The 1%, or actually the .01%, must still be having fun.  In the Thursday International Herald Tribune (my newspaper while I’m still in Israel), while page 4 had stories about how Great Britain’s recession was proving even worse than expected, and Spanish banking problems were threatening the Euro, page 5 was a full page add by Graff diamonds with a stunning close-up of a model wearing earings and pendants of heart-shaped diamonds with the main stones each larger than the dial of my wristwatch — maybe $10 million or so worth of jewelry altogether.

Okay, we know that bankers got their bail out and are still making upwards of tens of millions each year.  But at a time when increasing numbers of Greeks can’t even afford their basic medicines because of their economic crisis, how about not waving in our faces the excesses others can still afford.