“Good morning. It is a warm sunny day today,” I heard first
thing this morning.
I looked out the window but saw only dense fog, and snow.
A row of bright red triangular weather alert symbols lit up
the top row of my smart phone. If only it were always that easy to tell fact
from news and social media fiction.
Forbes publishes a list of the 100 wealthiest Americans. The
list and chart are at the end of this post.
Wal-Mart owners and family members are numbers 8, 9, 10, 11,
82, 83 & 100. Seven of the 100, nearly a tenth are Wal-Mart owners. Their
combined net worth of $120 billion is 600,000 times greater than an annual
salary of $20,000, which is still higher than the federal minimum annual wage
$15,080 per year ($7.25 times 2080 hours).
The Koch brothers, with $62 billion, are in 6th
and 7th place and worth about half of the Wal-Mart family. Even so
their wealth would support 300,000 employees earning $20,000 per year for a
year. Yet their diverse mixture of companies benefit from tax and oil subsidies,
and government contracts, even while they campaign against “entitlements”.
Staunch libertarians, they spent millions to support the Republican Party
during the 2012 election. The Cato Institute, which the Koch brothers, cofounded was the first major libertarian
think tank. The Washington based Institute’s 120 employees are devoted to
promoting property rights, educational choice, and economic freedom. In 1978
the Koch brothers “helped found–and still fund–George Mason University’s
Mercatus Center, the go-to academy for deregulation; they have funded the
Federalist Society, which shapes conservative judicial thinking; the pro-market
Heritage Foundation; a California-based center skeptical of human-driven
climate change; and many other institutions.”
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/10/819541/charles-koch-wsj/?mobile=nc
and Forbes Magazine’s online edition.
Nineteen of the wealthiest built their financial empire
through hedge funds and investing. Hedge funds are high risk investment
strategies using leverage (investors borrow the money to buy the funds),
short-selling, and other speculative practices. They are not subject to some of
the government regulations designed to protect investors, do not always have to
register or file public reports with the SEC. http://www.sec.gov/answers/hedge.htm.
The total wealth of the top 100 wealthiest Americans is $1.3
trillion, or nearly equal to 1/16 of the national debt of $16 trillion. This, in
my mind, puts a completely different perspective on the debt than the fear
inducing warnings the media sends about the gargantuan size of American debt.
Yes, the debt is larger than ever, but so is U.S. wealth.
A mere 100 people in the U.S. hold $1.3 trillion and control
way too many of America’s paychecks.
Tell me, if you can, how it is that a person who gambles using
hedge funds is worth more than the person who cleans that speculator’s floors,
produces the goods sold, and handles the administrative tasks that come with
running a business.
When a typical American citizen begins stockpiling food;
collects more items than can be used in a lifetime, we label that person “a
hoarder,” someone with a mental illness (the view from my window). When a
billionaire, however, stockpiles more automobiles, jets, property, houses, and
yachts than can be used in a lifetime, that person is a tribute to capitalism
at its finest and lauded as a success (the view of those who see only sunshine).
When a typical American depends on Social Security income
(to which they contributed through years of deductions from their annual
salary), assistance through the food stamp, now SNAP program, takes advantage
of heating assistance or other governmental help, we say they are dependent on
entitlements (the view from my window). When the Wal-Mart family members, Koch
brothers and other billionaires, however, grab tax and oil subsidies, economic
development grants, bailouts, and government contracts, we quickly drop the
word “entitlement” and increase the tax rate on the middle class to support
their greed (the view of those who see only sunshine).
Now I know that net worth is not the same as annual salary.
Not all money is liquid, or easily accessed. But using such arguments to
discredit the points in this article is mere quibbling. The point remains the
same.
Those flying across the world in their jets, entertaining in
spatial mansions homes, and manning their yachts have far more than one who
works long workweeks to support that billionaire’s unsustainable lifestyle. And
that lifestyle is unsustainable. Sure their excess may last through a lifetime,
maybe even through their children’s lifetime. Eventually, however, history
clearly shows that the well of resources needed to support their lifestyle will
run dry, or the people will wake up and revolt.
50 Wealthiest Americans
|
|||
Name
|
Billion
|
Company/Business
|
|
Bill Gates
|
$
66.0
|
Microsoft
|
|
Warren Buffett
|
$
46.0
|
Bershire Hathawa
|
|
Larry Ellison
|
$
41.0
|
Oracle
|
|
Charles Koch
|
$
31.0
|
Diversified
|
|
David Koch
|
$
31.0
|
Diversified
|
|
Christy Walton &
family |
$
27.9
|
Wal-Mart
|
|
Jim Walton
|
$
26.8
|
Wal-Mart
|
|
Alice Walton
|
$
26.3
|
Wal-Mart
|
|
Robson Walton
|
$
26.1
|
Wal-Mart
|
|
Michael Bloomberg
|
$
25.8
|
Bloomberg LP
|
|
Jeff Bezos
|
$
23.2
|
Amazon.com
|
|
Sergey Brin
|
$
20.3
|
Google
|
|
Larry Page
|
$
20.3
|
Google
|
|
George Soros
|
$
19.0
|
hedge funds
|
|
Forrest Mars, Jr.
