No More High-Flying Times

One sure sign that the economy is sagging is when companies start getting rid of their most expensive toys.

So it comes as no surprise that the market is flooded with an unusually large number of Gulfstream IVs, widely considered to be the Rolls-Royces of corporate air travel.

It’s an elite plane, with only about 150 flying. At least nine G-IVs are on the market, according to confidential listings supplied by Southern California industry sources, far more than the one to two planes that are typically for sale. Informally, industry sources say, at least three to four more G-IVs are for sale but are unlisted.

Two planes are being offered by liquor maker Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, with an asking price of $21.9 million each. Carl H. Lindner, the financier and Hollywood cartoon mogul, is asking $19.9 million for the plane owned by his Great American Insurance in Cincinnati.

No price is listed for planes belonging to General Electric Capital and US West, the Colorado-based telephone company. Prospective buyers instead are invited to make offers.

Bad Spell for Voodoo Doers

It was President Bush, of course, who coined the term “voodoo economics” when criticizing Ronald Reagan’s policies during the 1980 Republican primaries.

So how are the economics of voodoo now that the nation is in a recession?

Not good, according to Voodoo Master, a Los Angeles practitioner who is offering “Powerful Love, Money and Protection Spells.” “This business is very bad, and this guy is thinking about wrapping it up,” he said.

A Caribbean native who says he was trained in England, Voodoo Master says it’s hard enough overcoming Hollywood-style stereotypes that portray voodoo as a dangerous cult. (He compares what he does to the kind of services psychics offer).

In any event, the bad spell that the economy is under has made business worse. People who normally might come see him out of curiosity, he says, don’t want to spend the money.

Briefly . . .

Montgomery Securities in San Francisco is sending to East Coast money managers, who will be in Newport Beach this month for a conference, a “Southern California Real Estate Tour” map so they can drive around and “kick the tires” of the area’s much-maligned commercial and residential real estate markets . . . A Glendale firm charges half price to families of soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War when cleaning drains and sewage lines.