Richest Americans - 2008

[Larwee]

I have been fascinated with extremely wealthy people for as long as I can remember. A lot of other people share this fascination.

This is the third year in a row that I have started a thread about the richest Americans. I also did it in 2006 and 2007.

http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5...oot-breeze/3054-richest-americans-2006-a.html

http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5...oot-breeze/7561-richest-americans-2007-a.html

Forbes has released their 2008 list of the 400 Richest Americans. This is their 27th annual list. 1.3 billion dollars ($1,300,000,000.00) was required to make the list this year. That is the same amount as last year.

Some of the rich got a lot richer over the past year. Michael Bloomberg made $1,000 every 3.7 seconds. He gained 8.5 billion dollars the past 12 months and is now worth 20 billion dollars.

Some of the rich lost money since the last list was released. Sheldon Adelson lost $1,000 ever 2.4 seconds. He lost 13 billion dollars the past 12 months and is now worth 15 billion dollars.

The youngest person on the list is Mark Zuckerberg. He is the founder of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg ranks number 321 on the list with 1.5 billion dollars ($1,500,000,000.00).

Bill Gates is number 1 on the annual Forbes 400 for the 15th year in a row. He is worth 57 billion dollars ($57,000,000,000.00). Bill Gates has donated 35 billion dollars to worthy causes. Otherwise his wealth would be 92 billion dollars.

One of the people on the list is worth 14 billion dollars and only lives a few miles from me. No, I don't personally know him.

At age 35, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are the youngest in the top 20.

You will probably see several names in the Forbes 400 that are familiar to you and some that aren't.

Here is the complete list for 2008 The 400 Richest Americans sorted by Rank - Forbes.com

 

[Linda Buquet]

Whoa, I can't even fathom making that much money. Don't even have a desire to.
But I agree, it's sure fun to read about those guys and their success stories.

 

[Larwee]

We all know that billionaires have a lot of money. But most people have no idea how much a billion dollars really is. It is actually a lot more than most people realize.

I have a good example that I often use to help give people a better idea. I change the concept at times, but the basic idea remains the same.

Assume that one of these multi-billionaires gave you a giant money machine that contained one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000.00). The one billion dollars in your money machine would be in one dollar bills. There would be one billion one dollar bills.

Your giant money machine would give you one dollar every second, and it wouldn't stop. It would send out money at the rate of a dollar a second for 24 hours a day.

Try to GUESS the answer to your question: How long would it take that money machine to become empty? It has a billion dollars in it and it is giving them to you at the rate of one dollar a second.

Take a guess.

No, that's wrong. You weren't even close. Guess again.

That is wrong too. It will take longer than you think. Try again.

You are still wrong. A billion dollars is much more than you realize. Take another guess.

No, you still aren't even close.

The correct answer: It would take almost 32 years!!!

That comes as a big surprise to most people. But when done this way, it gives people something they can easily relate to.

A billion dollars is a lot of money. This shows how much it actually is.

 

[greenflash]

That list forgot someone - ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, not yet anyway.....

 

[JeremyHFSykes]

i had a friend in college who . . .

was the eldest son of a multi-billionaire. the cool thing about him was that i did not know that fact until i had known him for over 2 1/2 years. i just thought he came from a "well-off" family. when i realized, years later, just how RICH he was, i thought that was really cool that he did not let on. the sad thing is that as he got older, he became more and more affected. he was the best man in my wedding 19 years ago and now we don't speak. not because of anything that was done or said, just because our bank accounts grew too far apart.

 

[gobbo mon]

That kinda sucks. No matter how rich I got I would keep up with my old friends. Help them out as well. But it's pretty unlikely thats gonna happen.

 

[helen_gracio]

Hey

I just hope Obama taxes the hell out of them.