty Frizzell song

If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time

If you've got the money honey I've got the time
we'll go honky tonkin' and we'll have a time
we'll have more fun baby on the way down the line
if you've got the money honey I've got the time

.......

if you run short of money I'll run short of time
you got no more money honey I've no more time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefty_Frizzell