The World of the Big Rich Collapses - Vanity Fair

[Irish Girl]

..snip

Only months ago, ordering that $1,950 bottle of 2003 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon at Craft restaurant or the $26-per-ounce Wagyu beef at Nobu, or sliding into Masa for the $600 prix fixe dinner (not including tax, tip, or drinks), was a way of life for many Wall Street investment bankers. “The culture was that if you didn’t spend extravagantly you’d be ridiculed at work,” says a former Lehmanite. But that was when there were investment banks. Now many bankers, along with discovering $15 bottles of wine, are finding other ways to cut back—if not out of necessity, then from collective guilt and fear: the fitness trainer from three times a week to once a week; the haircut and highlights every eight weeks instead of every five. One prominent “hedgie” recently flew to China for business—but not on a private plane, as before. “Why should I pay $250,000 for a private plane,” he said to a friend, “when I can pay $20,000 to fly commercial first class?”

The new thriftiness takes a bit of getting used to. “I was at the Food Emporium in Bedford yesterday, using my Food Emporium discount card,” recounts one Greenwich woman. “The well-dressed wife of a Wall Street guy was standing behind me. She asked me how to get one. Then she said, ‘Have you ever used coupons?’ I said, ‘Sure, maybe not lately, but sure.’ She said, ‘It’s all the rage now—where do you get them?’”

One former Lehman executive in her 40s stood in her vast clothes closet not long ago, talking to her personal stylist. On shelves around her were at least 10 designer handbags that had cost her anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 each.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said. “I guess I’ll have to get rid of the maid.”

Why not sell a few of those bags?, the stylist thought, but didn’t say so.

“Well,” the executive said after a moment, “I guess I’ll cut her from five days a week to four.”

Wall Street: Profiles in Panic
Vanity Fair January 2009
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/wall_street200901?printable=true¤tPage=all

[Newsjock]

1. My heart freakin' bleeds

I'm not normally the type to talk about insurrection, but these "people" would certainly make appealing targets for forcible asset seizure.

[ThePowerofWill]

86. That was my very first thought to the tee.....

My heart fuckin' bleeds. Of course with all the sarcasm i could muster.

[CatWoman]

2. oh the fucking horror of it all

:sarcasm:

[KittyWampus]

23. Catwoman, we all know teh stoopidity of trickle down, but I live where these people drop money

It isn't just cutting your housekeeper down to only 4 days a week. It's the housekeeper having to pay for heat this winter.

And it's hard enough to get a lot of these assholes to pay for services rendered as it is.

Rich people can be the worst paying their bills. Now, they are even worse.

[bemildred]

3. The best is yet to come ...

:popcorn:

[ogneopasno]

4. God, I hate this system. I hate that mindset. I hate people. I hate society.

But I love Vanity Fair.

[roguevalley]

83. Vanity Fair is worth the subscrip. THey were kicking bush when no

one else would and seymour hirsch pubs regularly there. These losers have a lot to explain to God some day. That keeps me going.

[FrenchieCat]

5. That's why these folks and their media friends are going to STFU

While Obama repairs the economy, cause they don't know how to suffer....

[Ian David]

6. Soon, even the rich people will be reduced to eating dogfood...

[SmileyRose]

8. meh

salmon caviar dog food..........

please tell me I've now seen it all.

[Deja Q]

17. Those orange labels -- Wal-mart?

:evilgrin:

[Ian David]

48. god no. n/t

[Bake]

67. Their dogs eat better than the rest of us do.

Bake

[kskiska]

87. My daughter and I were in Washington Square Park

in Greenwich Village watching the dogs in the dog park section. My daughter commented on how these city dogs are cooped up in apartments. A nearby dogwalker said, "Don't feel sorry for these dogs. They spend their weekends in The Hamptons."

[knitter4democracy]

7. Yanno, I don't get the purse thing.

My MIL (soon-to-be ex-MIL, heh) talked me into getting a Coach purse a year ago (or maybe two now), and I still feel guilty about it. Everyone knows that my daughter is to inherit it when I pass on, and I use it year-round. Well, until this fall hit, and I realized I needed to go back to my bigger purse to carry around my kids' emergency inhaler and stuff, so I went back to my $30 purse that I love. I baby that dang Coach purse, though, and use it for anything fancy, and it wasn't $6000 dollars. I think I'd die before spending that on a purse. I cannot understand wasting that kind of money on something like a purse. A car, yeah. Purse? No.

