Putin's cronies lose $50 billion

cnnmoney

Putin allies Alisher Usmanov, Vagit Alekperov and Vladimir Potanin suffered multibillion dollar losses.

Ouch! Russian billionaires have lost more than $50 billion this year due to the country's unfolding economic nightmare.

Western sanctions, low oil prices and the falling ruble have wiped billions off the wealth of Russia's 15 richest men, according to data from Bloomberg.

Here are the top 10 losers:

Leonid Mikhelson

The chairman of Russian gas producer Novatek has suffered the biggest losses, seeing his portfolio shrink by an estimated $8.7 billion. That's equivalent to a loss of nearly 50%.

Novatek was one of the first companies to be sanctioned by the U.S. over the crisis in Ukraine.

Vladimir Lisin
The chairman and largest shareholder of Novolipetsk Steel, and once Russia's richest man, has lost $7 billion, also nearly 50% of his wealth.

He is the vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee and the president of the European Shooting Confederation -- and as a gun enthusiast reportedly owns a valuable collection of rifles.

Related: Russia heading for crash as ruble plummets

Alisher Usmanov
The metals magnate owns Russian daily newspaper Kommersant. In 2011, he sacked the editor after he published a picture of a ballot paper with "Putin, go f*!k yourself" scrawled on it in red ink.

Usmanov has lost $6.4 billion so far this year. He controls 48% of Metalloinvest, Russia's largest iron ore producer. He also has a share in Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) and Airbnb, and co-owns English soccer team Arsenal, Bloomberg data show.

He is also the president of the International Fencing Federation.

Andrey Melnichenko
The self-made coal and minerals magnate is another Russian billionaire feeling the chilling effect of Western sanctions and falling oil prices. He has lost nearly 40% of his wealth, or about $5.8 billion.

He is married to a former Serbian supermodel and owns one of the world's most admired super yachts -- the A.

Sergey Galitsky
The founder and owner of Russia's biggest food retailer Magnit is down over $5 billion. The soccer enthusiast is famous for pouring more than $250 million into his local Krasnodar club, building an arena and a sports academy.

He is thought to have lost over $855 million on Monday alone as the ruble went into free fall.

Vagit Alekperov
The chairman of Russian oil giant Lukoil was once a Soviet energy minister.

Lukoil was the first privately-owned company to be sanctioned by the U.S. over the Ukraine crisis. His wealth has fallen by $4.9 billion, or about 40% so far this year.

Mikhail Fridman
The investment mogul has watched $3.5 billion evaporate.

He made his fortune on the sale of joint venture TNK-BP to Rosneft. Together with his partner German Khan, Fridman controls Alfa Bank, Russia's largest private lender.

Vladimir Potanin
The former deputy prime minister is currently the head of the world's biggest nickel producer Norilsk Nickel. His wealth has fallen by $2.8 billion, or about 20%.

Potanin was one of the main backers of Russia's bid to host the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and he invested heavily in the development of the Olympic village.

German Khan
Mikhail Fridman's partner in Alfa Bank sold his stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft for $3.3 billion in 2013, according to Bloomberg.

He's lost $2.5 billion this year, equivalent to about 22% of his wealth.

Mikhail Prokhorov
Prokhorov's company Onexim group owns stakes in the Russian banking, energy and mining sectors. He's lost $2.4 billion.

Prokhorov also owns the Brooklyn Nets. He said earlier this year he was considering moving the company that controls the NBA team to Russia in order to comply with Vladimir Putin's call for Russian-owned companies to be based there.

He has criticized Russian policies in the past, condemning the country's anti-gay laws.

Mannes on the Street: How to Make a Million

TIME

 

Marco Rubio: Obama's Problem Isn’t Income Inequality, It’s Opportunity Inequality

Read on breitbart >>

Chair of Canadian Mint helped run offshore 'tax-avoidance scheme' for clients

The chair of the Royal Canadian Mint, who also served as an adviser on international taxation to the federal Finance Department, helped engineer the transfer of millions of dollars of a prominent Canadian family through offshore tax havens in what others involved characterized as a "tax avoidance scheme," documents obtained by CBC News show.

Slightly more than $8 million was moved through offshore entities in Bermuda, Barbados and Antigua, later prompting allegations that the arrangement, if exposed, could lead to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in "taxes, interest and penalties." The documents show there were also concerns about secrecy and instructions to shred files.

The hundreds of records are part of a sprawling lawsuit against James Barton Love, a Toronto tax lawyer who chairs the mint's board of directors, and others by descendants of former prime minister Arthur Meighen. Quietly settled in 2011, the lawsuit saw family members allege that the offshore transactions, which began in 1996, were unlawful and negligent and that Love "breached his fiduciary duties and acted oppressively."

