The New York Times reported on Saturday that Barneys New York was purchased by the government of Dubai -- for $825 million. This is the fashion Mecca of the U.S. Seriously. Cat lived down the street from the Co-op on 17th, and when Barneys had its twice annual sale, people would line up around the block to claw each others eyes out over some slip of well-monikered fabric.
As Flypaper points out, the sale is the equivalent of the Fed deciding to buy Collette in France or Harrod's in Britain. Weird.