|
$
17.0
|
candy
|
|
Jacqueline Mars
|
$
17.0
|
candy
|
|
John Mars
|
$
17.0
|
candy
|
|
Steve Ballmer
|
$
15.9
|
Microsoft
|
|
Paul Allen
|
$
15.0
|
Microsoft
|
|
Carl Icahn
|
$
14.8
|
leveraged buyouts
|
|
Micchael Dell
|
$
14.6
|
Dell
|
|
Phil Knight
|
$
13.1
|
Nike
|
|
Donald Bren
|
$
13.0
|
real estate
|
|
Len Blavatnik
|
$
12.5
|
Diversified
|
|
Ronald Perelma
|
$
12.0
|
leveraged buyouts
|
|
Abigail Johnson
|
$
11.8
|
money management
|
|
John Paulson
|
$
11.0
|
hedge funds
|
|
Laurene Powell Jobs
& family |
$
11.0
|
Apple, Disney
|
|
james Simmons
|
$
11.0
|
hedge funds
|
|
Jack Taylor &
family |
$
11.0
|
Enterprise Rent-a-Car
|
|
Anne Cos Chambers
|
$
10.7
|
media
|
|
Ray Dalio
|
$
10.0
|
hedge funds
|
|
George Kaiser
|
$
10.0
|
oil, gas & banking
|
|
Harold Hamm
|
$
9.7
|
oil & gas
|
|
Richard Kinder
|
$
9.4
|
pipelines
|
|
Rupert Murdoch
|
$
9.4
|
News Corp
|
|
Mark Zuckerberg
|
$
9.4
|
Facebook
|
|
Charles Ergen
|
$
9.0
|
EchoStar
|
|
Steve Cohen
|
$
8.8
|
hedge funds
|
|
Andrew Beal
|
$
8.4
|
banks, real estate
|
|
Pierre Omidyar
|
$
8.2
|
Ebay
|
|
Leonard Lauder
|
$
7.7
|
Estee Lauder
|
|
Philip Anschutz
|
$
7.6
|
investments
|
|
Eric Schmidt
|
$
7.5
|
Google
|
|
Samuel Newhouse, Jr.
|
$
7.4
|
Conde Nast
|
|
James Goodnight
|
$
7.3
|
software
|
|
Patrick Soon-Shion
|
$
7.3
|
pharmaceuticals
|
|
Harold Simmons
|
$
7.1
|
investments
|
|
Charles Buffet
|
$
6.9
|
supermarkets
|
|
Donald Newhouse
|
$
6.6
|
Conde Nast
|
|
Edward Johnson, III
|
$
6.5
|
Fidelity
|
|
Ralph Lauren
|
$
6.5
|
Ralph Lauren
|
|
Ira Rennert
|
$
6.5
|
investments
|
|
Eli Broad
|
$
6.3
|
investments
|
|
John Menard Jr.
|
$ 6.0
|
retail
|
|
David Geffen
|
$
5.6
|
movies, music
|
|
John Malone
|
$
5.6
|
cable television
|
|
Jeffrey Hildebrand
|
$
5.5
|
oil
|
|
David Tepper
|
$
5.5
|
hedge funds
|
|
Jim Kennedy
|
$
5.4
|
media
|
|
Blair Parry-Okeden
|
$
5.4
|
media
|
|
Ray Lee Hunt
|
$
5.2
|
oil, real estate
|
|
Richard LeFrak &
family |
$
5.2
|
real estate
|
|
Stephen Schwarzman
|
$
5.2
|
private equity
|
|
Dennis Washington
|
$
5.2
|
construction, mining
|
|
Richard DeVos
|
$
5.1
|
Amway
|
|
Micky Arison
|
$
5.0
|
Carnival Cruises
|
|
Hank & Doug Meijer
|
$
4.9
|
supermarkets
|
|
Robert Rowling
|
$
4.9
|
investments
|
|
Gordon Moore
|
$
4.8
|
Intel
|
|
Dannine Avara
|
$
4.7
|
pipelines
|
|
Scott Duncan
|
$
4.7
|
pipelines
|
|
Milane Frantz
|
$
4.7
|
pipelines
|
|
Charles Johnson
|
$
4.7
|
money management
|
|
Randa Williams
|
$
4.7
|
pipelines
|
|
Rupert Johnson, Jr.
|
$
4.6
|
money management
|
|
Thomas Peterfly
|
$
4.6
|
discount brokerage
|
|
Jim Sook &
Do Won Chang |
$
4.5
|
Forever 21
|
|
David Green
|
$
4.5
|
retail
|
|
Ann Walton Kroenke
|
$
4.5
|
Wal-Mart
|
|
Trevor Rees-Jones
|
$
4.5
|
Wal-Mart
|
|
Leslie Wexner
|
$
4.4
|
retail
|
|
Bruce Kovner
|
$
4.3
|
hedge funds
|
|
Daniel Ziff
|
$
4.3
|
investments
|
|
Dirk Ziff
|
$
4.3
|
investments
|
|
Robert Ziff
|
$
4.3
|
investments
|
|
S. Truett Cathy
|
$
4.2
|
Chick-fil-A
|
|
Leonard Stern
|
$
4.2
|
real estate
|
|
Sumner Redstone
|
$
4.1
|
Vicacom
|
|
John Paul DeJoria
|
$
4.0
|
hair products, tequila
|
|
Thomas Frist, Jr.
& family |
$
4.0
|
health care
|
|
Barbara Carlson Gage
|
$
4.0
|
hotels, restaurants
|
|
Bruce Halle
|
$
4.0
|
Discount tire
|
|
William Koch
|
$
4.0
|
oil, investments
|
|
Henry Kravis
|
$
4.0
|
leveraged buyouts
|
|
Stanley Kroenke
|
$
4.0
|
sports, real estate
|
|
Marilyn Carlson Nelson
|
$
4.0
|
hotels, restaurants
|
|
Nancy Walton Laurie
|
$
3.9
|
Wal-Mart
|
|
TOTAL
|
1.05 Trillion
|
||
Data retrieved 24Dec12
from http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/list/
|
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