Love countered in sworn statements that the offshore manoeuvres "resulted in significant savings of Canadian tax" for Meighen's heirs — an amount he estimated at $1 million.

He also emphatically denied any breach of trust and said he had "specifically advised" there were risks to the offshore arrangement.

None of the allegations was ever tested in court.

'Complex transaction'

Love, a close friend of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty who was appointed to the Mint's board in 2006, was also a trustee for most of the last decade of the Arthur Meighen Trust, an entity set up by the former Conservative PM in 1949 to distribute his wealth to his family. Before taking on that formal role, documents show Love had been an adviser and "close" friend to several Meighen family members.

If you have more information on this story, or other investigative tips to pass on, please email investigations@cbc.ca.

It was in that advisory role that Love, in the mid-1990s, informed the managers of the Meighen Trust that they could get "Canadian tax relief on the income from about 40 per cent of the [trust] assets" if they moved the money offshore, Meighen's great-granddaughters say in their statement of claim.

The use of secret accounts in offshore jurisdictions like Switzerland or the Cayman Islands has been thrust into the media limelight in recent years, following a spate of data leaks — including from several Swiss banks — that exposed account-holders’ identities and information.  The most recent large leak was made public in April, when CBC News teamed up with the U.S.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to report on secret accounts linked to 130,000 people worldwide.

More at cbc >>
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Also:  How the rich hide money offshore >>
How the rich hide money offshore

Mao's granddaughter doesn't want to be on this rich list

news.cultural-china.com

behind the wall

Kong Dongmei [photo], the granddaughter of Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Zedong.

By Ed Flanagan, Producer, NBC News

BEIJING -- Anywhere else in the world, placement on a rich list would be cause for celebration.

Not so in China.

For China's richest, being listed on wealth reports can be deeply undesirable, inviting unwanted extra scrutiny from tax collectors to a general public increasingly suspicious of the origins of the wealth that has poured into the mainland from uncertain corners over the last few decades.

The latest person to find herself facing this tough media spotlight: Kong Dongmei, the granddaughter of late Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong.

With assets estimated at around $815 million, Kong and her husband, Chen Dongsheng, placed 242nd on Chinese magazine New Fortune's 500 Rich List for 2013 released this week.

The specific kind of attention attracted by such an appearance has many nicknames. One Chinese author dubbed it "The Curse of Forbes"; others have called these wealth reports "sha zhu bang" or "kill pig list."

Whatever you call it, there is no denying that the lists can be perilous for China's wealthy. A study last year entitled "The Price of Being a Billionaire in China: Evidence Based on Hurun Rich List," found that companies listed on the notorious "Hurun Rich List" had their market values rapidly decline within three years – victims of increased tax audits, cutting off of government subsidies and financial investigations.

Indeed, many who have found themselves among the lucky few have soon after landed in jail as media and government interest shifted to their business dealings.

'Honest and clean'The irony that the granddaughter of the country's founding Communist leader is now one of its wealthiest citizens was not lost on the public here -- that despite carefully cultivating a veneer of modest living, Mao's offspring have in fact been profiting handsomely.

In 2009, another grandchild of Mao, Major General Mao Xinyu, told Chinese media, "The Mao Family heritage is honest and clean. None of the Mao family members have entered business. They all live on their modest salaries."

Meanwhile Kong authored four bestsellers about her grandfather and even ran a bookstore that specialized in Communist culture.

The revelation that Mao's granddaughter has risen to become one of China's wealthiest citizens only confirms what many in this country increasingly believe: Patronage is the path to wealth in today's Chinese society.

That perception is backed up by a recent survey conducted by Tsinghua University and reported in the Beijing Evening Post that found that college graduates in China who had a parent serving as a government official were found to earn 15 percent more than their peers.

The study also found that children of well-connected families were more likely to be recruited into sectors like finance, government agencies and international organizations, while other graduates ended up in industries like manufacturing and construction.

US Income Inequality: An Economic History of the 1%

ForaTv

John B. Taylor, economics professor at Stanford University, explains how to fix income inequality in the U.S. by looking at how one percent of the population got ahead.

Forbes' billionaires list gets bigger, and richer too

nbcnews

Forbes

With an estimated $73 billion fortune, Carlos Slim Helu tops Forbes' list of the world's richest billionaires for the fourth year in a row.

This year Forbes has uncovered a record 1,426 billionaires. That is 200 more than we found in 2012, another record breaking year. It’s also nearly 10 times as many as Forbes pinned down in 1987, the year we began tracking fortunes around the world.

