Rich List hit by Economic Crisis

Rich List hit by Economic Crisis

news.bbc.co.uk

The financial crisis is taking its toll on the world's richest people, wiping 332 names off the Forbes Magazine's 'rich list' of world billionaires.

Just 793 people can now lay claim to a place on the list, but on average they have lost 23% of their wealth.

The stock market collapse helped Microsoft founder Bill Gates regain the top spot, despite his wealth declining $18bn (£13.06bn) to $40bn.

He ousted investor Warren Buffet whose fortune declined by $25bn to $37bn.

(visit the link for the full news article)

While you wipe those tears away, let me quickly add a little happiness:

...But the credit crunch did prove to be a boon for some names on the rich list, with nine out of the top 20 boosting their fortunes from discount retailing.

Japan's Tadashi Yanai, founder of budget retailer Uniqlo, was one of the few newcomers to the 2009 list entering it at number 76 with a net worth of $6bn...

Doesn't that give you a warm feeling inside? Mind you I expect Tadishi will still suffer from a touch of inferiority and lack of self-worth till he nudges inside that top 50.

That aside, these folks have lost fortunes part of which would likely have been reinvested in ways that would have driven numerous national economies forward. This news therefore not only reflects the severity of the ongoing crisis, but also bodes ill for the future.

What do you make of it?




news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 11/3/09 by pause4thought]

It's just money. It's not real.

This is generally what I think about it. It's mind control. A spell.

I wonder just how much of a hand Forbes Magazine had in helping spur the machinations of runaway capitalism upon this planet...

It's just imaginary wealth that they won't be bringing with themselves, or themselves, for that matter, into the afterlife.

All those millionaires and billionaires stepping on people's heads climbing over each other trying to get to the top in the pyramid of people

I can't wait for the time when all money is worthless, and these people end up as someones dinner

[edit on 11-3-2009 by star in a jar]

reply to post by Zepherian

It's just money. It's not real.

This is generally what I think about it. It's mind control. A spell.

There's certainly more to life. But when this amount of money goes down the drain so do countless jobs. (Or would you say work is also an illusion?)

None of them really lost money.
They are lying to claim tax credits for previous years profits.
They just transfer it to each other.

I think I'm seeing the same narrow minded ignorance being directed at these billionares as has been directed at the USA of late. It's a special type of ignorance which almost borders on flat out stupidity on the part of the "haters."

Just like those who are cheering for the demise of America while using "the poor nations" as their rationale (ie: The "America sucks because we're consumers in a world where poverty exists" crowd) fail to recognize that despite all of our excesses as a nation, Americans are still the largest source of aid to the third world and without us those folks are just SOL. Those same fools target their babblings and froth at the wealthy of the world, failing to recognize how many of them are extraordinarily philanthropic and generous with their resources. Combine their losses from the recession with the chief idiot's removal of many tax breaks for charitable giving, and we're looking at a hell of a lot of pain on the way for the world's impoverished... All while a handfull of buffoons rejoice over a few billionares shedding a quarter of their wealth.

Directly to the OP: what happened to the Mexican TV mogul who had supplanted Gates a couple years back?

Lose countless jobs? Why? Do you need a billionaire holding your hand for you to work?

Work is not an illusion, what is an illusion is the idea it needs a central authority figure to get done. Or that it has to be owned by someone other than the person doing it. Besides, if you look at the economy and what it is doing to this planet losing those jobs is probably not a bad thing, although some of the worse jobs out there are done by big governments, and those survive the crisis.

There is too much work being asked of us for our technological and social development, it's being used to tire us down, to keep us from the big picture of things. It's also being used to prop up the NWO, which is neoslavery. Remember money is not real and that is what most people are getting out of their jobs. Banks make the money up and people line up for it. A lot of them have less at the end of their life with this system than if they occupied land and built their own houses from scratch. Think about it, a lifetime is more than enough time to learn all the technology needed and to do it. And they would be healthier and more in tune with natural rythms, none of this nightshift crap, for an example.

People need to realise the value of their own work and do it for themselves. Be less compartmentalized. A lot of the people working today have no idea how their work fits in the bigger picture, and this ends up hurting all of us.

We, as a species, would be better off with less work, more focused work.

And yes, I know we don't have the culture or economics for it. I'm just pointing out that we lost a lot when we moved up from village to town, although of course elitist history will paint the village as peasants and the town folk as civilized, I suspect it's the other way round...

reply to post by burdman30ott6


A robust challenge you put out there.

Directly to the OP: what happened to the Mexican TV mogul who had supplanted Gates a couple years back?

Interesting question. Here's what happened 2 years ago:

Gates no longer World's Richest Man

If you scroll down the page in the OP link you'll see it now goes:

Gates

Buffet

Helu & Family

'Family'? He's pretty open about his connexions, don't you think?


reply to post by Zepherian


I hear you now.

(You have to admit the financiers/entrepreneurs do, in reality, keep a lot of folks in work, though.)

What do I think of it? Wealth destruction is never a good thing. Even if you're jealous of Mr. Billionaire, his money still finds its way into the commercial banking system where it is used to provide loans to you, me and everyone else. Not only will Mr. Billionaire be less likely to hire employees in that type of environment, but smaller businesses that need debt financing to expand (or even continue to operate) may be unable to do so as the credit markets dry up.

The end result? When Mr. Billionaire loses money, other people often lose their jobs.