Bad economy is equal opportunity: super-rich lose $1.4 trillion

It's sad to hear about good people losing their homes and their jobs, while bailed-out companies were handing out bonuses and taking lavish vacations.

Now I see the economy is leveling the playing field: 337 billionaires saw their personal empires disappear in the short space of a year.

Bill Gates himself lost $18 billion of net worth. Warren Buffett's company stock has dropped by half it's value.

Thoughts? I think it's fair that the super-rich feel the pinch too. Link to article

Its not leveling.
Once the stock market picks back up, their networths will as well.

Yay for us commoners!

It's not like Bill Gates is going to loose his home or anything though.

For some reason, I don't feel sorry for them. Maybe I'm just a heartless bastard who can't sympathize with the honest working man... oh wait.

Interesting how you think there is no way life can change, then it happens, because of multiplyer effects. This also means that their businesses go down too, everyone loses.

Maybe they did not necessarily have to do any heavy lifting to make money, but they had to put in some serious hours to run their businesses. Why is it that people feel like these rich people just suddenly become rich over nothing? I mean sure Bill Gates did not have to lift a single weight to make billions, but he had to be smart. I am not sure I would of done what he did, I would not want to have to make all these speeches about computers like he did. Then again, thats kind of weak to say, I dont know programming, and he just happened to be in the right place, at the right time. He was just plainly in the right place, at the right time. But, these people create jobs, so if you hate them, you would just wish that your boss just loses everything, then you lose everything.

And who benefits from this? Seriously, it's not a good thing for rich people to suffer just because they're rich. :|

I'm personally more worried about the whole healthcare thing. If there are no jobs how are people going to buy this soon to be goverment mandated healthcare let alone the fines for not getting it.

On topic, when the rich start to suffer you will see the stranglehold on the poor get tighter.

It's not like Bill Gates is going to loose his home or anything though.

StudySession

It's sad to hear about good people losing their homes and their jobs, while bailed-out companies were handing out bonuses and taking lavish vacations.

Now I see the economy is leveling the playing field: 337 billionaires saw their personal empires disappear in the short space of a year.

Bill Gates himself lost $18 billion of net worth. Warren Buffett's company stock has dropped by half it's value.

Thoughts? I think it's fair that the super-rich feel the pinch too. Link to article

topsemag55

They haven't actually lost anything they can't get back....LJS9502_basic

Unfortunately, one European man did. He lost a $9 billion empire, then went and sat on a train track. I'm sure you know what happened next.

It's gonna take a lot more to put a hold on the corruption hindering our economy.

A lot of the wealth that has been amassed in the decade before the current economical crisis is actually of the shaky sort, i.e. not anchored by real, actual assets, but rather financed by debts, credit and high-risk loans. Therefore, when the crisis forced a correction in financing, a lot of this poorly founded wealth vaporizes, as expected.

Hence the major losses for the super rich. However, as someone has already mentioned here, it's not like the super-rich are going to lose their jobs and/or homes. Most of them are really just major shareholders, like Bill Gates. Their real, hard and cold wealth is still there, though they would likely have to dig hard into these to recuperate or minimize losses.

Personally, I am somewhat sympathetic to ambivalent about their misfortunes. It is really very much their own fault, having not paid attention to the true reasons/causes for a portion of their wealth. This crisis will provide a crucial business lesson to them: check your financing!

NOTE: This opinion of mine does not extend to those who have gained their "wealth" through deceit and/or plunder, like Madoff, some French financial speculators and most former/incumbent dictators.

Yeah, and who are they losing it to? The Chinese? That makes me sleep better at night. Perhaps instead of taking that big hit they could have spent more money in wages and compensation for mid-level employees, then when the crisis hit perhaps there would have been at least a small bit more consumer confidence. Instead they continue to ship jobs overseas while getting almost no jobs imported TO the U.S. Frankly, I wouldn't care how deep the wealth gap was as long as the working cla$$es could afford a decent lifestyle, but the fact is that while those millionares and billionares who lost a lot of money can sustain their lifestyles, the people who help supply that wealth get laid off and have to struggle to make ends meat.

It's not leveling out. The rich get poorer, and the poor get ****ed.

