Remember how, yesterday, we told you that Bear Stearns bankers were so worried about their finances after the fire sale of the firm to JPMorgan that they were cutting back costs by not drinking at their favorite bar and reassessing their vacation plans? Well, it turns out it is much, much worse than that. Interior designer Darren Henault shared a story with the Post today that is so harrowing, it made our toes curl. Soon after the deal with JPMorgan was announced, one of his clients, the wife of a Bear Stearns executive, called him up. You won't believe what she said.

"We only had about $50,000 worth of final touches [to go], and the wife called me last week and said stop," said [the designer,] whose work has been featured in Vanity Fair and Elle Décor. "She said they're not poor, and are never going to be poor. But their capacity for discretionary income for things like window valances just went out the window."

But everyone knows that valances are a crucial part of a well-dressed home! What's other home accents will be foregone in these terrible times? Sconces? Bookends? Stenciling? Will everyone go back to being minimalist? This is much more serious than we thought. It really is the eighties all over again.

Execs Bear-ly Surviving [NYP]