The group is worth $5.4 trillion, an astounding 17 percent jump from a year ago. The average net worth of a Forbes billionaire is $3.8 billion, $100 million more than a year ago. More than two-thirds of the world’s richest added to their fortunes. Only 259 from last year’s list are poorer than a year ago. Sixty dropped out of the ranks, including Zynga’s Mark Pincus and former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon. Another eight passed away.

Mexico’s Carlos Slim is the richest person in the world for the fourth year in a row, followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. At number three for the first time is Spaniard Amancio Ortega, founder of fast fashion phenom Zara. He is worth $57 billion, up $19.5 billion, making him the year’s biggest gainer. Legendary investor Warren Buffett slips to number 4, the first time since 2000 that he hasn’t been among the top 3. L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt moves back into the top 10 for the first time since 1999 and reclaims the title of world’s richest woman.

Among the notable newcomers were founders of some of the world’s hottest brands – such as Dolce & Gabbana, Tory Burch and Chobani yogurt, as well as the first ever billionaires from Angola, Guernsey, Nepal, Swaziland and Vietnam.

No. 1: Carlos Slim Helu & familyNet Worth: $73 billion
Source: telecom
Citizenship: Mexico

• World's richest man for the fourth year in a row.
• Net worth up $4 billion versus 2012 but still $1 billion shy of his all-time record; boost came from surging stock prices at his financial arm, Grupo Financiero Inbursa, and at his Grupo Carso industrial and retail giant.
• Pan-Latin American mobile telecom outfit America Movil remains his most valuable holding at $36.3 billion; the company spread its wings to Europe in the past year, buying pieces of Dutch telecom company KPN and Telekom Austria
• Bought a majority of struggling Spanish soccer team Real Oviedo.
• Latin America’s most generous person, his foundation pledged to translate into Spanish 1,000 videos from the Khan Academy education nonprofit website. Slim also hosted Bill Gates in late February; the two men announced they are funding research to improve farmers' yields and reduce hunger.

No. 2: Bill GatesNet worth: $67 billion
Source: Microsoft
Citizenship: U.S.A

• World's biggest philanthropist has given away $28 billion, the vast majority of it to his foundation, which is working to eradicate such diseases as polio and malaria.
• Net worth is up by $6 billion vs. March 2012 due to gains in his investment portfolio. Holdings include tech hygiene firm Ecolab and Mexican Coke bottler FEMSA, both up more than 20% in the past year.
• Microsoft stock --he owns about 5% of the company -- accounts for just 18% of his net worth.
• In February the first 12 non-Americans joined Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, in which the ultra-wealthy pledge to give away at least half their net worth to charity. New pledgers include Richard Branson of the U.K. and India’s Azim Premji.
• Gates recently said the only thing left on his bucket list was, "Don't die."

No. 3: Amancio OrtegaNet worth: $57 billion
Source: Zara
Citizenship: Spain

• Year’s biggest gainer: fortune up $19.5 billion
• Moves to number 3, up from number 5 richest last year. Now ahead of Warren Buffett.
• Driving the jump is a more than 50% rise in value of Inditex shares; Ortega, who stepped down as the firm’s chairman in 2011, still owns nearly 60% of the shares.
• He also has real estate portfolio, estimated to be worth more than $4 billion, that includes iconic Torre Picasso, a 43-story skyscraper in Madrid (Google is a tenant), plus properties in Madrid, London, Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

No. 4: Warren BuffettNet worth: $53.5 billion
Source: Berkshire Hathaway
Citzenship: U.S.A.

• Year’s second biggest gainer added $9.5 billion to his fortune as Berkshire Hathaway shares rose 26% year over year
• First time he’s not among top three richest since 2000.
• Investors applaud his dealmaking savvy, and this year was no exception as he made a couple of notable moves: in February, announced a deal with Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann's 3G Capital to snap up iconic ketchup producer H.J. Heinz Co. for $23.2 billion; bought Oriental Trading in November 2012.
• World’s second most generous person, he gave $1.5 billion to the Gates Foundation in July 2012, bringing his lifetime giving to nearly $17.3 billion. On his birthday in August 2012 Buffett pledged $3 billion of stock to his children's foundations.

No. 5: Larry EllisonNet worth: $43 billion
Source: Oracle
Citizenship: U.S.A.

• Software mogul is $7 billion richer than a year ago, thanks to more than 20% jump in the value of Oracle stock.
• In June he bought 98% of Hawaiian island of Lanai from billionaire David Murdock for a reported $500 million.
• Just recently bought Island Air, a Hawaiian airline. Purchase price was not disclosed.
• Continues to buy property in Malibu.
• Gearing up for the America’s Cup yacht races in San Francisco later in 2013.
• Supports the Ellison Medical Foundation, which does research on aging and age-related diseases. Gave $45 million worth of Oracle shares to the foundation in April 2012.

