Showing posts with label billionaires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label billionaires. Show all posts
Friday, August 18, 2017
Steve Bannon on the Crisis of Capitalism and the Divine Right of Billionaires
Thursday, June 01, 2017
Friday, March 02, 2012
THE MONTHLY: The rising influence of vested interests is threatening Australia’s egalitarian social contract.
A decade ago, as I waited for my order outside a Maroochydore fish and chip shop, a tall, barefoot young man strolled past wearing a T-shirt that read: ‘Greed is good. Trample the weak. Hurdle the dead.’ Those brutal lines seemed to encapsulate what was then a growing sense of unease in Australia. The world of my Queensland childhood, governed by its implicit assumptions of equality and mutual care, was being driven from sight by a combination of ruthless individualism and unquestioning materialism. Looking out for number one was not only tolerated but encouraged by a government whose agenda, particularly in industrial relations, seemed very far from the social contract, based on a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work with a decent social safety net for the vulnerable, that had served our nation so well for so long.
Today, when a would-be US president, Mitt Romney, is wealthier than 99.9975% of his fellow Americans, and wealthier than the last eight presidents combined, there’s a global conversation raging about the rich, the poor, the gap between them, and the role of vested interests in the significant widening of that gap in advanced economies over the past three decades.
This is a debate Australia too must be part of. We’ve always prided ourselves on being a nation that’s more equal than most – a place where, if you work hard, you can create a better life for yourself and your family. Our egalitarian spirit is the product of our history and our national character, as well as the institutions and safeguards built up over more than a century. This spirit informed our stimulus response to the global financial crisis, and meant we avoided the kinds of immense social dislocation that occurred elsewhere in the developed world.
But Australia’s fair go is today under threat from a new source. To be blunt, the rising power of vested interests is undermining our equality and threatening our democracy. We see this most obviously in the ferocious and highly misleading campaigns waged in recent years against resource taxation reforms and the pricing of carbon pollution. The infamous billionaires’ protest against the mining tax would have been laughed out of town in the Australia I grew up in, and yet it received a wide and favourable reception two years ago. A handful of vested interests that have pocketed a disproportionate share of the nation’s economic success now feel they have a right to shape Australia’s future to satisfy their own self-interest.
So I write this essay to make a simple point: if we don’t grow together economically, our community will grow apart. Read on and comment » | Wayne Swan | The Monthly | The Monthly Essays | March 2012
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Even as their father proclaimed he was building a classless state built on socialist and Islamic principles, Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi's and his children built vast fortunes in sectors from hostels to oil.Britain has announced that the assets of the dictator and his family have been frozen, and the Treasury has created a special unit to trace the multi-billion pound assets they are thought to have squirrelled away in investments in the city. For years, though, that fortune helped the Gaddafi family win friends and influence across the world.
Saif al-Islam, the suave, western-educated second son of the Libyan dictator, was the best known of the sons.
Seen as the natural successor to his father before the wave of protests across the north African nation, the 38 year old Saif al-Islam presented himself as a reformer. He was welcomed in the West as the acceptable face of the regime, and claims the Duke of York, Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair among his "good friends".
In 1995, he received his degree in architecture and engineering at Tripoli's al-Fateh University, and then went on to obtain a management degree from the International Business School in Vienna before gaining a doctorate at Britain's London School of Economics (LSE).
Presenting himself as a humanitarian ambassador through the charitable body he set up in 1997, the young Gaddafi – whose name means the sword of Islam in Arabic – was at the heart of the complex negotiations over the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor freed by Libya in July 2007. >>> Fiona Govan | Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
MAIL ONLINE: Google mogul Larry Page has joined the billionaire boat owner club by splashing out $45m on his own super yacht - but unlike many moguls, he bought his yacht used.
Page, 37, picked up the 193-ft boat 'Senses' which comes with a helipad, gym, multi-level sun decks, ten luxurious suites, a crew of 14 and interior design by famed French designer Philippe Starck. [Also here.]
Page, who is worth an estimated $15billion, bought the boat from New Zealand brewing heir Sir Douglas Meyer [sic].
