Here's a good sign the world is coming to an end: Edwina Rogers, the wife of lobbyist Ed Rogers, has a "wrapping room" in her 18,000-square-foot Washington manse (dubbed the "Republican Shangri-La) where she wraps her gifts in dollar bills. As in cash money that she picks up in huge sheets from the Bureau of Engraving. "The effect is fabulous, especially for foreigners. They love it," she tells the host of the show. (It's a pilot for NBC Universal, apparently.) Foreigners? As in poor people in third-world countries who are thrilled that the wrapping paper will permit them to eat for six months? Or Russian oligarchs and Saudi princes who'd paper their walls with U.S. currency if only it was colored gold, not green? Stupid question: Edwina is a big backer of John McCain. [WSJ/Wealth Report]

It isn't always easy being a billionaire. Especially if you happen to be Russian. Sure, you've got plenty of cash and you can afford spectacular estates in the South of France. But then some snooty maitre d' refuses to give you a table at a restaurant and your vacation is ruined! Yes, it seems the outrageous ostentatiousness of these mega-rich Russian invaders has rankled locals in Italy and France and they're showing their disdain the best way they know how: by denying them entrance to bars and restaurants.

You may not have much sympathy for the Wall Street fat cats and CEOs who have lost their jobs in recent months and been forced to survive on the eight or nine figures they have saved up in the bank. But spare a thought for that voiceless group just as battered by the sudden change in circumstances: the trophy wives. After all, it wasn't they who made reckless investments in the subprime mortgage market and caused a global financial meltdown. They played no role in blowing up the markets. On the contrary, they've been doing their part to boost the economy for years now: They've been busy shopping. And yet many Manhattan women are now finding that the entire basis of their marriages (their lives?) has been pulled out from under them. We're here to help! After the jump, a few handy tips on how to modify your lifestyle during this trying period.

Remember when Gisele Bundchen was preaching about saving Brazilian rainforests, back when she was dating environmental poster boy Leo DiCaprio? Remember that line of sandals she designed to raise awareness about water conservation? And how she claimed she rode her bike to work every day to help the planet? Okay, fine, we didn't have any idea what this "job" was that she had to pedal to "daily," but how could we question her desire to make the world a better place? Gisele was saving the world, damn it. And she was sweet enough to instruct us on how to be just like her, posting tips on how to be more environmentally aware on her website. But it seems she's been missing those NRDC meetings!

So you've got the G-V and the Maybach. You own an estate in the Hamptons, a co-op on Fifth, and a ski house in Aspen. What could possibly be missing? Your own country, of course! Venture capitalist Peter Thiel, the gazillionaire co-founder of PayPal who now runs the hedge fund Clarium Capital, recentl invested in the Seasteading Institute, an organization dedicated to "creating experimental ocean communities with diverse social, political, and legal systems." Yes, the group's mission is to permit billionaire moguls like Thiel to establish their own sovereign man-made islands. (Presumably they'll be a bit more attractive than the oil platform that you see to the right.) Why not just, say, buy an regular ol' island in the tropics, you ask?

A snobby thief with very expensive taste in wine hit a home in the plum town of Atherton —home to Eric Schmidt, Charles Schwab and Meg Whitman — and swiped $531,000 worth of wine. That's 177 bottles with an average "street" value of $3,000. Who on Fair Oaks Lane, scene of the crime, can fund such excess? Please let it be Sequoia Capital's Thomas Stephenson. Anyone know?