No. 6: Charles Koch/ No. 6: David Koch (tie)Net worth: $34 billion
Source: diversified
Citizenship: U.S.A.

• World’s richest siblings added $9 billion apiece to their fortunes over the past year.
• They own a combined 84% of Koch Industries, country’s second largest private company with $115 billion in estimated sales, up 15% in the past year
• Also got boost from improving operations at Georgia Pacific, maker of Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper, Brawny paper towels, and Dixie cups. Sold more than $1 billion worth of toilet paper in 2011.
• David, who runs the chemical technology side of Koch Industries, is the richest New Yorker.
• Things didn’t go so well on the political front as brothers failed in their quest to unseat Barack Obama from the White House ("Bitterly disappointing," he told Forbes in an interview after the election).

No. 8: Li Ka-shingNet worth: $31 billion
Source: diversified
Citizenship: Hong Kong

• Once again Asia’s richest person and the only one from the region among the world’s top 20 richest.
• His fortune jumped $5.5 billion to $31 billion, as shares of his biggest holdings, Cheung Kong, Hutchison Whampoa and Husky Energy, all rose more than 10%. He also received 2012 dividends of $860 million.
• Li's businesses employ 260,000 ­people around the world in 52 countries.
• Li-controlled companies bought British gas supplier Wales & West Utilities for $1 billion in October; his third utilities acquisition in the U.K. in 24 months. He now supplies gas to a quarter of all Brits.
• Investor in such tech outfits as Facebook, spotify, and social TV platform Stevie.

No. 9: Liliane Bettencourt
Net worth: $30 billion
Source: L’Oreal
Citizenship: France

• Heiress to L’Oreal cosmetics fortune jumps to 9th richest in 2013 from 15th richest last year, thanks to a more than 30% rise in the price of L’Oreal stock. Her net worth is $6 billion higher than a year ago.
• Now the world’s richest woman. She last cracked the top 10 in 1999.
• Her father founded L’Oreal. Bettencourt and her family own more than 30% of the company.
• Bettencourt’s assets were placed under the guardianship of her daughter in 2011 after a three-year legal battle. Bettencourt, widowed and age 90, suffers from dementia. Her grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers, took her spot on the L’Oreal board in February 2012.

No. 10: Bernard Arnault
Net worth: $29 billion
Source: LVMH
Citizenship: France

• Falls from no. 4 in world to no. 10 due to more information about his ownership stake.
• Also a factor: Forbes now values his direct stake in Christian Dior, which in turn has a 41% stake in LVMH and trades at a near 20% discount to the underlying shares; previously we had valued the shares in LVMH.
• LVMH shares rose more than 6%; U.S. sales grew at a faster rate than sales in Asia region in the fourth quarter
• Arnault denied reports that his request for Belgian citizenship last year was related to the country’s tax policies.
• It was announced in October that he will be knighted for his services in the U.K.

More stories from Forbes

• See more of The World's Billionaires
• Billionaire Newcomers
• The World's Youngest Billionaires
• The World's Richest Women
• Billionaire Dropoffs

The most expensive zip code in America?

36 Millionaire Audits Turn Up $47 Million in Unpaid Taxes

MidweekPolitics

“Tax The Rich” Thrown Out In Socialist France – “It’s Unfair”

NoisyRoom

presstv.com

By: AJ

Will Smith Stunned At Proposed French Tax Rate After Praising Taxes

France’s Socialist President, Francois Hollande, had his hat handed to him when France’s highest court revoked his 75% tax on the rich, saying that “it’s unfair.” The court took issue with the way it discriminated between households of one versus two earners.

France’s budget deficit is approximately 85 billion euro and the tax would have brought in only about 200 million euro… a tiny drop in a very large bucket. But as we know, bloated Socialist governments know no bounds when it comes to satisfying their insatiable greed and intense desire to enslave the people.

Unemployment in France has risen for 19 straight months and embattled President Hollande’s popularity continues its downward spiral. Why? The people are feeling the effects of his Socialist policies.

France’s continuous rise in unemployment was predictable; the laws of economics are well-known.

Socialist thinkers, however, do not have the mental ability to understand economics. They are takers and all they understand is greed and power. Take from those who have until they have no more. That’s it.

With Socialism, the goal is always to impoverish the people and place all the wealth in the hands of the rulers – the government – the elites. Destruction of the “middle class” is essential for Socialism to flourish.