It was first launched onto the seas in 1999.
Meyer said Page took delivery on the mega-yacht shortly before the new year, and perhaps enjoyed the holidays on the high seas with his family.
Page married model Lucinda Southworth at Richard Branson's Necker Island in 2007, with whom he has a one-year-old son. A yacht to smile about: Billionaire Google founder buys 193-foot boat for $45million ... but he bought it second-hand >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A number of palaces of Russia's super-rich have been revealed by the magazine Forbes, including a mysterious 18th century style estate built since the mid-2000s which is standing empty and no one knows who built it.
Hundreds of palaces have been built in the Russian countryside in the last 15 years when newly rich oligarchs began looking for ways to display their stupendous – and often ill-gotten – wealth. The village of Zukovka, on the Rublovka highway west of Moscow, is dotted with immense country residences: mock medieval castles, imitation 19th century mansions, and huge Swiss chalets crouch behind three meter high fences and security cameras. But their owners are secretive and hide their mansions inside exclusive settlements screened by trees and guarded by police. >>> Roland Oliphant in Moscow | Wednesday, December 29, 2010
By contrast, for this former oligarch, life isn't quite so rosy:
THE TIMES: Brutal gulag and hard rations await tycoon found guilty twice >>> Tony Halpin, Moscow | Wednesday, December 29, 2010 (£)
THE GUARDIAN: Mikhail Khodorkovsky sentenced to 14 years in prison: Jailed former oligarch given six more years for theft and money laundering after widely condemned trial >>> Mark Tran and agencies | Thursday, December 30, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Russian Judge Extends Term for Tycoon by 6 Years: MOSCOW — Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the Russian tycoon who was imprisoned after defying Vladimir V. Putin, was sentenced to another six years behind bars on Thursday. It was a stiff term that was considered an unambiguous signal that Mr. Putin was not loosening control over the country in advance of presidential elections that he might enter. >>> Clifford J. Levy |Thursday, December 30, 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: So wie der Urteilsspruch ruft auch das Strafmaß für Chodorkowskij massive Kritik hervor. Die Bundesregierung und die USA zweifeln am Rechtsstaat in Russland.
Die Hoffnung von Michail Chodorkowskij auf eine baldige Freilassung hatte sich spätestens am vergangenen Montag verflüchtigt: Da wurde er von einem Moskauer Gericht erneut für schuldig gesprochen, schuldig des Betrugs und der Geldwäsche. Seit wenigen Stunden ist auch klar, wie lange er dafür noch hinter Gitter verbringen muss: Wie sein ebenfalls verurteilter früherer Geschäftspartner Platon Lebedjew wird auch der frühere Öl-Unternehmer vermutlich erst im Frühjahr 2017 wieder auf freiem Fuß sein. Weiter lessen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> dpa, AFP | Donnerstag, 30. Dezember 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Dormeuil, which makes 80 per cent of its fabrics in Britain, said it will launch six suit fabrics, including the 'Vanquish II', hailed as the world's most expensive suit. It is made of Vicuna, Qiviuk and Pashmina threads and woven into a super-light wool.
The launch is another milestone in India's extraordinary economic growth and reflects the rise of a new class of super rich.
In the last year alone, India has welcomed 69 new billionaires and witnessed a steep rise in the number of millionaires with its economy growing 8.9 per cent in the quarter ending September 30 alone. The rise has seen a surge in demand for luxury goods. >>> Dean Nelson | Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 02, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, has secret “illicit” assets hidden outside his country, according to allegations contained in reports from Condoleezza Rice, the former US secretary of state, disclosed in the latest batch of Wikileaks cables.
Ms Rice said she had been told by opposition figures in Russia that Mr Putin had attempted to engineer a safe transition when he stepped down as president in 2008 because he wanted to avoid “law enforcement investigations”.
The cable recorded a conversation between David Kramar, then the US deputy assistant secretary of state for Eurasian affairs, and an unidentified opposition leader during a visit to Washington.
Mr Kramar was told that Mr Putin was “nervously seeking to secure his future immunity from potential law enforcement investigations into his alleged illicit proceeds”.
