Having to Fendi for themselves

Re “For richer and for poorer,” Column One, Oct. 25

The focus on Wall Street wives’ deferred dreams is, at best, disgusting. I find it hard to believe that The Times devoted that much print to the whining wives who “describe the pain of walking through malls and boutiques -- how it hurts knowing they can’t grab a few things for themselves that might catch their fancy.”

Please tell me this is satire and not a serious piece.

Trudy Sibley

Northridge

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No doubt the family members of Wall Street workers -- male and female, young and old -- have been affected by the current economic crisis.

But The Times glosses over serious matters in order to focus on a few women’s quashed materialistic desires. You refer to “families reeling during this downturn” and then go on to describe “the pain” some women suffer when they can’t buy everything they want at the mall.

Does The Times really believe that the slight pinch of self-control can be called “pain”? If so, you must live in a world as remote from ours as that of this article’s subjects.

It seems more likely that you intended the article honestly to expose what happens to people closest to the crisis. Cynicism, apparently, led you to dwell on Fendi bags and diamonds, rather than seeking the deeper humanity of your subjects that we average Americans might have been able to comprehend.

Meagan Bernabe

Los Angeles