♦ NBC chief Jeff Zucker is tightening making another round of cuts. This time it's CNBC, which will see its budget slashed by 10 percent. [NYO]
♦ A group of liberal activists printed up fake copies of the New York Times today to hand out to passerby in Midtown. [NYT]
♦ Gerard Baker has been named deputy editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones. [Romenesko]
♦ Katie Couric's advice for Sarah Palin: "I think she should keep her head down, work really hard and learn about governing." [Page Six]
♦ John McCain's first TV appearance since he lost the election translated into big ratings for Jay Leno's Tonight Show. [THR]
♦ Monday's interview with Sarah Palin was also a winner with Greta Van Susteren's On The Record earning its best ratings of the year. [B&C]

We hear all is not well with Times reporter Alex Kuczynski and her husband of six years, financier Charles Stevenson. Rumor has it the Times journalist and reformed plastic surgery junkie is contemplating a divorce from the billionaire mogul, who is nearly 25 years her senior (and who has been married four times). Although there's been no official word of the split as of yet, Kuczynski has maintained a low profile in recent weeks. While she's probably rather busy these days now that she's a new mom—Kuczynski and Stevenson had a baby boy via a surrogate back in April—friends were surprised when she backed out of a scheduled appearance last week at a Diane von Furstenberg-sponsored spelling bee benefit that she usually attends every year. She's also been noticeably absent from the pages of the Times the last few months. Perhaps fittingly, her most recent article in the paper in early October was a book review of Alec Baldwin's book, A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce. "Divorce is a lonely business," Kuczynski wrote. "Divorce is hell. Lawyers are vultures."

One more thing you can look forward to next year as the economy continues to suffer and companies continue to lay off employees: a big price increase for city subways and buses. The Daily News reports that the MTA may be forced to raise fares to $3 as it grapples with a $600 million budget shortfall. [NYDN]

Paris Hilton is going to have a lot of work ahead of her if she expects to stimulate the Dubai real estate market. A survey issued today reports that residential prices there plummeted 19 percent during the month of October. [WSJ, previously]

Kate Bosworth checking in for a flight at JFK with boyfriend James Rousseau ... Natalie Portman eating soup on the set of her new movie ... Hugh Jackman leaving the studios of GMA ... Sarah Jessica Parker walking with son James in the West Village ... Frank Gifford leaving ABC studios ... Kate Winslet shopping at YSL ... Alicia Keys standing outside the Letterman show ... Katie Holmes leaving her East Village apartment ... Seth Green, Enrique Iglesias, and David Archuleta posing for pics outside MTV studios in Times Square ... and Fergie sitting in the backseat of a cab.

Booze, religion, and therapy not doing enough to calm you down as the economy implodes? How about hypnotism? New York hypnotherapists report that business has surged in recent weeks, a trend that started following the collapse of Bear Stearns in March. As for what you actually get for $60 to $150 per session, you may be given some tips on how to adjust your "negative thinking," or you may pick up a soothing mantra for these fretful times like "Money is energy that comes and goes." And you don't even have to show up in person either, since some practicioners are more than happy to dispense their wisdom via email or text. Given you don't need any credentials—or even a license—to practice hypotherapy, perhaps the best advice they could give you to get over your financial problems is to set up shop as a hypnotherapist yourself. (Hey, it's more lucrative than turning to bartending.) After the jump, video of a spooky Manhattan hynotherapist named Jacob Bimblic explaining his appeal to the Wall Street crowd.

A couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump said the financial crisis would turn out to be totally fantastic (or "huuuge") for his real estate business, and he'd end up doubling his net worth when all was said and done. He was just deflecting the truth, of course: The interview came a couple of days after the Wall Street Journal documented the many troubles at his Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago and suggested he might even lose control of the property if he couldn't buy more time from the bank that had loaned him $640 million. Well, it turns out he couldn't, which is why Trump filed suit today against Deutsche Bank, who provided him the cash to construct the gold-plated monstrosity. Trump argues he was wronged when his lenders denied his request for an extension. Why? Because they're legally obligated to give him more time on account of the financial crisis. That's a clever one! We're totally going to try using that excuse the next time our credit card bill comes in the mail!