The most likely candidate to take over from him was Sergei Ivanov, a charming, polyglot former KGB officer, who had experience of dealing with the west.
However, the eventual successor, and incumbent, was Dmitry Medvedev, who was described in other leaked cables as the “Robin to Putin’s Batman”.
Cables linked Mr Putin’s wealth to a “secretive Swiss-based oil trading firm” called Gunvor. >>> Andy Bloxham | Thursday, December 02, 2010
Introduction to Gunvor >>>
Wiki >>>
THE GUARDIAN: Russian PM allegedly promised Italian leader a cut of energy contracts, leaked US dispatches say
US diplomats have reported startling suspicions that Silvio Berlusconi could be "profiting personally and handsomely" from secret deals with the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, according to cables released by WikiLeaks.
Exasperated by Berlusconi's pro-Russian behaviour, American embassy staff detail allegations circulating in Rome that the Italian leader has been promised a cut of huge energy contracts.
The two men are known to be personally close, but this is the first time allegations of a financial link have surfaced.
Hillary Clinton's state department in Washington sent a special request to the Rome embassy this year, asking for extra intelligence-gathering on the allegations about the men: "What personal investments, if any, do they have that might drive their foreign or economic policies?".
References to Berlusconi's "financially enriching relationship" originated both from members of his own political party and from the hostile government of Georgia, according to the leaked cables. >>> Rob Evans, Luke Harding and John Hooper | Thursday, December 02, 2010
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Bill Gates's and Warren Buffett's campaign draws in top names including George Lucas and Michael Bloomberg
The world of philanthropy got a huge financial boost today as more than 30 American billionaires pledged to give away at least half of their fortunes to charitable causes, signing up to a campaign launched by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
In an unprecedented mass commitment, top figures including New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg, the hotel heir Barron Hilton, CNN media mogul Ted Turner, and the Star Wars director George Lucas lent their names to the "giving pledge", an initiative founded last month to encourage America's richest families to commit money to "society's most pressing problems".
The pledge is not a legally binding contract but is described as a moral commitment. Buffett, the legendary Nebraska-based financier known as the "sage of Omaha", welcomed the influx of support: "At its core, the giving pledge is about asking wealthy families to have important conversations about their wealth and how it will be used. We're delighted that so many people are doing that." >>> Andrew Clark in New York | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Picture Gallery: US billionaires to give away fortunes to charity: Forty of the richest families and individuals in the US have committed to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes by taking the 'giving pledge', a campaign launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett >>> | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Only 14 of the world's 1,000 billionaires are self-made women, and only nine of them had no help from relatives, a new list has found.
In a list of the world's richest self-made women, American business magazine Forbes published the names of 14 women who have accrued $1 billion or more thanks to their own entrepreneurship rather than inheriting part or all of their fortune.
Seven of the women on the list were Chinese, Harry Potter author JK Rowling was the only British-born woman, and of the fourteen, at least five built their business empires with the help of husbands and brothers or sometimes both.
By contrast, Forbes said that 665 of the world's 1,011 dollar billionaires, including the three wealthiest men on the planet, Carlos Slim, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, were self-made men. That, it said, meant that the 'female billionaires' club' accounted for two per cent of the total number of self-made billionaires.
"All of these self-made female billionaires have impressive personal stories, but the dearth of them is itself a story, and begs the question of why so few?" Forbes wrote. >>> Andrew Osborn in Moscow | Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The World’s Richest Self-made Women >>> | Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, April 04, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The death of Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, controller of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, has thrown the spotlight on one of the world's most powerful families.
He was a multi-billionaire, and scion of one of the world's most powerful families. But until his microlight aircraft crashed into a Moroccan lake last weekend few outside the narrow confines of the Gulf, and the even narrower confines of sovereign wealth finance, would have heard of Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
To some extent, that is understandable. In the world of Gulf princes, he was one among a secretive cast of thousands. As managing director of the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund, discretion was his watchword.
He himself was one of 19 brothers, led by the eldest, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, Ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates. With his close-trimmed beard and standard-issue white robes and kaffiyeh, he could pass for any one of the powerful royals who run the emirates and neighbours such as Saudi Arabia.