Isn’t it ironic that Hollande’s “tax the rich” campaign platform was enough to get him elected, but now the people are feeling the effects and they are unhappy. France, like America, obviously doesn’t teach economics in public/government schools.

But it’s more than that… so many people inexplicably think that taxing the rich means more money for them or more money for the poor. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Just as France’s “tax the rich” scheme has caused sustained job losses among the people, the same has played out in other Socialist countries like Italy, Greece and Britain.

While more people are plunged into poverty, the bloated, life-sucking thieves in government live in the lap of luxury and enrich themselves and their pals by taking more and more from the people.

This is playing out in America as well.

Taking from the “rich” enables governments to slide the scale downward. Today, $250,000 is considered rich (try living in New York or California on that) and tomorrow, $150,000 will be. The scale will continue downward until YOU are considered rich.

That’s right… they’re coming after YOU, as all Socialist governments do. After all, you didn’t build that. It belongs to the government and their objective is to take it from you.

Meanwhile, the people who inexplicably and mistakenly think that taxing the rich gives more to ‘the people,’ refuse to actually look at the increased poverty it brings. As they regurgitate the catchy phrases the media and politicians feed them about ‘leveling the playing field’ and ‘fairness,’ they won’t even look at where people’s hard-earned money is really going. Instead, like mindless minions, they want more taken from them – the people – to feed the government Leviathan.

The government itself and everything they spend money on comes from us, the 53% of Americans who pay taxes. The mindless minions who regurgitate the “tax the rich” mantra need to explain how items such as these benefit the people:

• 16,500 more IRS agents needed to enforce Obamacare (about $10 billion according to the CBO) [Note: Obama supporters/Factcheck disagrees because they call them government ‘employees,’ not agents]
• Billions in Bloat Uncovered in Beltway ($200 billion per year on redundant government agencies)
• The Obama Green Energy Scam You May Have Missed (about $40 billion per year)
• CBO: Obamacare Would Cost Over $2 Trillion (about $250-$260 billion per year in the first 10 years)

You can find your own examples of outrageous government spending that does nothing to help us, the people. There are plenty to choose from.

For the four items delineated above, there’s about half a trillion dollars alone. How do any of these things help the people? Since Obamacare is included, some readers might be stuck on that one. Let’s explain.

One may think Obamacare helps the people, but they fail to understand that it will hurt everyone; especially low-income families and seniors.

If the complaint before Obamacare was the high cost of healthcare, the cost has now increased tremendously, so how does that help anyone? Have your premiums increased? Is your old plan no longer available?

Did you know that low-income families used to receive free medical care at any hospital they chose to go to? As mandated by the government long ago, no one could be turned away. Now these families will be pursued by government and required to pay for health coverage. What do you think all the extra IRS employees are for?

As for seniors, ‘take a pill’ as Obama famously said. $1.1 trillion is being stolen from Medicare – which all taxpayers pay into – to feed the Obamacare government beast. Even a fifth grader can figure out that this will greatly diminish care for our seniors. Why else do they need the ‘end of life’ counseling every year and why is there now a committee of 15 unelected government bureaucrats who decide what care people will and won’t receive?

Educate yourself on the “Complete Lives” system. It’s all there.

Don’t forget, Obamacare merely mandates that everyone purchase health coverage. It is health coverage, not care, for all. The transformation of America’s free-market healthcare system into a government-controlled socialized healthcare system will severely degrade health care, just as it has in other countries.

Why do you think foreign leaders and people with financial means have come to America for serious treatment? In a few short years, there will be no where for them, or us, to go.

Again, the objective of Socialism is to take from the people to redistribute to themselves and increase their power over the people. Taking over our healthcare system increases the number of people they can take from and have power over; it was never about giving “healthcare for all.” It’s about forcing everyone but themselves to pony up for coverage. But I digress…

Greed and power are must-haves among Socialist rulers/elites. France’s President Hollande is one example among many.

Regarding the mindless “tax the rich” minions, they clearly have not thought it through, they have not educated themselves, they know little about history and they cast their votes for these oppressors. All the while, they unwittingly call for these elites to be further enriched off the backs of the people.

Will these mindless minions think it through before it’s at their doorstep and they are added to the ranks of the poor? Doubt it.

Millonarios parquean sus supercoches en la sala del apartamento

Microsiervos

itzDeaMan

Where the 1% live: The 15 Richest Counties In America

Kali Geldis, The Street

While many Americans struggle to find jobs, balance their budget and get by with less, some folks are still living high on the hog.
Looking at the most recent Census Bureau date from 2010, we chose the 15 counties in the U.S. with the highest median household income.
With three counties exceeding the $100,000 mark, life seems pretty good in these areas, even as the U.S. median household income declined 2.3% from 2009 to 2010. Still, the following 15 richest counties still have a median income that is about double the national average of $49,445.

