Number of billionaires surges

[Ernesto]

Apparently, chimp's real agenda is being realized...........

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The number of billionaires surged this year, as did their collective pile of cash, according to Forbes magazine's annual billionaire list.


http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/news/newsmakers/billionaires_forbes/index.htm?cnn=yes

[aquart]

1. These people are insufficiently taxed.

[Warpy]

12. So they are

but good luck telling one of the great unwashed out there who think a 25% flat tax sounds like a fair tax. Don't tell the fools who think a 25% sales tax (which falls on spenders, not hoarders) is a great idea. And for heaven's sake don't try to tell the Randorrhoids and other Libertarian saps who honestly think their superior brains make striking it rich inevitable that it's a good idea.

If ever there was an argument for a confiscatory top income tax rate, it's the growth of billionaires among top management of Fortune 500 companies.

[bullimiami]

2. number of desperately poor surges even more.

for every new billionaire there must be a hoard of new exploited.

[0007]

23. There are close to 800,000 homeless persons in this country.

[KansDem]

3. OK! I'm waitin'...I'm waitin...Hurry up and trickle on me!!!

You got the T-bone steak, now give us the bone!

:silly:

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

5. You Must Mean Tinkle.....Not Trickle

It's called Tinkle Down. The guys at the top basically Piss all over you, until you're drowning. Much like the people in New Orleans.

[wordpix2]

30. LOL, good one

[NanceGreggs]

4. And if you look at the numbers of those who have fallen behind ...

... financially, or who have slipped below the poverty level in the same period of time, it's blatantly obvious where those 'new billionaires' got their money - right out of the pockets of their fellow citizens.

Alas, these days TREASON comes in many forms ...

[AndyA]

6. George Bush is Robin Hood in reverse

Steal from the poor and give to the rich.

Bush and his Merry Band of Thieves spelled any other way is T R E A S O N .

[Megahurtz]

21. kick n/t

[kineneb]

7. ...meanwhile...number of homeless surges...n/t

[wakeme2008]

8. Walmart

:grr:
17 Christy Walton United States Wyoming 15.9 Wal-Mart inheritance 51
17 Jim Walton United States Arkansas 15.9 Wal-Mart 58
19 S Robson Walton United States Arkansas 15.8 Wal-Mart 62
20 Alice Walton United States Texas 15.7 Wal-Mart 56
21 Helen Walton United States Arkansas 15.6 Wal-Mart 86

[entanglement]

26. Walton crime family pile: a cool $80 billion

Though they've lost a few billion this year and slipped in the rankings :nopity: :nopity:

[Jamison]

27. Proof boycotting Wal-Mart can work!

All the negative press WM is getting is obviously hurting them. Myself, and a lot of people here on DU refuse to ever give Wal-Mart a dime of their money. Afterall they say the worst way to hurt a rich person is to hit 'em in the pocketbook.

[wordpix2]

31. god forbid they should pay a penny above min. wage, much less health ben's

[donkeyotay]

35. Skimmed off the top. The Republican Contract on America

brainwashed people into thinking they were competing in a global economy. Imagine how cheap Chinese goods would have been if the Republican crime family wasn't skimming off the benefits of outsourcing. In the classic GOP twofer, they can also afford K-Street lobbyists to buy your representatives in congress. Ain't America great? Were going back to the good old robber barron days. The rich fuckers and the privatized military got together to screw people around the world over. Our overlords - Bush's base, the Haves and the Have Mores.

Outsource the CEOs. Hell, outsource Congress.

[livvy]

9. From a Feb. 27th Op-ed by Krugman.....

Graduates Versus Oligarchs
Paul Krugman
Feb 27, 2006
NYT


That's a fundamental misreading of what's happening to American society. What we're seeing isn't the rise of a fairly broad class of knowledge workers. Instead, we're seeing the rise of a narrow oligarchy: income and wealth are becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small, privileged elite.


So who are the winners from rising inequality? It's not the top 20 percent, or even the top 10 percent. The big gains have gone to a much smaller, much richer group than that.


But income at the 99th percentile rose 87 percent; income at the 99.9th percentile rose 181 percent; and income at the 99.99th percentile rose 497 percent. No, that's not a misprint.

Just to give you a sense of who we're talking about: the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that this year the 99th percentile will correspond to an income of $402,306, and the 99.9th percentile to an income of $1,672,726. The center doesn't give a number for the 99.99th percentile, but it's probably well over $6 million a year.

This is the link to the archives in Times Select
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C1EFF3D550C748EDDAB0894DE404482&n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fPaul%20Krugman

To read the entire article go to this site, scroll down to find the article, then click on the comments (12) below the title.
http://www.pkarchive.org/

[Semi_subversive]

10. Damn! I thought for sure I'd make the list this year!

[Wcross]

14. The first billion is always the hardest.....

I am on my way, I just have to get the other $999,999,999.00 and I will be on the list!

[Semi_subversive]

34. Wow! I've got you by a mile!

I checked my wallet and only have $999,999,980 to go.

[BootinUp]

11. Makes me ill. n/t

[Solly Mack]

13. What a relief! I was so worried Bush wouldn't be able to help

the rich get richer.

I can sleep well at night knowing these people are finally being taken care of by government. Goodness knows I have stayed awake nights, tossing and turning, with visions of deprived wealthy faces dancing across my brain. Oh, the humanity! But now I can rest comfortably.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. Not nearly as much as the hundredaires.

This country is pissing me off.

[lovelydem]

16. what i see

is a complete erosion of the middle class.. somehow my family members who make 35,000 a year have been completely brainwashed into thinking we have to look out for the CEO's b/c they are who creates jobs. You can't put an independent thought in their head.

[pitohui]

17. CEOS destroy jobs they don't create jobs

clearly your family doesn't work for an airline or a railroad or for a car manufacturing company or...for any industry, really

CEOs don't create jobs, they destroy jobs, part of the bottom line is to reduce labor costs, if they can't reduce labor costs, they're outta there

can people really be that stupid? i thought even the most clueless person knew since 1982 that any time unemployment goes up, the stock market goes up with it

hell half of my husband's work is programming factories so that more people can be laid off, a robot never asks for a sick day or for health insurance or for retirement benefits, a robot doesn't even need to sleep

[pitohui]

18. well this is fiction science fiction

i've seen other sources point out that there are more billionaires in mexico and russia than in usa, the difference is, the mexican billionaire is intelligent and doesn't allow his name to be placed on such lists

i doubt this list is even remotely in the category of accurate

[pro_blue_guy]

19. I wish I was a billionaire.....

[smirkymonkey]

20. Aren't revolutions usually started under similar circumstances?

"Let them eat cake..."

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

22. And why do walmart employees suffer soo much?

:grr:

[entanglement]

24. FTA: "Their total net worth jumped 18 percent to $2.6 trillion..."

n/t

[VegasWolf]

25. How many of those suckoff's over at Free Republic do you think are

new billionaires? Nada. They are just cannon fodder for the wealthy repukes.

[tanyev]

28. The upwards redistribution of wealth is proceeding exactly as planned.

[Canuckistanian]

29. But, but.. I never got a job from a poor person!

Those rich people will start handing out all those jobs any day now! Right? Right?

[wordpix2]

32. so this explains, "Tax cuts=increased revenue:" i.e. increase for richest

among us. Their revenues ARE increasing and thus, * can justify he isn't lying

[riona]

33. the chimp's one and only accomplishment