Only billionaires occupy Forbes 400 list

[osidak]

hey for some reason I am not seeing my name.......

[Jim Richards]

ditto. whassup with that?

[URY914]

Damn, I'm #401.

[pwd72s]

Hey, millions don't go as far as they used to...

[cegerer]

Hmmmm ....

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/7XUE.html

[Porsche]

Originally posted by cegerer
Hmmmm ....

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/7XUE.html

Mmm... unfortunate name... but then he's richer than everyone I know combined.

[epbrown]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Hey, millions don't go as far as they used to...

Seriously - the first time I read the list (back in the 80s), the lowest person was worth $250 mil, and Oprah was near the bottom! There was a great letter from Sam Walton complaining about being "outed" - at the time, few people knew who he was, or that he was a billionaire, since he always lived modestly (drove an old pickup at the time); after the previous year's list he'd been harassed endlessly by people with their hands out.

[carnutzzz]

Originally posted by procon
Evidence the gap is widening between the have's & the have not's?

Yeah but shouldn't it?

Take the Cox sisters for instance (who I happen to work for)- they enjoy family money that is protected/invested and grows throughout the years. Of course it's going to climb. The older the money, the bigger the money.

Don't forget you're only looking at the uber-wealthy here. And besides- in Atlanta the poor people sure have some shiny rims on their cars- so they must be doing pretty well too- thus closing the gap. ;-)

[gaijindabe]

Not all of them inherited it. Not by a long shot. Most of these folks started or grew something significant. Drivers of employment and productivity growth across the economy.

Note how the Forbes 400 (richest individuals) does not match the Fortune 400 (top 400 companies).

If we ever waited on GM, Ford, GE and Exxon to grow this economy and create jobs - it would not be happening..

[RickM]

I saw The Starbucks founder last night on Donnie Deutsch and he seemed to be a very genuine, down to earth gentleman. Was very refreshing to hear his take on things.

[competentone]

I think in the name of "fairness" Forbes should have the "bottom 400 list" too.

Find the 400 people who have the largest negative net worth (the largest debt) and give them a little recognition!

[jkarolyi]

About the Billionaires, good for them. Capitalism is working as its supposed to. Look at most American's standard of living compared to even the "ideal" 1950s! Two plus cars (not one), record setting sales in the past 5 years of luxury vehicles and SUVs to middle class, houses twice the size with three bathrooms instead of one. Even the poorest Americans drive cars and almost all have indoor plumbing and electricity.

Kudos to all the "greedy" billionaires and large corportations for their part in helping capitalism work for all of us, and make us the economic envy of all the world. God Bless America.

[hytem]

No wonder the middle class is shrinking.

[tabs]

Lets see now if yu have $50,000,000,000 and you buy a house or run for President of the USA for $100,000,000.....YOu still have $49,900,000,000 left....at 5% interest your back to your $50B in 6 months... life is tough, I just don't know how these folks make it on that kind of money....

[on-ramp]

Originally posted by tabs
Lets see now if yu have $50,000,000,000 and you buy a house or run for President of the USA for $100,000,000.....YOu still have $49,900,000,000 left....at 5% interest your back to your $50B in 6 months... life is tough, I just don't know how these folks make it on that kind of money....

exactly. 1 Billion dollars is an insane amount of money.

In fact, it is 999 Million Dollars plus 1 Million Dollars....