Buy Canada! Buy Canada!

[richsc]

This is bound to irk our brethren north of the border:


For the first time, Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans consists entirely of dollar billionaires.

As a group, the people who made the rankings, published last night, are worth a record $1,250 billion (£656bn), an increase of $120 billion from last year - and more than the GDP of Canada.

[Matt Lukes]

400 people have more money than the GDP of my entire country? Holy crap... Sounds like that rather disturbing statistic of 5% of the people controlling 95% of the wealth is off by about 4.999% each way :lol:

Then again Canada has a relatively tiny population- only about 34 million people, and we can only effectively use the southernmost few percent of the land area because everything else is under 50m of snow and ice...

[Tarbicus]

How can 400 people have more than one eighth of the entire US national debt in their personal wealth, the debt currently being;
$8,486,875,938,799?

$1,250,000,000,000 is $1,250 billion, right?

While each US citizen is currently $28,331.52 in debt, given their share of the national debt. I think someone needs to fire the national accountants somehow.

A good job Nero isn't in charge there, or they'd have changed their wills and had a visit from the Praetorians by now :wink:

Figures gleaned from
[url:1o0dfi5d]http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/[/url]
[url:1o0dfi5d]http://pages.prodigy.net/jhonig/bignum/knumname.html[/url]
And in the minutes since I started writing this the US national debt increased by $22,000,000!

[Matt Lukes]

I admit, I'm quite ignorant when it comes to the specifics of international banking, so I've always wondered just to whom all this money is owed- almost every country in the world seems to have an incredible national debt- save for a few Arab countries who have tons of oil I suspect :lol:

I've also always wondered what would happen if the US just said 'screw you' to whomever they owe 8.5 trillion dollars to- what could the creditor do? :lol:

And actually it would only be a good thing Nero isn't in charge there for those 400- maybe not so much for the average citizen :lol: Not to sound like a communist or anything, but it is rather disgusting that 400 people have an average of $300 billion each when the vast, vast majority have so incredibly little in comparison... maybe we need some Praetorians...

[richsc]

How can 400 people have more than one eighth of the entire US national debt in their personal wealth

At one point Microsoft alone was capitalized at $1 trillion. I don't think they meant 1/8 the national debt, but from the GDP.

[Robert Vermaat]

I've also always wondered what would happen if the US just said 'screw you' to whomever they owe 8.5 trillion dollars to- what could the creditor do? :lol:

Easy. The creditors would grumbling take their losses, but no-one would ever ever lend one penny to the US again. And since the US cannot help but overspend, there would come a point where the civil service could no longer be paid, and after some agonising months the government and the economy would collapse. Chaos would ensue.

Which is why no government, not even the US, will ever say 'screw U' to their creditors.

[Gaius Decius Aquilius]

Ummm...

I thought RAT was not supposed to discuss modern politics or anything. Before this topic gets carried away...

Now, I realize American Bashing doesn't count, since that is PC fair game. And we dassent bring up the number of SS units recruited from almost every country in occupied Europe, during the last unpleasantly. (I think we must leave Greece out of this as an outstanding exception). This documented recruitment would not be PC... and might create a sense of uncomfortablness that could be mistaken for hypocrisy by those to quick to judge the full nature of a complex situation.

We should also not mention that Mexico has the largest per ca pita number on billionaires on this planet, yet a relative few American Billionaires (including Microsoft) spend more on relief efforts than the enire UN budget.

If I had made an argument against Islam, and for America, and tried to point out the evident pride that I see in our troops when they come home, I would be subject to any number of thinly disguised threats and issues, if not overt threats.

RAT has had its ups and downs, but I believe that most subscribers are honest and well meaning people. Honest people should have the freedom to discuss issues among themselves without risk of reprisal. We may have different opinions, but unlike the reality in a lot of the world none should suffer for expressing them. I think the idea of the UN was well intentioned, but got lost in the political shuffle. Sometime small groups like RAT that hold to the higher academic ideals despite conflicts that may be inconvenient , avoid the general censorship all to common in the world, and may be the end salvation of us all by keeping our professional and academic integrity, in the face of popular, but transient political conveniences.

Ralph Izard
proud to be an American, and to have served with the 9th Infantry, and 57th Dustoff in Vietnam...

[caiusbeerquitius]

I thought RAT was not supposed to discuss modern politics or anything. Before this topic gets carried away...

I do not really see where this is a discussion about modern politics. It´s a discussion about private held money and the enormous gap between rich and poor. More a sociological than a political thread, until you brought up politics.

Now, I realize American Bashing doesn't count, since that is PC fair game. And we dassent bring up the number of SS units recruited from almost every country in occupied Europe, during the last unpleasantly. (I think we must leave Greece out of this as an outstanding exception). This documented recruitment would not be PC... and might create a sense of uncomfortablness that could be mistaken for hypocrisy by those to quick to judge the full nature of a complex situation.

I do not see how this connects to anything said above, sorry.

We should also not mention that Mexico has the largest per ca pita number on billionaires on this planet, yet a relative few American Billionaires (including Microsoft) spend more on relief efforts than the enire UN budget

Right, we shouldn´t, for that is not what people in this thread were talking about.

If I had made an argument against Islam, and for America, and tried to point out the evident pride that I see in our troops when they come home, I would be subject to any number of thinly disguised threats and issues, if not overt threats

Again, I do not see what this has to do with the topic.

RAT has had its ups and downs, but I believe that most subscribers are honest and well meaning people. Honest people should have the freedom to discuss issues among themselves without risk of reprisal. We may have different opinions, but unlike the reality in a lot of the world none should suffer for expressing them.

I would go even further: Everyone should have that freedom. But what has this to do with this thread?

I think the idea of the UN was well intentioned, but got lost in the political shuffle. Sometime small groups like RAT that hold to the higher academic ideals despite conflicts that may be inconvenient , avoid the general censorship all to common in the world, and may be the end salvation of us all by keeping our professional and academic integrity, in the face of popular, but transient political conveniences.

Noone brought up the UN or modern politics in this thread so far, except for you. So, if we do not want this thread to become political, it might be wise not to make it political by such statements.

[Tarbicus]

Deleted.

[JRSCline]

Okay, everyone knows the rules. No modern politics. Cease and desist, please. No blaming anyone, let's just stop and call it even here, before people really get rolling.

[Matt Lukes]

Yeah- :?

[Magnus]

What can I get for $1?

[Dan Diffendale]

What can I get for $1?

Something small at Tim Horton's?

[JRSCline]

Ah, Timbits...

[Matt Lukes]

Food of the Gods indeed, and one of Canada's contributions to Western Civilization... ought to make up for Celine Dion, yes? :lol:

I read somewhere that there are more donut stores in Ontario per capita than anywhere else in the world...