On Oct 2, 2008, at 10:48 AM, John Williams wrote: > http://divisionoflabour.com/archives/005188.php > > > According to Forbes, the 400 richest people had a combined net worth > of $1.57 trillion. Let's simply assume the next 135 richest people > had the same net worth, though they surely didn't, as the 400th > person--$1.3 billion each. That brings our estimate of the combined > net wealth of the richest 535 Americans to $1.75 trillion. > > But wait, this is net worth, which is a stock, not income, which is > a flow. So let's figure the annual income flow from the ownership of > $1.75 trillion to be 10% of that amount. (I don't know if this > number is high or low. On the one hand really rich folks probably > are good at making high rates of return. On the other hand much of > that $1.75 in net worth is likely to be speculative, consumptive, > and/or illiquid assets like real estate, yachts, artwork, etc where > the return is difficult to determine without selling the item. It > turns out, you could double or triple this estimated return and > still make the point I'm going to make.) Our estimate therefore is > that the richest 535 Americans have about $175 billion (10% of $1.75 > trillion) to spend on an annual basis. > > Ok, let's compare this group with the 535 members of the US > Congress. According to the latest Economic Report of the President, > the annual outlays of the federal government amounted to $2.73 > trillion in fiscal year 2007. > > So I estimate that the 535 members of the US Congress enjoy over 15 > times the financial power of the 535 richest Americans.
And, where the richest 535 are (mostly) putting their own money at risk when they make investments, the 535 in Congress are putting _your_ money and mine at risk with their "bridge to nowhere" decisions. Dave I'm Just Sayin' Maru _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