[Irish Girl]

11. I bought a cute little clutch purse for $6 at K-Mart three years ago..

.. and I still get compliments on that cheap little thing from my 'higher salary' friends whenever I go out! Amazing its still in such great condition too. :-)

[knitter4democracy]

15. See, no one can tell the difference.

I've been thinking that for years--people just see cute or pretty or useful, not the label.

[Odin2005]

33. It's an example of how corporations use psychological manipulation to steal our money.

The Capitalists made conspicuous consumption a mark of social prestige, especially with women. Thorstein Veblen wrote about this over 100 years ago. the $200 designer jeans are objectively no better then the $20 jeans at Target, people are buying the brand in order to show off and enhance their prestige (not consciously of course, but that is the subconscious motive hiding under the conscious rationalization of "it looks nice").

Yet I tell people this and they accuse me of insulting them and accuse me of being a "communist that wants everyone to wear government-issue drab clothes" or similar BS, which goes to show how much the corporate psychological manipulation has worked.

[leftstreet]

36. Veblen's "Theory of the Leisure Class" is online at Google Books

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=WqVq6SDhtjQC&dq=Thorstein+Veblen&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=Ix3HaHeZD2&sig=UWaclt-liP8f0XdjnrIQtbSjtUU&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result

(Don't know if this link will work?)

[Odin2005]

39. Thank you!!!

:yourock:

[Blue_Tires]

38. +1

[knitter4democracy]

75. Rarely do I find real quality differences.

Sometimes, sure, but I've seen really expensive yarn that's crap and super-expensive jeans that are thin and have errors in seaming. If you look for quality, you can be really surprised where you'll find it and at what price.

[spinbaby]

16. I buy Coach purses all the time

Not the ugly logo ones but the plain leather ones that last forever. There's a local consignment store that regularly sells them for $40 or so, so I can afford several.

[knitter4democracy]

18. That's the kind I got.

It's a gorgeous turquoise leather, and I think the fumes in the store got to me. I'd never spent so much on a purse in my life (even with the return discount I had from returning the one MIL had gotten me that I would never have used). I will say, though, the quality is really good. I have a feeling this purse will outlast me by many years.

[Medusa]

24. TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshalls get them all the time

and for a lot less and sometimes they'll have really top of the line designer stuff as well like Charles David and Cole Hahn. All of the quality, none of the guilt.

[dixiegrrrrl]

69. Oh...THAT's what trickle down economy means..

I always wondered.

So I guess Big Lots is the untimate destination of all that trickle down.

no...wait....dumpsters would be next down.

Econ 101 hurts my widdle brain....:-(

[knitter4democracy]

77. I luuuurrrve Big Lots!

I've found the best stuff there. Personally, I like their towels. Cheap, so I'm okay if the kids ruin them, but really soft after a washing.

[knitter4democracy]

76. I like to get Born shoes at those places.

Only leather shoes that fit my feet, so I look for where I can afford them.

[dysfunctional press]

34. if they last forever- why do you buy them all the time?

:shrug:

i've had the same wallet for over 15 years.

[spinbaby]

55. To go with different outfits, of course

You must be a guy.

[CatWoman]

59. bwahahahahahaha

tell 'em, Spin!!

:rofl:

[blondeatlast]

107. Yep!

:thumbsup:

[blondeatlast]

106. The pre-2000 Coach leather is superb. Once they started plastering their

logo all over things (something they never would have done a decade ago) they've lost quality.

I almost got a 1960's coach Kelly bag but my funds were just a teeny bit short. I will spend my life looking for that same opportunity though. (FWIW, I used to sell Judith Leiber purses--including the jeweled ones, at a boutique, so I know a bit about such things).

[SeattleGirl]

47. I love purses (I guess I have a bit of a purse fetish) but good grief!

$6,000 to $10,000 for ONE PURSE?

Uh, I don't love 'em THAT much!

[knitter4democracy]

78. I know! It's crazy!

Ten grand for a purse. A purse! It's going to get dirty (if you use it at all), and it'll go out of style in a week, and that's a huge amount of money!

