This is normally the time of year when people start making plans for the summer and lock in their rentals in the Hamptons. Not this year. Last month, The Real Deal suggested the number of rental transactions was down by as much as 80 to 90 percent compared to last year at this time; today the Post offers up examples of prospective renters offering owners as little as half the official asking price. Things may very well get worse as nervous renters wait to see if prices fall further, and owners become increasingly desperate to take the first real offer that comes their way. In other words, don't be surprised if six recent college grads end up turning ex-Lehman COO Joe Gregory's $32 million Bridgehampton home into a booze-soaked share house.

Need some positive news about the global economy today? Happy to help. It seems the price of cocaine in Europe is falling fast "as smugglers use new routes through West Africa and the Balkans," according to the United Nations. Have a safe flight! [BBC via DBTH]

Project Runway season 4 winner Christian Siriano is showing for the first time in the tents today and no doubt hoping that, unlike last season, the likes of Saks and Bloomingdales pick up his fledgling line. But despite the fact that helming a fashion label at the tender age of 23 would hardly have been his fate without the help of reality TV, Siriano, normally so full of sass, is now regretful about his decision to compete in the show: "It definitely gave me a platform, but for other young designers I would say, it's not the best way to go if you want to be a real, serious designer." Sounds like someone is struggling to reconcile designing and promoting for Payless with his glamorous boyhood dreams!

Michael Bloomberg may be willing to spend $45 million preparing Wall Streeters for careers in other industries, but it looks like some finance types are already branching out. Take the investment banker in Connecticut who says he'll "offer the highest quality lawn cutting service for less than what your scraggy, tattooed landscaper charged you last year." Not that he's at all bitter about it or anything. [Clusterstock]

The Daily News has more detail on the tragic suicide of an 11th grader at Dalton yesterday morning. [NYDN, previously]

News that won't be surprising to anyone: The art world is still steeped in gloom, as evidenced by the scene at last night's opening gala for the Art Show at the Park Avenue Armory. The benefit, which used to be sponsored by Lehman Brothers and be a riot of hedge funders dropping millions on pieces to add to their collections, was attended by the likes of Donald Marron, Steve Schwarzman, John McEnroe, Glenn Lowry, Agnes Gund, and Michael Ovitz, but still saw "meager" sales.

Click through for a recap of the shows, parties, and gossip you've missed at Fashion Week thus far.

Goldman's problems continue to add up: Dealbreaker reports a fresh round of layoffs may be imminent. [Dealbreaker]

• Fashion tycoon Kenneth Cole has managed to sell his penthouse at 101 West 79th Street, albeit for substantially less than the original asking price. The four-bedroom apartment, which was priced at $18.95 million and reduced to $16.95 million in December 2008, has sold for $12.5 million to an entity called Fundo Azul LLC. So who's behind this Fundo Azul? No clue, although if you know more, feel free to drop us a line and let us know. [Cityfile]
• Hotel owner Jeffrey Carlstead has listed the one-bedroom at 15 CPW that he bought for $2.54 million in August. It's now $4.6 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• No 740 Park apartment for you! Both banker Peter Huang's apartment and Courtney Sale Ross' 32-room duplex have been taken off the market. [MGross]
• Ivan Lendl has gone into contract to sell his mansion in Goshen, Conn. The 43,000-square-foot home had been listed at $25 million. [NYP]
• Disgraced financier Alberto Vilar recently listed his 11-room co-op at 860 United Nations Plaza for $5.5 million. But it may be too late. It's scheduled to be sold at auction on March 11th. [Page Six, BHS]

Did you know that Elle editor-in-chef Robbie Myers had a tiny part in Caddyshack when she was 18? It's true. ("The director, Harold Ramis, picked me out of the crowd. I had a very small role, but it was a huge hit at college parties," she says.) Were you aware that Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter appeared in Alfie? Or that Richie Rich made a cameo in Zoolander? Fashion Week Daily went digging for some little-known (and occasionally embarrassing) performances by members of the fashion/media elite. You can see the full collection by clicking on the photo above. [FWD]

Mr. Heidi Klum (or Seal, if you prefer) turns 46 today. General Electric chief Jeff Immelt is 53. Jonathan Lethem is turning 45. Sony CEO Howard Stringer is turning 67. New York Times finance reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin is 32. New York art critic Jerry Saltz is 58. Carolyn Maloney is turning 61. Hearst's Ellen Levine is turning 66. Novelist Siri Hustvedt is 54. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is 50. Architect Peter Pennoyer is 52. Naked Angels artistic director Jenny Gersten is 40. Politico Norman Adler is turning 67. Phish drummer Jon Fishman is turning 44. Benicio Del Toro is 42. Justine Bateman is 43. Jeff Daniels is 54. Smokey Robinson is 69. And Haylie Duff celebrates her 24th today.

