Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Goldman Sachs Halloween party


Goldman Sachs is having a black tie Halloween party, with masks of course--and the masks sold out in hours:

The economy may be scary, but the market for ultraexpensive Halloween costumes isn't giving up the ghost.

A hush-hush sale of high-priced masks on Manhattan-based Gilt.com sold out in a matter of hours this weekend, proving that plenty of hobgoblins still plan to hobnob in style.

Shoppers were alerted to the invitation-only sale with a cryptic e-mail. They found a model wearing a tuxedo and elaborate Venetian mask.

One shopper dropped $880 on a papier-maché mask with Swarovski crystals, Spanish macramé and a 3-foot explosion of rooster feathers that would need separate cab fare.

"It's really cool how competitive people get for these parties. I've been offered extra money to make sure nobody gets a mask as fabulous as theirs for a specific party," designer Claudia Hapeman told the Daily News. "These customers are still out there, there just aren't as many of them."

Gilt commissioned 90 masks from Hapeman for its sale.

"I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I saw the sale. I'm going to be the stud of the party," said a 38-year-old Gilt customer who asked not to named. The Greenwich Village finance professional wants his $258 Joker mask to surprise the other guests at a black-tie party thrown by a Goldman Sachs partner.

And that's the income inequity that Goldman touts--that trickles down to the rest of the economy.

So their hollow argument is this:

Give us $13 billion, and we'll buy a Halloween mask in Manhattan!

And dark pools, naked short selling, and high frequency trading is good for the markets!



Which is why no-one at Goldman will dress up as Diogenes!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you know why LIZ and MGM is getting slammed?

Anonymous said...

GCI taken to the woodshed on news of accelerating decline in newspaper circulation.

Another opportunity to play the calls?

Palmoni said...

I think it's because the story that LVS is having some refi difficulty--thus raising $ from Macau on IPO could be put on hold

Since MGM is looking to do the same

I'm just not doing much on things until this selling plays some more

I'm defensive here--but look at a hedge fund--if you caught this rally your year has already been made--why bother?

Sell and go home.

Anonymous said...

but how many hedge funds have caught this rally?

Anonymous said...

thanks for the insight Palmoni. I"m going to hold LIz and MGM for now