15th richest: Charles County, Md.

jimmywayne | Flickr

Median household income: $87,007 The first of five Maryland counties to make our list, Charles saw a population burst of 21.6% in the first decade of the 21st century.
With Maryland taking up a full third of our list, it's important to note that this state's residents took the sixth spot in our ranking of the most generous states in the U.S.

14th richest: St. Mary's County, Md.

Median household income: $88,444 The median household income in St. Mary's skyrocketed from about $72,000 in 2009 to more than $88,000 in 2010, the biggest percentage increase (roughly 22%) on our richest counties list.
This beautiful county lies on the Chesapeake Bay across from Virginia, and is home to the Lexington Park neighborhood as well as a state park and a regional airport.

13th richest: Calvert County, Md.

Harry Richardson | Flickr

Median household income: $88,862 Calvert lies just across the Patuxent River from St. Mary's County, which holds the 14th spot on our list. The median household income in this county didn't see the same boom that St. Mary's saw year over year, though.
Its income remained essentially flat, decreasing less than 1% from 2009.
Veterans make up roughly 10% of the population, according to the most recent census data.

12th richest: Montgomery County, Md.

jimmywayne | Flickr

Median household income: $89,155 With almost 1 million residents, Montgomery is one of the largest counties on our list. It's no surprise that this county is so large, since it's situated just north of Washington, D.C., and only an hour from Baltimore.
More than half of the county's population has a bachelor's degree or higher and the home values in this area are astounding. The median value of owner-occupied homes was $482,900 from 2006-10.

11th richest: Nassau County, N.Y.

Wikimedia

Median household income: $91,104 Just a hop, skip and a subway ride from Manhattan, Nassau County contains a large chunk of Long Island and Long Beach.
The only New York county to make the list, this area has an extremely low poverty rate, with only 5% of residents living below the poverty line. But what really sets Nassau apart is its diversity, with 20.7% of foreign-born residents and 27.3% of its residents speaking a language other than English at home.

10th richest: Morris County, N.J.

Dougtone | Flickr

Median household income: $91,469 Morris just barely snuck into the top 10 richest counties after its median household income fell by roughly $3,000 from 2009. The county's residents are less than an hour from Manhattan, and the area includes several lakes and state parks. Golfing is big in Morris county, with about 20 places to tee off.

9th richest: Prince William County, Va.

Billy Hathorn | Wikipedia

Median household income: $92,655 Not to be outdone, Virginia matches Maryland with the most counties on our list. Prince William has seen its median household income increase from 2009, even as the national average declined.
Prince William is outside of Washington, D.C., just like several other on the list. What makes it stand out from the rest, though, is the 43.2% population boom it has seen in the past decade. The area is home to many historical sites, including the Manassas National Battlefield Park, where two Civil War battles took place

8th richest: Somerset County, N.J.

Bosc d'Anjou | Flickr

Median household income: $94,270 With one of the most prestigious colleges in the country just outside the county line (Princeton University), it's no surprise the education levels of Somerset County's residents are very high. Almost 93% of residents have a high school diploma and roughly 50% have a bachelor's degree or higher.

7th richest: Stafford County, Va.

Morgan Riley | Wikipedia

Median household income: $94,317 With just 128,961 residents, Stafford County is one of the smallest population areas on our list, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in jobs. The county's unemployment rate is just under 5%, much better than the national average of 8.3%.
The wealth of jobs must put residents in the giving mood, since the state of Virginia also came in at the third spot on our list of the most generous states in the U.S.

6h richest: Douglas County, Colo.

J. Stephen Conn | Flickr

Median household income: $94,909 The only Colorado county and the only county west of the Mississippi to make our list, there's something special about Douglas. The large youth population (30.5% of residents are under the age of 18) suggests that the county is a good place for families.
Lying just outside of Denver, residents only need to travel up Interstate 25 to get to the Mile-High City. The rural beauty must attract residents, as there are only 339.7 people per square mile and the population has seen a 62.4% increase from 2000-10.

5th richest: Arlington County, Va.

NCinDC | Flickr

Median household income: $94,986 Living in Arlington isn't cheap, so you'd better be making at least the median household income to live in this county just outside Washington, D.C.
Arlington may not be the richest, but it does set a record for real estate values. The median value of owner-occupied homes in Arlington county is $571,700 -- almost $70,000 more than any other county on our list. This county also stands out as the most educated on our list -- 70.1% of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

4th richest: Hunterdon County, N.J.

