Mapping the world's billionaires

The world’s billionaires increasingly hail from nearly all corners of the globe. This year we pinned down a record number of 10-figure fortunes in 64 spots including the first ever in Angola, Nepal, Swaziland and Vietnam. Yet there are still some countries that have a much higher number of billionaires than others. The U.S. has led the way since we started our wealth tracking 27 years ago.

Yahoo! Finance Article
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According to this official Forbes list, there are approximately 1,426 billionaires with a combined wealth of about $5,431,810,000,000! (5 trillion, 431 billion, 810 million dollars).

Do you believe this is a relatively accurate representation of the world's richest individuals/families, or would the true picture be much more frightening?

reply to post by Dark Ghost


the question hardly needs to be asked
we all know the answer and that is that this is just the tip of the iceberg
regardless of actual dollar values (which in fact are likely to be much much higher in reality) it is extremely difficult to put a value on the influence that kind of money can buy .....every penny counts.... whether you spend them or not

I don't know if it's accurate or just the tip of the iceberg. It may very well be the measurable amount that is being held by them but may not include other things that they may be doing with this wealth and the power that it can wield. There are an estimated $800 trillion in derivatives at this point in time. I don't think it would be much of a stretch to assume that these billionaires are mostly likely in control of large segments of the world's resources whether it be mineral, food, land, or heck, even information could be considered a resource really. Put into that kind of context with the $800 trillion guestimate in derivatives, then that means that although the fair value of their wealth may be only $5 trillion, they are most likely behind or responsible for a good segment of that $800 trillion in power. Derivatives can be used to do many things from locking in prices on a resource or stock or arbitrage on markets. I would say that the actual monetary power that they wield is probably somewhere between that $5 trillion and that $800 trillion.