We all know it. Times are tough. Well, most of us know it. Except for certain out of touch presidential candidates who can't remember exactly how many homes they own, who think the economy's actually not looking that bad, and who would be delighted to spend $400 gazillion to keep our troops present in Iraq for at least the next hundred years or so.
But now I guess we can add to the growing list of recession victims one very big name.
Bill Gates.
I just read a business headline that announced that Gates had been booted from his throne and stripped of the title of "richest man on the planet." In fact, the Microsoft co-founder isn't even runner up for the title he held for 13 straight years.
Gates has fallen all the way to third place. Have the tears started falling from your eyes and sliding down your cheeks, dripping off your chin and pooling in your lap, creating a flood of Noah's Ark-type proportion all around you?
Well, suck it up. And don't waste your pity on the guy.
While he may not be the king of the world like he once was, he's hardly in line at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen. His worth now? Oh, only $58 BILLION. Even though he's down two spots on the list, he's actually up $2 billion from a year ago.
So who beat the Windows geek to the top?
Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helú is the world's second-richest man, with an estimated net worth of $60 billion. And, riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, everyone's favorite investor, Warren Buffett, is number one, worth an estimated $62 billion, up -- get this -- $10 billion from a year ago.
Pardon me while I go scrounge some quarters out of my car for the co-pay on my meds and boil the water for my cup-o-ramen for dinner. Oh, and transfer some money from my savings to checking to pay this month's mortgage on the ONE house I own so that it doesn't get foreclosed on like the house next door to us.
These folks are the world's richest. Sometimes I wonder exactly what world they live in? Because I read stories like these, and it seems like it must be Mars.
But now I guess we can add to the growing list of recession victims one very big name.
Bill Gates.
I just read a business headline that announced that Gates had been booted from his throne and stripped of the title of "richest man on the planet." In fact, the Microsoft co-founder isn't even runner up for the title he held for 13 straight years.
Gates has fallen all the way to third place. Have the tears started falling from your eyes and sliding down your cheeks, dripping off your chin and pooling in your lap, creating a flood of Noah's Ark-type proportion all around you?
Well, suck it up. And don't waste your pity on the guy.
While he may not be the king of the world like he once was, he's hardly in line at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen. His worth now? Oh, only $58 BILLION. Even though he's down two spots on the list, he's actually up $2 billion from a year ago.
So who beat the Windows geek to the top?
Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helú is the world's second-richest man, with an estimated net worth of $60 billion. And, riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, everyone's favorite investor, Warren Buffett, is number one, worth an estimated $62 billion, up -- get this -- $10 billion from a year ago.
Pardon me while I go scrounge some quarters out of my car for the co-pay on my meds and boil the water for my cup-o-ramen for dinner. Oh, and transfer some money from my savings to checking to pay this month's mortgage on the ONE house I own so that it doesn't get foreclosed on like the house next door to us.
These folks are the world's richest. Sometimes I wonder exactly what world they live in? Because I read stories like these, and it seems like it must be Mars.
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