[Celebration]

99. Once I got a ridiculously expensive purse for Christmas

My daughter talked my hubby into spending nearly four hundred bucks for a purse. Of course when I opened it and looked at it, I couldn't tell at all. I wondered why in the world he would want to pick out a purse for me.

I used it for awhile, but once I left it in the grocery cart in the parking lot of the store. I was really used to a shoulder strap and this didn't have a shoulder strap long enough, so I didn't automatically notice when I left it somewhere. Miraculously, I found it when I drove back to look for it.

That was the last day I used that purse. I went to TJMaxx and spent thirty bucks for one that I liked, with a shoulder strap, and a built in wallet on the outside of it. I get a lot of compliments on it from people who have left their wallets places. It is simply impossible for me. I would have to leave my entire purse. And, I don't do that now because of the shoulder strap.

[knitter4democracy]

104. In the winter, I often use my coat as my purse.

My new one doesn't have quite enough pockets, but my old coat was awesome. Pockets everywhere! That way, I could never leave my purse, as it was my coat, too. Makes getting around in the winter a heck of a lot easier up here without messing with a purse, too.

[notadmblnd]

9. They're the ones that are going to have the hardest time adjusting

most of us can still remember the days of eating Ramen noodles four times a week and can easily adjust to making do with much less. Those new poor rich bastards are going to have a hell of a time making do with less.

[Warpy]

26. Well, the high maintenance spouses will have to go

and most of them will go willingly.

The problem with those high fliers is that most of them were fairly young and pretty unsophisticated. My guess is that they've got corporate sized debt on the penthouse, the vacation house, the boat and the cars.

Those are the ones who are going to be on a very steep learning curve. They're the depression baby parents of the future.

[knitter4democracy]

79. Apparently, I'm a high-maintenance spouse, so I'm having to go.

*sigh* Wait until he realizes just how low-maintenance I was. I wonder if his new wife will shop at the bakery outlet and Big Lots like I do and constantly look for sales and make as much by hand as I do.

[Warpy]

82. My ex had a high maintenance babe as #2

and paid for her third divorce to marry her. She was under 30.

Revenge is sweet.

I think he's now on #4.

[sarcasmo]

89. You want me to come down from Grand Rapids and harass him a bit?

[knitter4democracy]

91. There are days . . .

I've been indulging in some revenge fantasies lately. They make me feel much better. ;) Still, thanks for offering. :hug:

[gaspee]

96. Oh how right you are

I was a floor trader of derivatives (options, specifically) for a hedge fund in the 90's - and I was making BANK (that's part of the lingo for loads of money, LOL) -- anyway - one day, I just decided I couldn't do it anymore. There were many factors in the decision, but a lot of it had to do with conscience - and having been raised poor, some guilt, as well. The market is one big giant mass of corruption run by amoral pigs of human beings. Seeing and living it from the inside is an eye opener.

I made an obscene amount of money in an eight year span. When I walked away, the company kept my last bonus because I walked out mid contract and midyear. I got a small salary (10 grand a month) to keep me going, but really lived on my year end bonus (100,000 to 1.6 mil, depending on the year) so in the grand scheme of things, I was very small potatoes.

It was very, very, very painful to learn to live poor again. Those first two years were tough. My dogs got me through it. I was almost but not quite suicidal, but then who would have taken care of my dogs?

When I walked away from my job, I owned two 10th floor condos in downtown San Francisco and a Victorian on Alamo Square - and I sold everything in 1998 because I couldn't pay for any of it - but it was a sellers market. I had to sell fast so I didn't get much profit after commissions from the huge rise in the market in the late 90's, early 00's. I owned a BMW convertible and a Land Rover Defender 90 and a BMW motorcycle. I ate out every night in some of the best restaurants in San Francisco. Every night was a party. I traveled the world... OK - I had a great time until I decided that I was doing something wrong...

I wish I had done it smarter and left with something other than my pride, but I started trading when I was 21 years old (youngest on the floor) raised poor -- I'm talking Head Start and WICK poor - not just working class, but actually poor-- and really didn't know any better. Unsophisticated would be a *polite* way to put it ;)

At that age, I didn't understand *anything* except how to make money trading. I understand a whole hell a lot more about the world now, but I'm broke. That's all right though - I am lot happier poor and able to look myself in the mirror than I was rich and hating myself.

