Billionaire Boom

[imoldernu]

Interesting article that says the United States, no longer has a corner on the number of Billionaires in the world.

The Number of Billionaires Is Growing Across the Planet, as Global Inequality Spreads | Alternet

Quote:

After our initial gawking at the extravagance of this year’s list of 1,426, we looked closer. This list reveals the major power shift in the world today: the decline of the West and the rise of the rest. Gone are the days when U.S. billionaires accounted for over 40 percent of the list, with Western Europe and Japan making up most of the rest. Today, the Asia-Pacific region hosts 386 billionaires, 20 more than all of Europe and Russia combined.

Gonna check my family tree to see if I have any relatives who might have made the list.

[braumeister]

You made me think about the early 1970s when I suddenly realized I was a thousandaire. I was both euphoric that I had made the big time, and simultaneously terrified that I would blow it. So I compromised and used my wealth to buy 100 shares of a utility stock. So began my journey to ER. Not nearly as good as some here, but I had always planned to retire at 55 and actually did it at 55.4 so that was close enough.

[mickeyd]

Once again I have failed to make that list.

[veremchuka]

I'm getting there, all I need is another $999,300,000 give or take a few bucks. Move over Warren and Bill here I come.

[traineeinvestor]

Thanks for posting but it was a grossly misleading political article:

• the rise in the number of billionaires outside the US/Europe/Japan is not evidence of a "decline in the west" - the number of billionaires in US/Europe/Japan has been growing. (If they had talked about relative economic power they might have been able to make a case but they weren't.)
• the rise in the number of billionaires in various Asian countries has gone hand in hand with economic progress that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into the middle class - to harp on about inequality being a problem in this context is ridiculous at best

Of course, it was a given that this was a political article when clicking on the link gets you a pop up ad asking you to support a named politician. I should have stopped reading then.

[NW-Bound]

Hmm...

I wonder if we asked the Chinese and Russian if they wanted to go back to the old days with Mao Zedong and Stalin, what they would say. Not much wealth disparity then, as everybody was hungry. Except for the cadre, of course.

[harley]

I'm pretty sure I was a billionaire when I was in Italy in the mid 80s. In Lira, anyway.