Speaking of the rich (see post just below), Holly Peterson has a brief essay in Newsweek about how the super-rich are holding up in the market meltdown. “The bottom line, so to speak: on the Upper East Side, where I have lived for 30 years in a few buildings on the same street, I’ve never seen a mood quite like this one,” she writes. “Everyone is just plain scared, but no one is talking specifics. The thing about rich people is you never know exactly how rich they are or where their money is.” Peterson knows whereof she speaks though you would never know it as she politely neglects to mention how she got her inside knowledge: She’s the daughter of Pete Peterson, the co-founder and former chairman of Blackstone Group (above, with Holly). Lucky Pete sold his shares in the company at $35 (it’s trading around $8 this morning). And Peterson’s husband Richard Kimball is a partner at Goldman Sachs. “So should we feel sorry for these people, so many of whom have profited in spectacular ways from a largely unregulated industry?” she concludes. “Probably not… But if you want to let a little humanity kick in, remember many of these families face losing almost everything they’ve worked for over decades, or even generations. ” (photo by Patrick McMullan)