[QUOTE=tin-man;456248] There are more millionaires and billionaires in China now than most of the world combined. Sad fact of life.

John - while I appreciate your enthusiasm, you're way off base here. A "millionaire" is not a rare occurrence anymore and I would venture to say that there are several millionaires that post here on a regular basis (value of assets minus liabilities)..

According to Forbes, there are just over 1,200 billionaires in the world, specifically;
United States has 412 billionaires or - 34%
China – 115 - 10%
Russia – 101 - 8%
India – 54 - 4%
Germany – 52 - 4%
Turkey – 38- 3%
Hong Kong – 36 - 3%
United Kingdom – 32 - 3%
Brazil - 30 - 2%

The "rest of the world" has the other 19% is decreasing numbers..


The richest entity in the world is Carlos Slim Helu & family of Mexico - $74B

The US has four of the top ten - representing over 170 billion dollars (Gates - $56B, Buffett - $50B, Ellison - $39.5B and the Walton family - $26.5B)

The "richest" Chinese is Li Ka-shaing (Hong Kong) at 26 billion. That's not chopped liver, but is pales to the total

Total controlled by Chinese "billionaires" is +/- $230B
US billionaires alone control $1,578B

Doesn't make me any happier about the volume of product we import from China nor the fact that the Chinese government owns 37% of our national debt - but real money still lives in America. I'd like to see our government re-write procurement laws to favor more American made goods and services but the unfortunate result of our ultra greedy "entitlement generation" is a boat load of people who have gotten so used to instantaneous gratification that they don't know how to work and they have grown lazy. I'm afraid we've not see the worst of our economic woes as we continue to borrow at the government level.

I'm ranting, but at least it's to my friends!!
Glenn