The shrew has a point: Why should Goldman Sachs wives be treated like (shudder) "the $650 donors"?

Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein --
his wife must be an exceptionally important person

As part of its "appeal to the common man" mission, Rupert Murdoch's New York Post occasionally practices a kind of crackpot populism that even more occasionally lands just right on just the right target. Offered for your consideration -- with no further comment from me -- is this Hamptons vignette from yesterday's Page Six. -- Ken

GOLDMAN SACHS WIVES HATE TO WAIT

August 5, 2009 --

GOLDMAN Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein has warned his employees to avoid high-profile spending, as The Post reported -- but his wife evidently didn't get the memo.

Laura Blankfein and her friend Susan Friedman, wife of another Goldman honcho, Richard Friedman, caused a huge scene at Super Saturday in the Hamptons last weekend when they arrived at the event before the noon start time and balked at waiting in line with the other ticket-holders.

"Their behavior was obnoxious. They were screaming," said one witness. Blankfein said she wouldn't wait with "people who spend less money than me."

Another observer said the women were so impatient, it was as if they were waiting on line for a kidney transplant instead of a charitable designer clothing sale.

Friedman shouted at the event organizer, "You have lost so much money because of this . . . Why should we be treated like the $650 donors?"

Sources said Blankfein and Friedman had bought tables with blocks of tickets going for $833 apiece, as did many of the women who were waiting patiently in line, happy to raise $3.4 million for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

In the end, the hot-headed duo got in at 12:03 p.m., three minutes after those who arrived before them.

No word on how much of their husbands' money they spent. But Lloyd Blankfein -- wary of bad publicity over the big bonuses he and his colleagues expect to collect at year's end -- has called for an end to conspicuous consumption.

A Goldman Sachs executive was quoted in yesterday's front-page Post story, "[Blankfein] wants to make sure we're not being seen living high on the hog." A Goldman Sachs rep did not respond to requests for comment left at the offices of both Lloyd Blankfein and Richard Friedman.

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