• Financial fraudster Allen Stanford remains missing. He's also now under investigation for his possible involvement in laundering money for Mexican drug cartels. [ABC News, Dealbook]
• More on how Stanford lured in clients and what he was promising them. [BN]
• UBS will pay $780 million to settle claims it helped its clients evade taxes. It also agreed to disclose the names of some secret account holders. [BN, NYT]
• Oppenheimer & Co.'s famously bearish bank analyst, Meredith Whitney, is leaving to start her own firm. [NYP, Dealbreaker]
• The scandal over Citigroup's lavish perks continues. [BN]
• The Fed has downgraded its outlook for the economy this year. It's now forecasting an unemployment rate near 9% by the end of the year. [WSJ]
• Take a moment to reflect on how the cuts to bonuses are affecting people beyond Wall Street, won't you? [NYT]

• Hope you're sitting down for this one. Donald Trump Jr. and his wife Vanessa had a baby yesterday. It was a boy. And he will now bear a burden for the rest of his life: His parents named him Donald J. Trump III. [People]
• Lindsay Lohan is launching a self-tanning line called Stay Gold. Finally! [NYDN]
• "Real Housewife" Bethenny Frankel was spotted using coupons at a hair salon. [P6]
• After dating for about half a century, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart may finally be ready to get hitched. [Cindy Adams]
• Please note that Walter Cronkite is not related to social/art scenester Kipton Cronkite, despite his claims to the contrary. [P6]

You've always suspected that the very wealthy are often the most obnoxious. Well, now there's research to back it up. A study by psychologists at UC Berkeley found that students from higher socio-economic levels were far more likely to be rude in certain social situations compared to their less-privileged peers, who typically made more of an effort to be friendly with strangers. Bloomberg columnist Matthew Lynn suggests this also may explain why CEOs and moguls tend to be "an unpleasant bunch," as he puts it:

• Payard Patsserie was shut down by the Dept. of Health today. [Eater, NYT]
• Susur Lee's Shang only earns one star from Bruni in today's Times: "The magic that Mr. Lee reputedly made in Toronto hasn't followed him here." [NYT]
• Is chef Damon Wise saying goodbye to Tom Colicchio's Craft empire? [NYO]
• More mixed reviews for L'Artusi in the West Village. [Bloomberg, TONY]
• Is Anita Lo's Annisa up for sale? [Eater]
• Drew Nieporent is joining Danny Meyer at Citi Field. [Crain's]
• Is foie gras torture? Not so much, says Sarah DiGregorio of the Voice. [VV]
• Be on the lookout for new Heinz ketchup labels! [NYT]
• What's on the menu for dessert tonight? Breakfast, naturally. [NYT]

Click through for a few more familiar faces from the past few days of Fashion Week.

Mayor Bloomberg announced today that the city plans to invest $45 million to "retrain investment bankers, traders and others who have lost jobs on Wall Street." What will they retrain these people to do, exactly? Here are a few ideas. [NYT]

The very last piece of Shea Stadium was torn down this morning in Flushing. The time of death was 11:21am. Video of her final moments after the jump.

Remember back in January when Times fashion queen Cathy Horyn tore Vogue to shreds, calling it "stale and predictable," among other things? Well, if you should happen to ask Vogue's Sally Singer what she thought of the piece, keep in mind she has an airtight excuse that will allow her to duck out of answering the question. "I was in India when Cathy's piece came out, so I didn't read it at the time." Good one! Oh, and if you're wondering what it's really like to work for Anna Wintour, Sally will have you know that it really is a bed of roses. "She's fantastic because she's clear. The thing about Anna that's so good to work for is she knows what she wants." And here we were thinking Anna was a timid, cautious woman full of self-doubt!

Jon Winkelried suddenly announced yesterday he was retiring, and now there's more bad news for Goldman Sachs: CNBC's Charlie Gasparino reports that a number of partners at the firm have been forced to borrow money to cover margin calls. Several senior execs used Goldman stock to buy into hedge funds and the like, but with shares down 50 percent since last spring, "Goldman Sachs is in the awkward position of making margin calls on its own partners, who can't meet those calls because their alternative investments are underwater and they don't have enough cash on hand." How crappy a situation is this? Talk to Sumner Redstone. [CNBC]