140 MILLION lower "class" people's income COMBINED = the 2 wealthiest Americans.

[in_cog_ni_to]

I heard this on Washington Journal yesterday.

The 2 wealthiest people in this country have as much money between them as the lowest 140 MILLION income earners COMBINED! Discuss? :(

[Joanne98]

1. Isn't that sick!

[charlie]

2. Can that be right?

If each of the 140 million have $1000 in income, that'd be $140 billion, which is more than Gates and Buffet (or whoever's at the top nowadays) have.

[Cerridwen]

3. Gates, 56 billion, Buffet, 52 billion *net worth*

per Forbes

Not sure what the *net worth* of the 140 million people is - presumably, this is very possible. You want to look at *net worth* versus *net worth* rather than compare *net worth* to *income*. Different ways to measure.

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. That's what the man on WJ said. I'm just repeating what I heard.

:(

[BB1]

52. What if those 140M have debt instead of assets?

Then I would be worth more than the aforementioned 140M, with only 5000 euros in the bank. (That's still going to be millions in dollars - just wait a few weeks...)

[Squatch]

4. Wow. Pretty incredible. Really speaks volumes as to the success

of these two entrepreneurs.

Maybe those other 140 million people could learn a thing or two.

[ret5hd]

5. So we need another 140 million monopolists or hedge fund managers?

[Squatch]

6. We need another 140 million over-achievers.

[Clark2008]

42. You do realize you can over-achieve and still not be rich.

My husband is constantly amazed at how little I earn given my talent level.

I've never been given a good opportunity - honestly.

[Cerridwen]

9. Like how to be born into the right family at the right time in the right place

and take advantage of it.

Yep, we could all learn a thing or two from those 2 guys.

So, how's your billions doing there, Squatch? You're one of those industrious types, too, right? So you gotta billion of 'em, right?

[Squatch]

11. I'm working on it every damned day.

I have it figured out: if I live to about 175 years old, I should break the $1,000,000,000 mark.

[Cerridwen]

12. Oh, so you're one of them thar 140 million under-achievers?

Geez, catch up! Work harder. You should be a billionaire by now. All it takes is hard work and frugal living, right?

edit: grammar

[Squatch]

16. I'm trying, man...I'm trying!

[Cerridwen]

21. So are the other 140 million. n/t

[Squatch]

22. Sweet! At least *they're* not decrying the success of those who make it.

[Cerridwen]

25. Nor are they disparaging those who don't. n/t

[Marrah_G]

13. These two weren't born rich

They are leaving most of their money to charity. I believe Buffet said his children are getting an extremely small percentage and I think he is the one who still lives in a relatively small house.

In June 2006, he made a commitment to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.<4> The donation amounts to approximately $30 billion. Buffett's donation is said to be the largest in U.S. history. At the time of the announcement the donation was enough to more than double the size of the foundation.

Despite his immense wealth, Buffett is renowned for his unpretentious and frugal lifestyle.<5> When he spent $9.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a corporate jet in 1989, he jokingly named it "The Indefensible" because of his past criticisms of such purchases by other CEOs.<2> He continues to live in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska that he bought in 1958 for $31,500<6> (although he also owned a more expensive home in Laguna Beach, California which he sold in 2004). The current estimated value for his Omaha house is around $700,000.<7>

His 2006 annual salary of about $100,000 <8> is tiny by the standards of senior executive remuneration in other comparable companies. CEOs in S&P 500 constituent companies averaged about $9 million compensation in 2003.<9> In 2007, Buffett was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.

[Squatch]

15. PLEASE...facts have no place in this thread.

I cast thee OUT, oh fact-bearing demon!

[Marrah_G]

24. Watch it Squatch- Don't make me turn you into a newt!

[sutz12]

44. Oh go ahead...he'll get better.

:rofl:

[Cerridwen]

17. I didn't say they were.

They weren't born poor either. Neither were they born to blue-collar working class families in some "low rent" neighborhood.

[Squatch]

19. I'm sorry, but aren't these your words:

"Like how to be born into the right family at the right time in the right place and take advantage of it.

Yep, we could all learn a thing or two from those 2 guys."

:shrug:

[Cerridwen]

23. Yes. Now define "right family, right place and right time".

I didn't. I left it to the reader.

Interesting how many think "right family" automatically equals wealth.

[charlie]

26. It's not implausible to say

that were it not for his mom's connections and boosterism, Microsoft would still be a seller of programming languages. Bill would be wealthy, but not Croesus wealthy.

[Cerridwen]

28. Yep. A little variable in the mix the poster I'm conversing with seems to

overlook. Not to mention his family was well off, he wasn't attending Harvard on a scholarship, and they were influential in other areas, as well.

Buffett, too, comes from a successful family with influence and connections.

[Squatch]

31. Ummm...how do I put this...

So? :shrug:

Anybody who does NOT exploit the beneficial aspects of the hands they've been dealt is a fool.

[Cerridwen]

32. So, you agree they had a good hand dealt them to start?

That was the point.

[Squatch]

33. No, I do not agree with that.

They were dealt a hand. Neither good nor bad. As is everybody born into this world.