Dougtone | Flickr

Median household income: $97,874 The richest county in New Jersey, Hunterdon just missed the six-figure mark in median household income. Located just west of Somerset County, which took the eighth-richest county spot, Hunterdon's income has actually crossed the $100,000 mark before.
While some might assume Hunterdon's residents make high salaries by commuting to New York City, where salaries are higher than the national average, the truth is that almost 94% of residents stay in-state for work. In fact, more residents commute to Pennsylvania for work than New York.

3rd richest: Howard County, Md.

David J. Brantley

Median household income: $101,771 With an astounding 58.3% of residents holding a bachelor's degree or higher, Howard County shows that higher education can pay. One of only three counties that have a six-figure median household income in the U.S., Howard is between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., attracting the extremely affluent. The median value of owner-occupied homes in the county is $456,200.

2nd richest: Fairfax County, Va.

Wikipedia

Median household income: $103,010 Fairfax County is one of the largest counties in terms of population to make our list (1,081,726 residents in 2010), but it is also notable for its real estate. Fairfax is one of only two counties on our list to break the half-million mark in home values. Coming in at $507,800 for the median value of owner-occupied homes, the county truly has some spectacular real estate.
Government buffs will be excited to learn Langley (headquarters of the CIA) is within the county line, so government employees must be making a decent amount of money these days. Also, the unemployment rate in the county has been astoundingly low historically, hitting 1.4% in 1999.

The richest county in America: Loudoun County, Va.

Karen Nutini | Wikimedia

Median household income: $119,540 With a median household income that is a full $16,000 higher than our second-place finisher, Loudoun county has trounced the competition on its way to becoming the richest county in America.
Another county surrounding our nation's capital, Loudoun borders West Virginia and Maryland and is the home to Washington Dulles International Airport. The Appalachian Trail runs along its western border and the area was largely an agricultural community until the airport was built in the 1960s.
The population has continued to increase, with the area nearly doubling in population size from 2000 to 2010. The poverty rate is also at an incredibly low 3.2%.

Read more: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11415107/1/the-richest-counties-in-america.html#ixzz1mxeJcSsO

"Untouchables": Indian outcast millionaire mulls caste, riches

AP reports:

As far back as he can remember, people told Hari Kishan Pippal that he was unclean, with a filthiness that had tainted his family for centuries. Teachers forced him to sit apart from other students. Employers sometimes didn't bother to pay him.
Pippal is a dalit, a member of the outcast community once known as untouchables. Born at the bottom of Hinduism's complex social ladder, that meant he could not eat with people from higher castes or drink from their wells. He was not supposed to aspire to a life beyond that of his father, an illiterate cobbler. Years later, he still won't repeat the slurs that people called him.
Now, though, people call him something else.
They call him rich.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal speaks in his office in Agra, India.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal inspects shoes at his shoe factory in Agra.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal poses for a photograph inside his
Heritage Hospital, one of the largest private medical
facilities in the north Indian city of Agra.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal sits for a photograph with his family at
his home in Agra, India.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal sits with his granddaughter at his home
in Agra, India.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal talks on his mobile phone as his wife
watches television in their bedroom at their home in Agra,
India.

Full story here >>

Canada's richest postal codes: Where the money's at

Canadian Business

The Ranking

Map

Gallery

While the European economies tumble like so many dominoes courtesy of the sovereign debt crisis and the United States juggles its own unwieldy debt and unemployment problems, it is comforting to know that Canada’s richest people are safe and snug in their tony neighbourhoods and spectacular mansions.

With the help of Environics Analytics, we have listed Canada’s richest neighbourhoods by Forward Sortation Area (the first three letters in your postal code) based on the most recent average net worth of the residents.

Not all rich neigbourhoods are created equal however. The homes in the leafy, ravine-crossed area of Rosedale (Canada’s 3rd richest postal code), where generations of Canada’s bluebloods have grown up, looks quaint and tiny when compared with the castles that dot the landscape in Toronto’s rural suburb, Kleinburg (the 10th richest). While the homes of Springbank (5th richest), outside of Calgary, nestle in the foothills of the Rockies, where the deer and the antelope play, Montreal’s Westmount (2nd richest) sits in the centre of one of Canada’s busiest cities.

Of course there are expensive homes and then, jaw-dropping, spectacular homes. The older homes in Toronto’s rich areas are pricey indeed, but are not opulent by the standards of Vancouver’s nouveau riche where a view of the ocean will set you back $20 million, ten times the amount of a house further back from the coast.

Check out our rankings of Canada’s richest postal codes and see if your ‘hood made the list.

Rare 50-carat diamond up for auction in Toronto

cp24.com

TORONTO — A rare 50-carat diamond is up for grabs in Toronto.