I guess I don't have what it takes to "make it" as defined by our society, but I've learned to live with it.

You have no idea how right you are about what's about to happen to these people. Funny how I don't have much sympathy for them.

[Doremus]

10. Poor, poor babies. $15 bottles of wine? What's the world coming to? n/t

[L0oniX]

14. When they start drinking Bali Hai, Ripple, Thunderbird or MD then they will know what its coming to.

Now you know I was a hippie.

:evilgrin:

[notadmblnd]

27. Remember Boonsfarm?

Loved the apple.

[Adsos Letter]

29. Strawberry Hill !!! Between that and MD 20/20, I do believe it's the sickest I ever got...

[dysfunctional press]

35. i got sick on maddog once...for years after, even the smell of grape gum made me want to puke.

:puke:

[asteroid2003QQ47]

46. Richards Wild Irish Rose, instant headache in a bottle!

[sendero]

51. Formula 109...

... we called it, it cost $1.09 a bottle at 7-11 :)

[flygal]

73. Md 20/20 Wine coolers in the 2 liter bottles

:toast: Cherry was my favorite!

[Swamp Rat]

97. Same here. I looked like Regan from the Exorcist.

:puke: :puke:

[L0oniX]

103. Jeeze ...what a bunch of old hippy winos we have here on DU.

This subject should have its own thread.
:evilgrin:

http://www.drunkard.com/issues/05_02/5_02_space%20winos.html
http://www.winostuff.com/
http://youngwinosofla.com/

[Manifestor_of_Light]

30. Boone's Farm, yeah.

Strawberry Fields Forever!!!

They stopped making Ripple. Anyone remember Pagan Pink Ripple!!! :rofl:

[robinlynne]

66. oh yeah!!!

[musette_sf]

93. first mention of Bali Hai i've seen in a long time

that used to be the Street Corner Wine of Choice by the Underage in my hood.

[acmavm]

98. Freakin' Bali Hai. I swam across a lake once while drinking that crap.

Problem is, I can't swim. Well, apparently I can but the ability comes with drinking massive quantities of something that made me so sick I can feel it to this day (and I won't even tell you how many years later this is).

That stuff is like rocket fuel.

[Skidmore]

70. Damn, no wonder I can't find

Livingston Red Rose anywhere now. There goes the mulled wine this season.

[leftofthedial]

12. most of them are not the "big rich"

they were temporarily, superficially and falsely rich in the service of the actual big rich, who are doing just fine thank you. The real "big rich" will do even better now that they can buy the scraps of our civilization on the cheap.

[SmileyRose]

20. so true

there's a couple at my husband's church - he ran a major Atlanta hospital and she is an aspiring actress with limited success. They have a huge buttnormous house in a gated community, several luxury cars, several huge buttnormous vacation houses and rent huge buttnormous penthouse suites when they travel to places they don't have a vacation house. What they refer to as "the camping shack" was professionally decorated with custom handmade everything. I honestly never have and still don't begrudge them any of it. Not one bit. All that custom everything put me and mine to work.

He 18 months ago he was downsized. The hospital corporation decided to restructure it's management, moved one of his superiors down and moved him out. I know they are having it rough because the wife pulled me aside this morning, told me she knows we have successfully struggled through a tight budget and asked if I could make some time to come over and help her figure out how to figure out her food budget as her husband has had to cut her down to $1500 a month for food for 2-3 people. My inner reaction was an odd mix of being flattered that my skills are valuable to her and being appalled that someone cannot feed 2 adults plus the occasional kid home from college on $1500 a month.

[notadmblnd]

28. I do my shopping on about 30 bucks a week

Of course I buy meat in bulk (the entire cow). Outside of milk bread and eggs. I only buy sale items.

[Vanje]

56. Have her call me

I can teach her how to skin and gut roadkills.

[ContinentalOp]

31. Good point. And this type of article is really useful to make us all think they're hurting too.

To distract us from the fact that some people have just recently made insane, incomprehensible sums of money off of everybody else's misery.

