Weekly roundup of news you don’t want to miss

Here’s your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out another of today’s three posts.

FASHION LUMINARY BUYS A NICE LITTLE CONDO FOR HIS SON AND FRIENDS

BOUNCY BABE AND BARE-ALL BEAU BUY BIG APPLE BASE

THIS WAS ONE ANTIQUE THAT COULDN’T BE PRICED ON ANY ROAD BUT CPW

THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM FOR THIS WINNING COMPOSER

‘JUNIOR’ STAR CRIES ‘UNCLE’ IN RELISTING HIS CO-OP

MOVING TO THE SUBURBS FROM AN UWS TOWNHOUSE NOW STRIKES CHORD WITH MUSICIAN

MISMANAGEMENT OF FORECLOSURE DOCUMENTS COULD AID REAL ESTATE RECOVERY

PACE OF PRICE INCREASES EASED FOR SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES IN JULY, CASE-SHILLER REPORTS
(3 links)

30-YEAR RATE TIES LOW AS 15-YEAR SETS RECORD

Wallstreeters must hope that past isn’t precedent

I’ve been reading a justly lauded book about Bear Stearns and the shenanigans that led to the firm’s collapse, House of Cards by William D. Cohan.

In his dissection of the firm and his evisceration of its executives, the author periodically brings us up to date on their compensation, a pittance in contrast to most of the mammoth packages handed on Wall Street today.

For example, Cohan writes that top executives, especially Ace Greenberg and Jimmy Cayne, were making “eye-popping” amounts of money in the fiscal year ended June 1991.  He notes that:

. . . the thirteen top Bear Stearns executives received an average compensation of $2.8 million, up 25 percent from the year before.

Greenberg’s cash compensation for the year increased to $5.3 million, from $4.2 million the year before.”

Who among us wouldn’t be thrilled to collect that much money in a single year?  Answer: the folks toiling on the Street these days.