♦ Brooke Astor's former estate in Westchester has finally hit the market: Holly Hill is now up for sale for $12.9 million. The 10,000-square-foot mansion includes 13 bedrooms, six marble fireplaces, indoor and outdoor pools, and views of the Hudson River. [NYO, Sotheby's]
♦ The Greenwich Village townhouse owned by the non-profit group Pen and Brush has gone on the market for $13.525 million. [NYT, PDE]
♦ Corcoran broker Leighton Candler, who currently has the listings for Brooke Astor's former co-op and Bill and Tina Flaherty's spread at 1040 Fifth Avenue, has placed another pricey property on the market: A full-floor apartment at the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South can be yours for $35 million. [NYO, Corcoran]

It will be a big night for disgraced Lehman CEO Dick Fuld and his wife Kathy: The couple's collection of postwar drawings goes up for auction at Christie's this evening. The Fulds reportedly made arrangements to sell the pieces over the summer—and the auction house gave them a $20 million guarantee, a decision it probably now regrets—although news of the sale emerged four days after the investment bank went bust. Works by Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Arshile Gorky, and Agnes Martin will be available to those who still have a few million to spare (and who aren't too deterred by the Fulds' bad mojo). Meanwhile, some of the art that Dick once enjoyed seeing on the walls of Lehman Brothers will also be coming to market in the near future: The bankrupt bank is selling $8 million worth of pictures currently languishing in warehouses in New York and Paris.

Did you know that Tony Sirico, AKA Paulie Walnuts from Sopranos, has a new line of cologne? We didn't! But it doesn't sound like you're going to want to add Paolo per Uomo to your holiday shopping list. The always-understated Post says the scent "smells like every lasagna-loving, spaghetti-slurping mob-boss wannabe or cheap imitation consigliere," and has "top notes of cigar ash and polyester jumpsuits" mixed with "hints of stripper sweat and a cream-filled cannoli." [NYP]

A judge cleared the way for gay marriage to begin in Connecticut this morning, and no one is wasting any time: Town clerks were directed to begin issuing licenses to gay couples, and several ceremonies are already scheduled for later today. [AP]

Not even the presence of high-profile collectors like Steve Martin, Valentino, and billionaire Eli Broad (who dropped $8 million on works by Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg, and Donald Judd) could save last night's Sotheby's contemporary art sale from being a big disappointment. Twenty paintings, including a Lichtenstein and a Damien Hirst, were left on the block, and the total tally was $125.1 million, far below the conservative presale estimate of $202.4 million. One genre that's apparently recession proof: John Currin and his trademark boobies. His "Nice 'n' Easy," an oil of two curvaceous naked women, went for a record $5.4 million. [NYT, Bloomberg]

It turns out Anne Hathaway and Ron Burkle share something in common besides Raffaello Follieri. Both are celebrating their birthdays today, too! Anne is turning 26; the supermarket mogul, Democratic fundraiser, and owner of the late Radar, is 56. Others celebrating today: Paper co-founder Kim Hastreiter is 57. Ryan Gosling turns 28. Megan Mullally is 50. Author Naomi Wolf is 46. Neil Young is turning 63. Sammy Sosa is 40. R&B singer Omarion is 24. Gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci is 47. Actor Wallace Shawn is 65. Simon & Schuster publisher David Rosenthal is turning 55. And your favorite disgraced ice queen, Tonya Harding, is 38 years old.