What really grinds my gears are the oil speculators. They have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with pumping crude oil or refining it, yet they artificially inflate the price by buying huge blocks of shares which cause us to pay more for fuel than we should be paying.

I understand the principle of buying stocks and making a profit, but not on the backs of everyone trying to make a living. It makes me sick that when there's a glimmer of good news economy-wise, people that are not in the oil business start snap-buying of oil futures.

What really grinds my gears are the oil speculators. They have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with pumping crude oil or refining it, yet they artificially inflate the price by buying huge blocks of shares which cause us to pay more for fuel than we should be paying.

I understand the principle of buying stocks and making a profit, but not on the backs of everyone trying to make a living. It makes me sick that when there's a glimmer of good news economy-wise, people that are not in the oil business start snap-buying of oil futures.

topsemag55

Which is just part of the reason why we should have made the switch to electric and completely buried the oil industry years ago, but yet again corporate influence managed to not only stop that from happening but delay the advent of the electric car as a major consumer item by a full decade and counting.

Super-rich consider potential gains lost, as actually losing money. Average people consider actual money lost, as losing money.

For example, Super rich was projected to make 100 million this year,he only made 50 million.he now "lost" 50 million according to his definition.

Super poor lost his job, his savings account had $10,000 in it, Now it has $0 in it. Super poor literally lost $10,000.

Thats the difference between super rich and everyone else.

Meejoe27

I'm sure that all of their "net worth" was not actual liquid cash or product. Most of them were stocks or futures I bet. So, the value was not real to begin with. When you play the stock market like a game, and get rich doing so, expect to get poor doing so as well.

nice to see the rich get what they deserve00-Riddick-00

It's not like Bill Gates is going to loose his home or anything though.

StudySession

I don't feel bad for them. For one thing, they can still live very lavish lifestyles because most of them are still super rich. Second, they already get away with paying a lot less tax (percentage) than most of us do. Yeah, you heard that a small percentage of people make up the majority of the tax base...blah blah blah. But, the super rich own most of their land (unlike most people who lease it from the bank) and a lot of their fortune is tied to investments out of the country that don't get taxed. There was a bloomberg story a year ago that said the top income earners in the US pay only 17% of their income to tax because they figured out ways to shift their wealth in ways that don't get taxed. What ever, its their money, but you wont see me feeling sorry just because they can't afford a bigger yacht.

[QUOTE="00-Riddick-00"]nice to see the rich get what they deserveFragStains

[QUOTE="FragStains"][QUOTE="00-Riddick-00"]nice to see the rich get what they deserve00-Riddick-00

[QUOTE="FragStains"][QUOTE="00-Riddick-00"]nice to see the rich get what they deserve00-Riddick-00

lol right, when these people lose a couple billion they still have billions of more.. While at the same time the poor and middle class is beign hit even harder, to the point they are losing their jobs.. Their homes.. If you seriously think the United States has ever had equal opertunity than you are tremendously nieve.. We actually have the greatest wealth gap of any other western nation..sSubZerOo

Well, I know Britain's was pretty bad for a while, but they've taken steps to remedy that whereas we've gone in compeletely the opposite direction.

Lol.. this thread.. lol. Here is why, lol.

IF you still have more than a million dollars.. you're not suffering. Heck, even if you have a hundred thousand dollars.. you are not suffering. Okay.. so bill gates lost 18 billion dollars.. what does that mean.. he can't make his own space ship now and fly to the moon? Seriously. Nothing costs 18 billion dollars to begin with thats worth having as an individual.

Thoughts? I think it's fair that the super-rich feel the pinch too. Link to article

topsemag55

Its not leveling.
Once the stock market picks back up, their networths will as well.

carrot-cake

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]lol right, when these people lose a couple billion they still have billions of more.. While at the same time the poor and middle class is beign hit even harder, to the point they are losing their jobs.. Their homes.. If you seriously think the United States has ever had equal opertunity than you are tremendously nieve.. We actually have the greatest wealth gap of any other western nation..theone86

Well, I know Britain's was pretty bad for a while, but they've taken steps to remedy that whereas we've gone in compeletely the opposite direction.