Tough Times For the Super Rich

Bill Gates once again tops the list of the world's richest, and last year's number 1, Warren Buffet has fallen to number 2. But despite the Microsoft founder's $40 billion dollar net worth, he lost an estimated $18 billion. Buffet is still worth $37 billion, and that's after losing 25 billion.

The number 3 guy on the list is Mexico's telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who has a net worth of $35 billion, but like Buffet, lost another $25 billion dollars. My question is... Where in the world did the $68 billion that we lost between the three of them go? I have come acress a dime of it.

Forbes magazine recently released it's annual list of the world's billionaires, and the surprising thing to me was not who was on it, but the amount of money that some of them lost, and still remained on it. It doesn't seem that long ago that that the wealthiest guy on the list topped out at about $10 billion.

The recent down turn in the financial markets, bank closings, and all the talk about financial gurus running off with people's money has obviously had an effect on the world's richest, because the combined losses of the top three could fund the economies of most small countries.

As for me, I'm still trying to locate some of that lost money.