The round diamond, valued at $10 million, will be auctioned off this afternoon at the Royal Ontario Museum along with dozens of other pieces of jewelry.

Organizers say it's the first time such rare items are up for auction in Canada.

Kashif Khan, director of the Ritchies auction house, says the sale is attracting international interest.

But he says it's hard to predict what price the diamond will fetch.

The auction is scheduled to run between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Wealth inequality: also going up

Washington Post (blog)
Posted by Ezra Klein

(Mother Jones Magazine)

Of late, James Pethokoukis, the American Enterprise Institute’s resident economics blogger, has been attempting to “close the case on the inequality myth.” Wednesday’s edition argues that it doesn’t really matter if income inequality has gone up because wealth inequality fell after World War II. I don’t agree with that, but put it aside for a moment.

The paper Pethokoukis quotes argues that “the first and perhaps most obvious factor is the creation and the development of the progressive income and estate tax.” I note this only because Pethokoukis and the American Enterprise Institute are loud, committed advocates for eliminating the estate tax and moving toward a less progressive tax code. They host events on the subject and praise plans for a flat tax that would make the tax code less progressive and put an end to “the death tax.” Over the last decade, they’ve been winning. And wealth inequality, predictably, has been rising.

Pethokoukis’s numbers stretch from 1916 to 2000. In 2001, of course, the George W. Bush tax cuts were passed. The tax code became significantly less progressive, and the estate tax phased out over the course of the decade. In 2001, estates worth more than $675,000 were taxed at 55 percent. In 2011, estates are tax-free until they hit $5 million, and after that, they’re taxed at 35 percent. 

More >

Who are the 1 percent in Congress?

AMERICAblog/ By John Aravosis

A lot of Ds in the top ten richest members of Congress, followed by a lot of Rs.

And via Andrew Sullivan we learn that the 1970s were the tipping point for when the rich really took over their ownership of much of the country's wealth.

Jeffrey Winters traces America's wealth distribution over time:

The decade from 1970–80 was the turning point in the Great American Inversion. ... By 1990, real incomes for the top 1 percent exceeded the 1920 level threefold and continued to rise thereafter, while those of the majority did not budge. Reversing the pattern of previous decades, the richer you were, the faster gains accrued. It did not matter if Democrats or Republicans were in charge of the White House or Congress. By 2007, the top 1 percent of households had almost five times the real income they had in 1920; the top 0.1 percent had around six times, and the top 0.01 percent were awash in nearly ten times the real income they had enjoyed nine decades earlier.

The world's richest town celebrated its 50th birthday by buying a solid gold bull

Canada’s richest people

The late Kenneth Thomson, left, who stepped down as the head of his company to let his son David, left, take over, once ranked in Forbes’ Top 15.

 

Canadian Business Staff

The 13^th Annual Rich 100 is a celebration of the best and brightest in Canadian business. This year the list is both a barometer showing how the wealthy and affluent are not immune to world economic chaos and a testimony that Canada is still much better off than many parts of the industrialized.

Once again we see that the Thomson clan is still our richest family but the year has not been kind with the family fortunes dropping 8% — that's $2 billion. Don't feel too badly for them however, the family is still worth more than $20 billion. Times have also been tough for Edward Sampson of Niko Resources who exited the Rich 100 after his personal wealth declined by 38%.

 Read more >

What China's wealthiest really want

Liang Wengen, China's richest man/ Forbes 2011

Yahoo news

BEIJING, China - Chinese millionaire Su builds skyscrapers in Beijing and is one of the people powering China's economy on its path to becoming the world's biggest.

He sits at the top of a country — economy booming, influence spreading, military swelling — widely expected to dominate the 21st century.

Yet the property developer shares something surprising with many newly rich in China: he's looking forward to the day he can leave.

Su's reasons: He wants to protect his assets, he has to watch what he says in China and wants a second child, something against the law for many Chinese.

The millionaire spoke to The Associated Press on condition that only his surname was used because of fears of government reprisals that could damage his business.

China's richest are increasingly investing abroad to get a foreign passport, to make international business and travel easier but also to give them a way out of China.

The United States is the most popular destination for Chinese emigrants, with rich Chinese praising its education and healthcare systems. Last year, nearly 68,000 Chinese-born people became legal permanent residents of the U.S., seven per cent of the total and second only to those born in Mexico . Canada and Australia are also popular.

It is a bothersome trend for China's communist leaders who've pinned the legitimacy of one-party rule on delivering rapid economic growth and a rising standard of living. They've succeeded in lifting tens of millions of ordinary Chinese out of poverty while also creating a new class of super rich. Yet affluence alone seems a poor bargain to those with the means to live elsewhere.

Read more >