Tag: billionaires

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Celebrities NBA Sports

Michael Jordon Joins The Billionaire’s Club

MSN reports that Michael Jordan joined the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in the swelling ranks of the world’s billionaires, according to the annual Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List for 2015.

The 29th annual list, released Monday, showed Jordan jumping on board at No. 1,741, well behind Gates, who remained at the top of the list (net worth $79.2 billion), followed by Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu at No. 2 ($77.1 billion) and the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett ($72.7 billion), at No. 3. Microsoft founder Gates has topped the charts for 16 of the past 21 years, Forbes said.

A record 1,826 individuals made the list in 2015, up from 1,645 in 2014, with an average net worth of $3.86 billion, down a smidgen ($60 million) from last year. All told, the lucky few have a total net worth of $7.05 trillion, up from $6.4 trillion last year. The total wealth in the hands of about 1,800 people is roughly equivalent to double the GDP of Germany, Europe’s largest economy. The rising number of billionaires and their expanding assets underscores the growing global wealth gap, which Oxfam sayscould lead to the combined riches of the world’s wealthiest 1 percent overtaking that of the other 99 percent by next year.

A record 197 women made the list in 2015, up from 172 last year. And there were 290 newcomers, like MJ, also a record.

Categories
Politics

What’s Wrong With Millionaires Paying The Same Rate You Pay?

President Obama once again called on Congress to pass the Buffett Rule – a policy initiative being pushed by Democrats that requires millionaires and billionaires to pay “their fair share” in taxes. The president admitted that although millionaires and billionaires paying more in taxes will not solve the budget crisis, he said the extra revenue would help reduce the federal debt and pay for government investments in programs like education.

“One in four millionaires pays a lower tax rate than millions of hardworking middle-class households,” the president said. “It’s just plain wrong that middle-class Americans pay a higher share of their income in taxes than some millionaires and billionaires.”

The Senate will vote on the Buffet Rule next week.

Categories
Politics Texas

Rich Donors To Rick Perry Get Extra, Extra Special Treatment

Large donors to the Rick Perry campaign for governor of Texas are beginning to reap the benefits of their donations, or more appropriately, investments. Reports have shown that numerous individuals and couples who’ve invested in Perry, are getting multi-million dollar contracts and subsidies from the state of Texas, and some even get jobs in the Perry administration.

The LA Times reports that over the last 10 years, Rick Perry received $37 million from just 150 people, and of these “donors,” nearly half have received “hefty business contracts, tax breaks or appointments under Perry, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.” The Times investigation found “donors” like billionaire Harald Simmons, who invested $1.2 million dollars in Perry. Simmons was rewarded with “permission to build a low-level radioactive waste disposal site in Texas, a project that promises to generate hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Other Investors:

Auto magnate B.J. “Red” McCombs, who contributed nearly $400,000 to the governor, is the primary financial backer for a Formula One racetrack to be built near Austin. The state has pledged $25 million a year in subsidies to support the project.

The Houston-based engineering firm of James Dannenbaum, who gave more than $320,000 to Perry, received multiple transportation contracts from the state. In 2007, Perry appointed Dannenbaum to a coveted post on the University of Texas’ board of regents.

A Mississippi-based poultry company run by Joe Sanderson, who gave $165,000 to Perry, received a $500,000 grant from a state business incentive fund championed by Perry to open a chicken hatchery and processing plant in Waco.

With its mix of big-money industries like oil and campaign finance rules that allow unlimited political donations, Texas has a reputation for monied campaigns. And its elected officials have long sought to elevate their political patrons.

Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said donors had benefited more under Perry’s administration than they did under recent governors such as Democrat Ann Richards and Republican George W. Bush, Perry’s predecessor.

Now, Rick Perry is trying to take his investment company called the Rick Perry Presidential Campaign, nationwide, but in order for him to succeed, he must come to the little people to get their votes. Vote for Perry, the millionaires and billionaires need more hand-outs!

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