(Sorta) feeling the pinch

As businesses cut back on employees and perks and households rein in spending and travel, it seems most of America is getting used to making do with less  — even rich people. After muddling through his tax woes, newly appointed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was recently spotted buckling up in the coach section of his flight. As far back as June, before the economic crisis truly became epic, The New York Times reported that small changes in lifestyle were becoming increasingly necessary — if not yet popular — among the well-off.

So New York's very wealthy are addressing their distress in discreet and often awkward ways. They try to move their $165 sessions with personal trainers to a time slot that they know is already taken. They agree to tour multimillion-dollar apartments and then say the spaces don’t match their specifications. They apply for a line of credit before art auctions, supposedly to buy a painting or a sculpture, but use that borrowed money to pay other debts.

But these days, it's cool for anyone to pay less. In fact, as David Brooks points out, you might be mocked (and forced to make amends) if you don't:

First, there were those auto executives who didn’t realize that it is no longer socially acceptable to use private jets for lobbying trips to Washington. Then there was John Thain, who was humiliated because it is no longer acceptable to spend $35,000 on a commode for a Merrill Lynch office suite.

The, ahem, problems the rich now face highlight how the recession has spared so few sectors: McMansions aren't selling. Saks Fifth Avenue has slashed prices to sell Manolos. Multimillionares are spending less on their mistresses, according to a survey we find curious, but fascinating. Frederic Brunel, a Boston University marketing professor, told The Boston Globe: "The culture of the moment is to be smart with your money and get the best out of it":

Even President Obama showed that you don't have to spend a lot of money to look good. During his inauguration, commentators talked about the fact that the first family wore clothes from J.Crew, a mid-market retailer. "They looked very good but didn't spend a lot of money on it."

And indeed, cutting back has become quite the White House trend. Obama instituted a pay freeze for aides making more than $100,000 a year and announced a pay cap of $500,000 for corporate CEOs taking bailout money.

Of course, some wealthy folks who can still afford to indulge are continuing to do so ... they're just hiding the evidence.

Some shoppers are asking cashiers at high-end stores to put their purchases in plain white paper bags. Others want their expensive clothes and jewelry shipped home so they can walk out of the store without any bags at all.

"There's a sense of there being a gaucheness in spending in excess and coming home with a Louis Vuitton or Chanel bag," says Lucyann Barry, a personal shopper and stylist for New York's ultra-rich.

So the next time you think you spot Warren Buffett ready to board your plane, just check out his body language — if he's doodling or fidgeting, you may indeed find the notoriously frugal businessman stuck in the middle seat.

-Sarah Parsons

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