♦ Disgraced telecom analyst Jack Grubman and his wife LuAnn have put their neo-Federal-style townhouse at 12 East 81st Street on the market for $32 million, five times what they paid for the five-bedroom manse back in 1999. [NYO, Sotheby's]
♦ Thomas Brock, the CEO of Stone Harbor Investment Partners (and the head of Salomon Brothers Asset Management back in the '90s), paid $10 million for a four-bedroom apartment at 995 Fifth Avenue, the same building where Claude Wasserstein picked up a spread last month. [Cityfile]
♦ Superbad director Greg Mottola and his wife Sarah Allentuch paid $2.6 mil. for a two-bedroom, third-floor apartment at One York in Tribeca. [NYO]
♦ Now that he's said goodbye to the Green Bay Packers and joined the Jets, quarterback Brett Favre has sold his former home in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin for $475,000. [Real Estalker]

Here's another sign the economy is in trouble: the National Debt Clock in Midtown has run out of digits. The United States now officially owes more than 10 trillion dollars and now the clock's owner, the Durst Organization, has now had to make room for a 14th digit. John Del Signore has another idea: "While they're at it, they may as well make room for a 15th and 16th digit, and change the currency to yuan." [Gothamist]

We should all take a leaf out of Annie Churchill's book: In order to focus on her new online venture (not because she had a drinking problem or anything) she's given up alcohol, yet she still manages to get through evenings that most mere mortals would need half a gallon of vodka to to manage. One recent evening, she tells the Observer, she was at an art party, then headed to Marquee, attended a dinner, and then made a stop at Socialista—and she did it all on water and an energy drink! Such restraint will hopefully pay off with the launch of her multimedia fashion empire: In January, she'll be introducing a retail website, online magazine, and a web-based lifestyle show hosted by Churchill and featuring "interviews and intimate discussions with people in the business." As the 37-year-old social ubiquity has honed her on-camera skills with an array of blink-and-you'll-miss-her roles on TV and film, that part at least should be a breeze for her.

Now you can enjoy an entire blog devoted to the subject of depressed-looking traders! [Tumblr, previously]

Matt Damon turns 38 today. Woody Allen's bride, Soon-Yi, is celebrating her 38th, too. Chevy Chase turns 68 today. Jesse Jackson is 67. Dennis Kucinich is 62. Sigourney Weaver is turning 59. Children's author R.L. Stine is 65. Director Ed Zwick is 56. Comic book legend Harvey Pekar is 69 today, as is Paul Hogan of Crocodile Dundee fame. Netflix founder Reed Hastings turns 48. And Angus T. Jones, the little boy in Two and a Half Men, is 15.

David Patrick Columbia bumped into Upper East Side real estate queen Sharon Baum on Madison Avenue yesterday—her green, chauffeur-driven Rolls with a "SOLD 1" license plate makes her hard to miss—and asked the one-time girlfriend of Michael Bloomberg if the real estate market was as bad as some have suggested. Baum said one of the indicators is how business is faring at her nail salon. "Her manicurist told her that business was steady in the in the manicure department," but business is "way up" for pedicures as well as for "corns and bunions," since people are walking more to save their money." [NYSD]

♦ In an interview with Barbara Walters which airs Friday, Peter Cook says it was Christie Brinkley's fault he cheated on her because she wasn't "meeting his needs." Oh, also, he'd like you to know he's really not a pervert. [NYDN]
♦ Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel are back together, although friends say they're "taking it slow." [People]
♦ Angelina Jolie got a tummy tuck, or at least that's what the Star says. [Star]
♦ Amy Winehouse's spokesperson says the singer is not suicidal. In fact, the rep says, "she's fine." Of course she is. [People]

♦ The world's central banks are joining together to carry out a coordinated (and unprecedented) cut in interest rates, part of a plan to restore confidence in the global economy. [WSJ, NYT]
♦ Speculation that Morgan Stanley's deal with Mitsubishi UFJ had fallen through led to a huge drop in Morgan's stock price; the Japanese bank now says the deal will be done by this weekend. [Bloomberg]

It seems having oiled-up chicks traipsing around in bikinis didn't create such a friendly workplace for employees of the Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Times Square. The restaurant was smacked with a $600 million lawsuit today: Four women allege that the restaurant's former general manager, Anthony Rakis, raped and sodomized a manager, harassed female waitresses, and forced prospective hires to strip down for "examinations." The women claim that the restaurant's owner, Dennis Riese, was part of the problem, too, helping to turn Hawaiian Tropic Zone "into a disgusting meat market." Riese hasn't responded to the charges yet, but we'll point out that this is the same man who told The New Yorker last year that he describes himself as a feminist ("I love women and believe in them") and chalked up any grievances to nature. "I don't think these girls are feeling exploited," he said. "If a bunch of guys are coming in and ogling them, it's because they're guys and those are girls! And that's part of our biological nature."