Even so it was odd that his death at the age of 41 attracted only a few passing newspaper paragraphs in the West. The Nahyan family, Abu Dhabi's hereditary emirs, are significant players on the world stage, and their ability to avoid the limelight is itself beginning to attract attention.
"They are not interested, they don't want it," says one Abu Dhabi insider. "They don't give interviews, they just get on with it."
But in terms of publicity, Sheikh's Ahmed's death is likely to be just the start of it. What they are "getting on with" nowadays is running boardrooms, influencing geopolitics and - above all - growing the richest family business in the world. Slowly, they are becoming aware that as the spotlight turns on them, they will become fodder for front-page headlines and, no doubt, gossip columns too.
Sheikh Ahmed, 41, died after apparently fouling up a landing in a microlight he was learning to pilot. He had been holidaying at a Nahyan family palace by a lake in the Moroccan hills. His instructor survived and got ashore; Sheikh Ahmed's body was eventually found on Tuesday.
Immediately, the whispers started. No-one in authority suspects anything other than an accident, but his half-brother, Sheikh Nasser bin Zayed, also died in a crash when the helicopter he was piloting plunged into the Gulf two years ago.
It was an unfortunate coincidence: could the Nahyans be suffering the "curse of the Khaleej Kennedys", asked one gossip - Khaleej being the Arabic for Gulf.
Comparison with the Kennedys would cause the conservative Nahyans to shudder with horror. But if the United Arab Emirates is not yet the United States, the Nahyans are just as handsome as the Kennedys and much, much richer. Inside the world of the 'Kennedys of the Gulf' >>> Richard Spencer in Abu Dhabi | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: The number of billionaires across the globe slumped by almost a third in the last 12 months as many of the world's richest men and women fell victim to the economic recession.
Those worth over £1billion fell from 1,125 in 2008 to just 793, as a combined $2.4 trillion (£1.74 trillion) was wiped off the value of their collective 2008 $4.4 trillion fortune.
As a result, the average billionaire saw their net worth fall from $3.9bn to $3bn in the year, as the value of investments, property and other assets all plunged.
The annual survey of who's who and who's worth what in the upper echelons of the world's entrepreneurial classes, the just-released Forbes 2009 World Billionaires list reveals the damage that has been wreaked on the fortunes of many.
Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world last year with a fortune of $62bn, lost $25bn as a result of declines in the value of his investments, many of which are in the insurance and financial sectors which have been hardest hit by the global recession.
Taking his crown is Bill Gates, who, in spite of reclaiming the top spot in the annual Forbes survey after a year's absence, still saw his Microsoft fortune fall by almost a third, down $18bn to $40bn. Number of World Billionaires Slumps by a Third >>> By James Quinn in New York | Wednesday, March 11, 2009
leJDD.fr:
Galerie de photos: Les riches deviennent moins riches: Comme chaque année, le magazine Forbes publie son classement annuel des grandes fortunes mondiales. Le crû 2008 a un petit air de crise. >>> | Jeudi 12 Mars 2009
BBC:
Watch BBC video: Billionaires Drop Off Rich List: The financial crisis is taking its toll on the world's richest people, wiping 332 names off the Forbes Magazine's 'rich list' of world billionaires. >>> Caroline Hepker | Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
Sunday, April 22, 2007
BBC: Most people in Britain are now familiar with the scruffy, boyish and invariably unshaven features of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, and Russia's most famous billionaire.
This week we learned that Mr Abramovich is one of a growing list of hyper-rich Russians.
According to Forbes magazine Russia now has 60 billionaires.
Unlike Mr Abramovich, most of them live in Moscow, which, if I'm not much mistaken, makes the Russian capital home to more billionaires than any other city in the world.
It is quite a change for a place that 15 years ago had no millionaires, let alone billionaires.
How exactly these people have got hold of such vast wealth in such a short time is a very good question, and one many ordinary Russians would like answered.
It is one reason why Russia's richest people like to keep their identities and their lifestyles secret. Moscow’s suburb for billionaires (Read on)
Mark Alexander
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