[Irish Girl]

37. They're most likely "New Money" and not the "Big Rich" at all

If their wealth is evaporating, it hasn't simply disappeared but rather has been transferred into somebody else's grubby little paws. The tier above them, I'd wager - the true "Big Rich" which we'll never hear about. Not in the mainstream media anyway.

[CrispyQ]

63. "big rich"

"...now that they can buy the scraps of our civilization on the cheap."

Same as it ever was.

I read that some TV shows that are based on rich characters were canceled. With the downturn in the economy, watching shows based on rich people's problems is not entertaining anymore.

[Ikonoklast]

13. The horror of it all.

As I was relating to Buffy at luncheon today, we must start to economize in every way possible now.

So we stiffed the waiter on his tip.

[BrklynLiberal]

19. That is just how they think.

[RainDog]

21. you NAILED IT

that's the way their economic policy operates too.

[Mari333]

22. lolol

[Vanje]

58. Word!

You understand these people!

[ThoughtCriminal]

25. Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon...

for my Freedom Fries?

[ContinentalOp]

32. Selling the handbags probably would be a really dumb idea.

I mean, what can a $10,000 handbag possibly be worth on the secondhand market? 50 bucks maybe if she's lucky.

[Silent3]

40. "The culture was that if you didn't spend extravagantly you'd be ridiculed at work"

It's the people who would look down their noses at other people for not joining in on extravagant excess that I'd most like to see brought down low.

According to the myths we supposed to believe about talent, hard work, and financial reward, it would follow that people this rich are particularly insightful about money matters. I think in many cases, however, it's just luck and ruthlessness that put them where they are, and many of them will prove to have been very stupid about planning for their own financial futures. They'll have had more than enough money pass through their hands to have been able to ensure a comfortable existence for the rest of a long life, maybe a few times over, yet they'll have burned through that money with stupid extravagances, and be penniless, or even deeply in debt, when the gravy train ends for them.

[JHB]

52. **BING**BING**BING** We Have A Winnah!

That's exactly who these ding-dongs are. Deregulation freed the ruthless, the gamblers, and the swindlers, and favored looting businesses over building them.

A couple of million in safe investments (which people like this could have done with plenty to spare) will get you an affluent-grade income off the interest alone. But "affluent" wasn't good enough.

[AwakeAtLast]

92. Generally those people "take care of themselves" when reality gets too real

Long dive off a tall building I'd say.

[arcadian]

41. Where is my pitch fork?

I need to sharpen it. Anybody got any torches?

[Ishoutandscream2]

43. Yeah, I'll get ya some. You got the tar and feathers?

God, I hate these people.

[Ishoutandscream2]

42. I'm sorry, but I hate these people

Dubya's base.

[Citizen Number 9]

71. Ahh....the haters speak up.

There aren't enough of these people to be a base for Bush. I got no use for you haters, either Rightie or Leftie.

It would do you good to find out who really does support the GOP. Maybe we would be smarter rather than losing the administration every few years.

[Ishoutandscream2]

Fine, that is your right. I don't care whether you have no use of me or not

I will continue hating these people as long as I live.

By the way, did you address any of these other folks posting, too? Seems there's not too many here who admire these rich assholes either.

[Citizen Number 9]

100. You were the one

who chose to use the word hate.

That made it simple.

With all we know about health and whatnot, did you know that hate probably shortens your life?

[Ishoutandscream2]

109. Denying hate can be unhealthy

Hiding your true feelings and keeping them bottled up doesn't do a whole lot of good. I guess by the posts, you can't see the hate that others are displaying. I use "hate" and you pounce. Well, good for you. I will continue to be honest about my feelings. Please don't worry about me.

On edit - I see you did address the rest at the bottom. My apologies.

[earth mom]

44. Oh cry me a river...

NOT!

:nopity:

[ima_sinnic]

45. a-holes.

[kaiden]

49. Here's where I give Peter Coors props.

About 12 years ago, I worked with his daughter in a law firm here in Denver. Now, she's an "heiress" and will someday reap the Coors Beer fortune. But this Coors daughter shopped at consignment stores and could be giddy over buying a "bed-in-a-bag" at Target. She only could have learned that frugality from her parents.

[bread_and_roses]

53. So what? Does that make the Coors family any less the exploitive

right-wing, fascist oligarchs that they are? No.

[Vanje]

57. Dude!

Those bastards have been watering down my beer!

