Number Of Billionaires Soars Despite Downturn
(c) Sky News 2011
The number of billionaires in the UK has increased to 32, with the Duke of Westminster Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor again named the country's richest man.
Despite the property slump, the 59-year-old landowner increased his worth to $13bn - but still only managed 57th on the Forbes global rich list.
Despite the global economic downturn, the Forbes 25th list of the richest people on the planet saw the number of billionaires increase by 214 to a record 1,210.
[source SKY NEWS]
you meet people in the supermarket talking about the front pages of the newspaper. In 2011 they were all boasting a headline of NO FLY ZONE OVER LIBYA and nobody knew what this meant. It was the political spin that omitted the technicality of activating a no-fly zone i.e. the eradication, destruction or crippling of Ghaddafi's air force.
Someone, somewhere, was gonna have to BOMB some Russian planes and kill the ruler of a country!
And it's the same with Consumerist phrases like WEALTH and RICHES and GROWTH and BILLIONAIRES... the system always positively spins being a Billionaire like it's an honourable thing or something all people should strive for or work towards. But being a billionaire (or a millionaire (or a successful businessman)) is nothing empathic or moral to strive for.
Why?
Balance, it's all a question of, "Who are we forcing to live in abject poverty so that we can enjoy our life of scavanged luxury?" that question never seems to be addressed on mainstream media, that of (not necessarily the slave-driver or the despot but) the unwitting TYRANT within all who strive to become millionaires, billionaires, rich.
These people don't give a shit about their fellow man, even the real 'tax-break charitable' elite. All they care about is bottom line and highest return. They're in the GAME, ffs. They're technically amoral psychopaths lacking all empathy for the suffering their quest for wealth game causes! Sure, one or two might regress or revert to HUMAN at some point during their 'ascent' but they're still trampling all over the face of humanity with their idealism to MAKE MAKE MAKE and imprison the less wealthy in THEIR MANUFACTURED PRISONS of DEBT and SERVITUDE.
FOR EXAMPLE: because I know you guys love figures... in 1999 there were 31,000,000 Americans living in poverty. In 2009 there were 44,000,000.
In 1999 America had a mere 49 billionaires. In 2009 America had 439 billionaires.
13,000,000 American living in poverty is why there are 390 more billionaires in the period 1999-2009.
Each American billionaire comes at the cost of 33,333 of his fellow citizens ejected into abject poverty!
I'd like the term BILLIONAIRE redefined as, something along the lines of, "The number of humans who have to suffer in abject poverty so that one person can live in an ivory castle."