NEWS: 2004: A Good Year for the $uper Rich

The Forbes 400 Report lists 11 billionaires who saw their publicly-disclosed fortunes soar in 2004. Sheldon Adelson, gambling magnate and owner of the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, increased his net worth by 750% from $1.8 billion to $15.3 billion. Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page got richer by 600%, going from a net worth of $1 billion to $7 billion.




Of course, the billionaires on the Fortune 400 list are not the world's richest people - they're the "poor rich" - the ones who aren't rich enough to hide their assets. As we all know, the real money hides in Switzerland, the Cayman's and in the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), which was incorporated just before WWII by a small group of English, German, Japanese and American businessmen to finance the Allies and the Axis.

More important, Forbes' focus on individuals distracts peoples' attention from corporate wealth. In contrast to the Forbes 400, the report "Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power" has a different focus:

www.ips-dc.org...

* Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations while only 49 are countries;

* The world's top 200 corporations account for over a quarter of economic activity on the globe while employing less than one percent of its workforce.

* Between 1983 and 1999, the profits of the Top 200 firms grew 362.4 percent, while the number of people they employ grew by only 14.4 percent.

* A full 5 percent of the Top 200s' combined workforce is employed by Wal-Mart, a company notorious for union-busting and widespread use of part-time workers to avoid paying benefits.

* U.S. corporations dominate the Top 200, with 82 slots (41 percent of the total). Japanese firms are second, with only 41 slots.

* Of the U.S.corporations on the list, 44 did not pay the full standard 35 percent federal corporate tax rate during the period 1996-1998. Seven of the firms (including the world's largest, General Motors) actually paid less than zero in federal income taxes in 1998 (because of rebates).

While the rich get richer and the corporate NWO slides home, American children and the elderly are hit hard.

Sick and Uninsured Americans:

April14, 2004. “43.6 Million and Counting: What Can Be Done About the Uninsured?”
www.med.unc.edu...

"...The Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 uninsured Americans die needlessly each year because they can't afford to see a doctor when they're sick. ...the uninsured often pay more for medical care than the insured."
www.pbs.org...

Getting Less Care: The Uninsured with Chronic Health Conditions. February 2001
www.familiesusa.org...

Families USA
www.familiesusa.org...

American Homelessness:

A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs are the primary causes of homelessness. The growing gap between the number of affordable housing units and the number of people needing them has created a housing crisis for poor people. ...recently, rents have soared, putting housing out of reach for the poorest Americans.
www.nationalhomeless.org...

Approximately 33% of homeless men are veterans, although veterans comprise only 23% of the general adult male population. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that on any given night, 299,321 veterans are homeless (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, 2003).
www.nationalhomeless.org...

In most cases, homelessness is a temporary circumstance -- not a permanent condition. A more appropriate measure of the magnitude of homelessness is therefore the number of people who experience homelessness over time, not the number of "homeless people." ...the best approximation is from an Urban Institute study which states that about 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year (Urban Institute 2000).
www.nationalhomeless.org...

Facts about Homelessness
www.nationalhomeless.org...

Report: Illegal to be Homeless: The Criminalization of Homelessness in the United States, Embargoed Until 11 a.m. EST, Tuesday, November 9, 2004, after the national election.

...the most comprehensive study of homeless civil rights violations. This study is also the most up-to-date survey of current laws that criminalize homeless people and ranks the top "meanest" cities and states in the country. This report examines legislated ordinances and statutes, as well as law enforcement and community practices since August of 2003.
www.nationalhomeless.org...

American Hunger:

Domestic Hunger & Poverty Facts
Hunger persists in the U.S.
* 36.3 million people—including 13 million children—live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents more than one in ten households in the United States (11.2 percent). This is an increase of 1.4 million, from 34.9, million in 2002. 1
* 3.5 percent of U.S. households experience hunger. Some people in these households frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. 9.6 million people, including 3 million children, live in these homes.1
* 7.7 percent of U.S. households are at risk of hunger. Members of these households have lower quality diets or must resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food they need. 26.6 million people, including 10.3 million children, live in these homes. 1
* Research shows that preschool and school-aged children who experience severe hunger have higher levels of chronic illness, anxiety and depression, and behavior problems than children with no hunger. 2
www.bread.org...

"Rumph, 54, is part of the local population of older residents who depend on emergency food services.
...“I’ve had no income for over a year,” he said. “I can’t do nothing no more. I’m suppose to take four inhalers. I’m waiting for them to start my disability before I kick the bucket.”
According to Shared Harvest Foodbank in Fairfield, the elderly, aged 60 and older, make up 11 percent of people who seek food at pantries in Butler County. However, 32 percent of the elderly are hungry in Southwest Ohio, said Tina Osso, founder and executive director of Shared Harvest.
"Foodbanks' older clientele to rise"
www.journal-news.com/news/content/ news/stories/2004/12/19/HJN1219HUNGER.html

It's not hard to dumb down sick, hungry poor people - or to take away their civil rights or voting rights, or to dismantle their democracy. They're too sick and hungry to notice, and too tired to care.


[edit on 12-1-2005 by Banshee]

Kudos Soficrow - this is excellent! Thanks for all the supplementary research and info you provided

Really depressing information, however.

It's not hard to dumb down sick, hungry poor people - or to take away their civil rights or voting rights, or to dismantle their democracy. They're too sick and hungry to notice, and too tired to care.

Very well said. Nice work.

Fantastic, Soficrow. I notice the right wingers have nothing to say here.

Keep up the good work

Originally posted by dgtempe
Fantastic, Soficrow. I notice the right wingers have nothing to say here.

Keep up the good work

I guess perhaps because most of them fall in the "$super rich" cathegory.

Will you bite the hand to feed you? or that makes you richer

Originally posted by yellocake
Really depressing information, however.

hey yellocake - don't depress - the first step to solving a problem is recognizing that it exists.



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