[stubtoe]

68. ..

:rofl:

[Nye Bevan]

84. Well yes, they have

but with *Rocky Mountain Spring Water*!

[Wednesdays]

60. Wow, she bought a bed-in-a-bag at Target!

That means Peter Coors is a man of the people! :eyes:

[Vanje]

61. Those Damn Coorses!

They always get to the best dumpsters in town first. They dont leave anything else for us regular divers!

One time I was driving. In the Rockies, ya know. I saw a fresh roadkill on the road shoulder just ahead, I think it was a marmot ( good for shishKaBob!). All of a sudden a Goddam Lexus pulls over and scoops that fat squirrel before I get there.
Damn it!

[SammyWinstonJack]

64. .

:evilgrin:

[kaiden]

81. Please. I never suggested that.

The Coors family funded the Heritage Foundation. All I said was that one of the daughters did not flaunt her vast fortune and was, in fact, as frugal as the rest of us peons.

[lonestarnot]

50. Slugs have better thinking processes than these grasshopper looking shells.

[JackRiddler]

54. Sob stories supposed to avoid the guillotine.

[Gman2]

62. We're all in the TRANCHES now.

The truly rich saw this coming a mile wide. Bush was their scavenger. He was the guy that breaks up the co. and sells off the parts, after a hostile takeover. Mitt Romney's resume makes him an expert at that. Funny that. Maybe not.

[robinlynne]

65. unbelievable!

so one of those bags could house a homeless person for around a year? Gee, let's maintain the tax cuts for another 3 years till they run out....

[ProfessorPlum]

72. This article has it exactly wrong

The Big Rich are not going to suffer - much - because of what is happening. Instead, the suffering will be from the middle class and the lower class. "the Big Rich" haven't been denied one thing, and they will continue to get everything they wish for. While the surveillance, military, penitentiary, and police forces of this country are used to keep the rest of us down.

the plan has always been to turn the US into a third world country . . . we are just one more step away. .

[Selatius]

74. A solid billionaire wouldn't be cutting back. These people aren't billionaires.

They're ants trying to be financial gods.

[newtothegame]

80. This sounds a little too dramatic to be true...

but interesting read nonetheless.

[knitter4democracy]

105. Nah, I believe it.

My soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law (how's that for a mouthful!) used to be a tax lawyer in Manhattan for mortgage-backed securities (seriously--he thinks he's responsible for about 10% of the crash just himself), and they spend a fortune on their clothes and their daughter's clothes. They got their toddler daughter $80 jeans! I about fainted when I heard. Three thousand dollars on one pair of shoes, and I have no idea the fortune they spent on his suits.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

85. I'd play a tiny violin for them, but a middle finger is much cheaper.

[sarcasmo]

88. These Greedy Pigs do not deserve the lifestyle they live.

[ailsagirl]

90. That's so sad

:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:

[Skittles]

94. these folk can fuck themselves

they were expected to waste money because all their friends do? That is pathetic.

[Fire1]

95. Good show!

[Citizen Number 9]

101. I gotta say

you'se guys are every bit as good at hating as the horrid little Righties are.

I keep looking for some sort of basic difference, but threads like this simply confirm that people are just....people.

[Vanje]

102. Hate?

No. I loves me some rich.
The rich are better than me. Clearly.
They deserve more of earth's resources than I do, because their forefathers wrested it from my forefathers hands.

You can tell they're better because their tastes are more refined. They throw away food that I would eat greedily, and coarsely.
God face shines favorably upon them . His grace descends upon the rich in the form of magnificent cars. Magnificent cars with great appetite for oil. God has seen fit to send poor American boys and girls to oil-rich foreign lands to fight and sometimes die , so that His blessed rich can maintain their blessed comforts, and feed their magnificent cars.

I love the rich so much, that even though I cant afford to go to the dentist,and cant afford to re-shingle my leaky roof AND eat, ...... I am Stuporous with delight that $25,000.00 of my future earnings has been appropriated unto the richest of the richest, by their friends and collegues, so that they can continue to evict my neighbors from their homes.

The rich are better than you or me.

[blondeatlast]

108. So what's yer problem with it? "People are just... people."

You gotta a problem wi'dat?

Because I don't, quite frankly.