♦ Diane von Furstenberg has not only designed a collection inspired by Wonder Woman, she's also authored a comic book featuring superheroines Diva, Viva and Fifa. [WWD, DVF]
♦ Backstage at Marc Jacobs' Louis Vuitton Paris show, the models flipped up their skirts to show Cathy Horyn an important detail: lace underwear monogrammed with LV. [On the Runway]
♦ Jessica Stam's East Village apartment, designed by Rafael de Cardenas, is sickeningly fabulous for a 22-year-old. [Jezebel]

♦ The 2009 Zagat guide to New York restaurants was released today. Momofuku Ko was named best newcomer, while Per Se led the pack in food and service. [Zagat]
♦ Vice just released a New York restaurant guide, too. [Vice via Eater]
♦ A list of bars where you can watch the debate. [NYM]
♦ What are Wall Streeters doing now that they have no money? They're skipping power lunches and opting for pizza instead. [NYP]

Looking to reserve a spot for your New Year's Eve party? The Renaissance Hotel in Times Square is planning to auction off its third-floor restaurant, which formerly housed the much-maligned Chop Suey, with the bidding starting at $150,000. Spending that kind of money on a lousy restaurant located within a lousy hotel might seem a little strange. (Hey, for the same amount, you could hold a party for five straight nights in the most expensive suite room in town.) But we're guessing the hotel's general manager realizes this, too, since he says he expects "someone from overseas"—someone who's never actually been to the hotel, we're presuming—to ring in with the highest bid.

A few weeks ago, a rumor surfaced that disgraced Lehman CEO Dick Fuld had been punched in the face and "knocked out cold" in the company gym just after it was announced that the firm would file for bankruptcy. Yesterday Vanity Fair's Vicki Ward said she had two very reliable sources confirming the events. Today, Lehman denied the rumor, calling it "completely absurd and completely untrue." CNBC's Charlie Gasparino thinks they're all full of shit, as he explains in the video below.

As if it's not bad enough that you have to do your shopping at 7-11, you now have to indicate which candidate you're voting for this November, too. The chain is now offering soda cups in two varieties—red and blue, naturally—and Obama is currently ahead by 16 percentage points, in case you're curious. [7Election]

What are the photo editors of the world up to these days? Their "craft seems to have been reduced to finding pictures of hapless traders mid-grimace," writes Style.com, which has an entire slideshow of disaffected traders for your viewing pleasure. So true! But can you pick out what cities the sad-faced traders above are from? Answers after the jump!

It isn't just the poor and overextended who are freaking out about the tanking economy. According to a survey co-sponsored by American Express, seven in ten "affluent" Americans—people with $100,000 and $1 million in annual disposable income—are now worried about running out of money. And just how are they responding? They're giving more thought to whether they need "luxury" items and waiting for stuff to go on sale before buying. Most troubling, though, is that respondents to the survey said they'd be "cutting back on the number of recipients on their gift list." Guess it's time to be extra nice to anyone who got you a really expensive present last Christmas!

Here's some good news if you're worried about the economy: Ryanair, the discount European airline, is planning to introduce fares from the US to London for as little as £10. It isn't clear if that's for a one-way ticket or it's roundtrip, although at those prices we're not sure it matters. [Telegraph via PSFK]

It was former AIG chief Hank Greenberg's turn to testify before the House today, and as expected he blamed everyone but himself for the insurance giant's historic collapse. ("How did this happen? I was not there, so I cannot answer that question with precision.") Unfortunately, Greenberg delivered his remarks in writing because of an illness. Or maybe he was just scared of getting manhandled by a bunch of crazy old ladies from Code Pink?

♦ David Letterman is in talks with John McCain about rescheduling his appearance on the late night show. [NYP]
♦ Sarah Palin will make two appearances on Fox News this week. [Politico]
♦ If your copy of the Times looks a little bit different today, that's because the paper has been busy shuffling around its various sections. [E&P]
♦ The LA Times may lay off as many as 75 staffers this week. [Variety]
♦ How big banks are handing their ad campaigns during this turbulent time. [NYT]
♦ CBS has had a solid start to the fall season. NBC has not. [AdAge, THR]
♦ Anne Hathaway has signed on to appear in Alice in Wonderland, which Tim Burton is directing. [THR]
♦ Why is Jim Cramer employed? That's what we'd like to know. [Romenesko]

So is it Lee-man Brothers or Lay-man Brothers? It's pronounced "Lee-man," for your information, a point you might want to pass along to Rep. Henry Waxman, who pummeled Dick Fuld yesterday while mispronouncing the name of the firm the entire time. But he's not the only one! John McCain has repeatedly referred to it as "Lay-man" Brothers in recent days, too. They may have a defense, though. Although Merriam-Webster has it right, the online pronunciation guide Forvo.com has it wrong. Although to Forvo.com's credit, though, they did manage to get JP Morgan, Goldman, Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Wachovia pronounced correctly.