What made them different, was their ability to develop that hand into wild personal success.

[Cerridwen]

36. Ah, I see now. You just meant "beneficial aspects" as a generic. Got it. n/t

[Squatch]

37. Sure...why the hell not? "Generic beneficial aspects"

Now, tell me how that changes my point?

[Cerridwen]

38. "neither good nor bad" then "generic beneficial aspects"

You've actually changed your own point from neutral to beneficial.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm one of those 140 million under achievers who has to head off to work to add to my net worth.

[Squatch]

40. "beneficial ASPECTS"

An ASPECT does not constitute the WHOLE.

Everybody is dealt a hand, that may or not be something other than "neutral".
Every hand has some beneficial ASPECTS.
An entrepreneur utilizes those beneficial aspects into realize personal success.

Your entire "argument" is based on a horrible misapplication of semantics.

[BadgerLaw2010]

14. Yeah, because Buffett and Gates really inherited their money *rolls eyes*

With the exeception of the worthless Walton heirs, people don't inherit their way onto the billionaires list. Just about everyone up there is largely or completely self-made.

[Cerridwen]

18. Nor did I say that.

All I said was they weren't born poor.

[dysfunctional press]

20. gates may not have inherited his wealth...

but if his mom hadn't been on the board at ibm, he never would have gotten the break he did either.

[izquierdista]

27. Self-made

Yes, they made it all by themselves without any help from underpaid programmers in India, underpaid GEICO phone solicitors, minimum wage janitors keeping their buildings clean, minimum wage cooks, maids, bellboys, and dishwashers at their hotels, low wage Asian software installers, and H1B visa holders who work for half the prevailing wage. Yes, I can see how they earned every penny of their wealth by their own hard work.

[BadgerLaw2010]

29. It's pointless to discuss capitalism with Che avatars. They made it themselves, live with it.

[Squatch]

30. ...

:spray:

LOL

[Marrah_G]

34. The avatars are helpful though

They clue me in on who will be future members of my ignore list.

[Cerridwen]

35. Yep, moms and pops and their influence, connections and financial security

had nothing to do with it. They went out and did it all on their own.

They lived off the land, shot and caught their own meals, grew their own crops and sewed themselves up their own homespun suits as they fought their way through the jungle known as American Entrepreneurial-ism. Without access to any education they taught themselves how to read a balance sheet and how to market their products, made with their own two, bare hands.

Two, truly self-made men.

But, it's okay, they'll give it all back as charity after they leave this mortal coil.

[izquierdista]

39. Since you really believe that

I've got a job for you and I will be willing to pay you the princely sum of 100 Rupees a day.

[Ian David]

8. We need a "Financial Death Penalty" in this country for corporate crooks.

If you are I are caught with marijuana in our homes, the government can seize all our property.

If the CEO of a company like Enron is convicted of major financial crimes, then shouldn't the government seize all of his property and assets?

Imagine if one of the 19 wealthiest Americans were convicted of Insider Trading, Price Fixing, or some serious fraud, and then all their wealth were seized and given back to The People.

[brazos121200]

10. I've heard that the wealthiest 10%

of Americans control 90% of the wealth. That means the other 90% of Americans have to make do with just 10% of the country's wealth. It hasn't always been like that.

[Horse with no Name]

41. All the wealth concentrated at the top

worked out well for Mexico.
It is too bad that so many refuse to see the parallels between our two countries.
Right now, one of the only things that separates us is the fact that the wealthy haven't figured out how to take Social Security, Medicare and unemployment away.
When they finally do that...the countries will be mirror images of each other.

[sutz12]

45. Don't forget the single party rule thing.

The Neo-cons have been working on that one, too. Have nearly succeeded, prior to 2k6 election cycle. Hopefully that continues in 2k8.

[Junkdrawer]

43. Are Gates and Buffet *really* the wealthiest Americans...

or are they the wealthiest Americans whose wealth is somewhat known?

[charlie]

47. Good question

As an example, last I saw, the Mars candy company is still privately owned. The family members are likely billionaires, but the extent of their wealth can't be known with certainty.

[Junkdrawer]

49. The names Rockefeller, Mellon, and Scaife come to mind. n/t

[charlie]

50. Details of RM Scaife's wealth are coming out in his divorce fight

It turns out (hardly a surprise) that he's purely a trust fund baby. He hasn't done a single thing in his benighted life that can be construed as generating revenue beyond the $45 million a year he receives from the family trust.

[Tyler Durden]

46. The stuff of which Revolutions are made.

Every time the wealthy decide they want it ALL instead of just most of it....

My favorite saying is, if you behave like a Romanov long enough, someone will invent the equivalent of Bolsheviks, Appoint a Lenin, then SHOOT YOU and YOUR WHOLE FAMILY AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS.

The TRICK is not being ID'd with the Romanovs.

This is one of the cyclical features of history. Remember? Nothing new under the sun?

This is the Karmic Price for playing "King of the Hill."

[baldguy]

48. And which group pays more tax dollars?

[Bonobo]

51. Man, those guys worked hard!!! Kudos to them!! They deserve it!!