♦ Jennifer Aniston is finally speaking out about her breakup with Brad Pitt. In the December issue of Vogue, she says what Angelina Jolie did was "really uncool," and that she had no idea that Brad had cheated on her until she read about it afterwards. [MSNBC, NYP]
♦ The security guard who roughed-up Brad Pitt at the premiere of his own movie on Monday night says he was only trying to protect Brad by helping him get away from a pack of aggressive photographers. [ET, NYP]
♦ Madonna is supposedly considering a career as a movie director so she can "rival" her ex, Guy Ritchie, at least according to her nutty brother Christopher Ciccone. She should have more time to pursue a directing career if she chooses to: Officials in Malawi have said she can "forget" about adopting another baby as long as she plans to bring it into a "broken home." [The Sun, MSNBC]
♦ Billy Ray Cyrus says he is trying to get Malia and Sasha Obama to appear in an episode of Hannah Montana. [NYDN]

♦ American Express may be looking for as much as $3.5 billion in government assistance as the company struggles with reduced consumer spending and rising defaults. [WSJ]
♦ Hope is fading fast at GM. Shares fell to $2.92 on Tuesday, the lowest level in 65 years, and the company does not expect "to continue as a going concern" without a rescue plan in place by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing ahead with a plan to save the automaker. [NYT, Bloomberg]
♦ Who doesn't want a piece of the bailout? The line outside the Treasury Department in Washington is a long one. [NYT]

It looks like hotel mogul Barry Sternlicht, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Hollywood boss Peter Chernin may need to make some adjustments to their 2009 vacation itineraries: The Yellowstone Club, the invitation-only private ski and golf resort in Montana for the exceedingly wealthy, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. Club officials say the resort will remain open for the ski season, but its long-term prospects are unclear. The good news is that the club's 340 members will no longer have to fork over $16,000 a year in membership dues. The not-so-good news: Their $250,000 initiation fees just went down the drain. [AP]

♦ At yesterday's Fashion Group International panel on fashion retail, Simon Doonan chatted with Sally Singer, Bloomingdale's fashion director Stephanie Solomon, and InStyle's beauty director Amy Synnott about the pervasive doom and gloom in the retail industry. Doonan's take: "It's really terrifying. But I think my job is to sustain the idea that fashion is exciting and glamorous. We really need to do our best even if sales are plunging." [WWD]
♦ When deciding who should front its next campaign, did Louis Vuitton go for someone fresh, edgy, and exciting? Nope, it's supposedly Madonna. [stylefile]
♦ Because now every article on Michelle Obama's person must be identified, priced, and judged: She wore Maria Pinto to the White House, and those dangly earrings she wore on election night? White gold with diamonds, priced at $11,000, and designed by Loree Rodkin. [WSJ, The Cut]

♦ Tonight is the night for Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz's 20-course, $1,500 dinner at Per Se, and despite the bad economy, it's completely sold out. [NYT, NYT]
♦ A Q&A with chef Seamus Mullen, whose long-awaited Boqueria Soho finally opened last night. [Metromix, Eater]
♦ Christopher Lee will depart Gilt at the end of the year to take over as Auerole's executive chef. [NYT]

An Abu Dhabi-based developer, Hydra Properties, has reportedly offered Paris Hilton $2 million to lend her name to a set of apartment buildings in Dubai. (Naturally, the buildings will be named "Paris Hilton Towers" if she agrees to the deal.) This is the same company, we should point out, that tapped Antonio Banderas as a company pitchman a few months ago, which suggests either real estate developers in the Gulf are getting very desperate or there's a rich sheikh out there looking to get lucky. [Gulf News via Curbed]

It was another down day on Wall Street. The Dow fell 176 points, or 2 percent, and both the S&P and Nasdaq shed 2.2 percent. Naturally, a handful of companies announced a round of fresh layoffs: As many as 60 employees of Condé Nast's Internet division were reportedly let go; an estimated 20 percent of CurrentTV's staff were given notice; the law firm of White & Case announced plans to shed 3 percent of its staff; and Time Inc. bosses in New York are now reportedly planning to lay off lots of European staffers, too. Oh, and don't bother looking for a job if you've already lost yours: Online job sites are reporting that new listings have hit a new low.