Why Rich Folks Bad - Part 4

Hey Barry:

Who are the American rich anyways?

Y'all can buy a mailing list of them for less than 10c per name, but Ima too broke to do that.

Here's the link: http://www.allied-media.com/MAILING%20LISTS/Mailing/Millionaires.htm

Instead I'll go with a list of the top 100 names in 2004 from Forbes an y'all kin get all 400 here: http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/22/rl04land.html

Now the thang is: they all got a lot richer since 2004. Rest of us was gettin poorer, but dese guys got a lot richer.

Here's the question: How rich is enough in the USA?

One billion? Ten Billion? One hundred Billion?

Ima thinkin that the answer is this: Y'all too rich if you can buy a law from the US congress.

I don know the price since I never bought a law, so Ima gonna guess that anything above one billion is rich enuf to buy a law. That's jes too rich for the U S of A.

At some place, yo cross from being a person inta being a country.

Anyways, here's the list from Forbes in 2004:


Rank Name Net Worth ($mil)

1 Gates, William Henry 48,000
2 Buffett, Warren Edward 41,000
3 Allen, Paul Gardner 20,000
4 Walton, Alice L 18,000
4 Walton, Helen R 18,000
4 Walton, Jim C 18,000
4 Walton, John T 18,000
4 Walton, S Robson 18,000
9 Dell, Michael 14,200
10 Ellison, Lawrence Josep 13,700
11 Ballmer, Steven Anthony 12,600
12 Johnson, Abigail 12,000
13 Anthony, Barbara Cox 11,300
13 Chambers, Anne Cox 11,300
15 Kluge, John Werner 11,000
16 Omidyar, Pierre M 10,400
17 Mars, Forrest Edward Jr 10,000
17 Mars, Jacqueline 10,000
17 Mars, John Franklyn 10,000
20 Redstone, Sumner M 8,100
21 Icahn, Carl 7,600
22 Knight, Philip H 7,400
23 Ergen, Charles 7,300
24 Soros, George 7,200
25 Newhouse, Donald Edward 7,000
25 Newhouse, Samuel Irving 7,000
27 Murdoch, Keith Rupert 6,900
28 Broad, Eli 6,000
28 Johnson, Edward Crosby 6,000
30 Davis, Marvin H 5,800
30 Kerkorian, Kirk 5,800
32 Arison, Micky 5,300
33 Anschutz, Philip F 5,200
34 Bloomberg, Michael Rube 5,000
34 Warner, H Ty 5,000
36 Abele, John E 4,500
37 Geffen, David 4,400
38 Bezos, Jeffrey P 4,300
38 Bren, Donald L 4,300
40 Duncan, Dan L 4,200
40 Perelman, Ronald Owen 4,200
40 Perot, Henry Ross & fami4,200
43 Brin, Sergey 4,000
43 Kaiser, George B 4,000
43 Koch, Charles De Ganahl 4,000
43 Koch, David Hamilton 4,000
43 Page, Larry E 4,000
43 Wrigley, William Jr 4,000
49 Moore, Gordon Earle 3,800
49 Nicholas, Peter M 3,800
51 Menard, John R Jr 3,700
51 Sorenson, James L 3,700
53 Crown, Lester & family 3,600
54 Rowling, Robert 3,500
55 Cook, William Alfred 3,200
55 Goodnight, James 3,200
55 Lauder, Leonard Alan 3,200
55 Taylor, Jack Crawford 3,200
59 Greenberg, Maurice Raymo3,100
60 Adelson, Sheldon 3,000
60 DeVos, Richard M 3,000
60 Kroenke, Ann Walton 3,000
60 Lucas, George 3,000
60 Tisch, Preston Robert 3,000
65 Bass, Robert Muse 2,900
65 Van Andel, Jay 2,900
65 Wexner, Leslie Herbert 2,900
68 Davidson, William Morse 2,800
68 Hillman, Henry Lea 2,800
68 Laurie, Nancy Walton 2,800
68 Schwab, Charles R 2,800
72 Lauren, Ralph 2,700
72 Perenchio, A Jerrold 2,700
74 Filo, David 2,600
74 Jobs, Steven Paul 2,600
74 Johnson, Barbara Piaseck2,600
74 Spielberg, Steven Allen 2,600
74 Trump, Donald John 2,600
79 Bronfman, Edgar M Sr 2,500
79 Hughes, Bradley Wayne 2,500
79 Ingram, Martha R & famil2,500
79 Johnson, Charles Bartlet2,500
79 Rockefeller, David Sr 2,500
79 Schulze, Richard M 2,500
79 Simons, James H 2,500
79 Stern, Leonard Norman 2,500
87 Bechtel, Riley P 2,400
87 Bechtel, Stephen Davison2,400
87 Blavatnik, Leonard 2,400
87 Udvar-Hazy, Steven 2,400
87 Zell, Samuel 2,400
92 Burkle, Ronald 2,300
92 Hunt, Ray Lee 2,300
92 Huntsman, Jon Meade 2,300
92 Pohlad, Carl 2,300
92 Simplot, John Richard & 2,300
97 Butt, Charles C 2,200
97 Helmsley, Leona Mindyl 2,200
97 Saban, Haim 2,200
97 Spangler, Clemmie Dixon 2,200

Your pal,