ultra rich

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These People Own the Most Land in the US
Who Owns the
Most Land in the US?

Who Owns the Most Land in the US?

Everyone who made The Land Report's top list owns almost 1 million acres or more

(Newser) - If you're reading this from a studio apartment, please prepare yourself. The Land Report has released its annual list of the people and groups who own the most land in the US, and per USA Today , those who made it the top 10 were sitting on nearly 1 million...

Artists Being Paid Huge Sums to Perform for Almost No One

Inside the world of the uber-private concert

(Newser) - You've likely heard of big-time artists getting hired to perform at corporate events or huge private parties. As David Browne writes in a lengthy piece for Rolling Stone , that's been happening for more than two decades. But Browne shines a light on the "far more shadowy parallel...

IRS: We No Longer Accept Checks Over $99,999,999

Super-rich will just have to pay electronically

(Newser) - Owe the tax man $100 million or more? Your check is no good at the IRS. Starting next year, the IRS says it will reject all checks for more than $99,999,999. That's because check-processing equipment at the nation's Federal Reserve banks can't handle checks that...

WSJ Defends Billionaire's Holocaust Comparison
WSJ Defends Billionaire's Holocaust Comparison
OPINION

WSJ Defends Billionaire's Holocaust Comparison

Backlash just proves Tom Perkins' point: editorial

(Newser) - When billionaire Tom Perkins compared the plight of the 1% today to the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust, pretty much everyone seemed to disagree with him . But now the Wall Street Journal (home to Perkins' letter to the editor) jumps to Perkins' defense with an editorial claiming that...

The Schools Most Likely to Produce Rich People

US dominates the list

(Newser) - Most of the world's richest people have something in common: They went to school in the US. Wealth-X has compiled a report on which universities worldwide boast the most "ultra high net worth" alumni—defined here as those with $30 million or more—and US universities dominate the...

Dear Warren, If You Feel Undertaxed, Write a Check

Wall Street Journal: Buffett's plea for higher taxes doesn't tell full story

(Newser) - Warren Buffett is again calling for higher taxes on himself and other rich people, and the Wall Street Journal would like him to put a sock in it, please. In an editorial today, the newspaper suggests Buffett isn't telling the full story. For instance, he complains that he pays...

If We Took Buffett's Advice, How Much Would It Help?

Quite a bit—but it likely won't happen

(Newser) - Warren Buffett made waves yesterday when he told the federal government to stop "coddling" him and other wealthy Americans and raise taxes on the rich. His plan would roll back the Bush tax cuts on people who earn more than $1 million and on capital gains and dividends income,...

Trump Shows Off New $100M Plane

Refurbished 757 is a luxury suite in the sky

(Newser) - No more slumming it in the air for Donald Trump: The real estate mogul gave the New York Post a tour of his modest little $100 million private plane before taking it on its inaugural flight from New York to DC. The overhauled Boeing 757 seats 43 very comfortably and...

Quit Waffling, Obama, and Stand Up to Bazillionaires

The mega-rich are sucking America dry, pay less taxes than ever

(Newser) - The electorate may have little love for wealthy, would-be politicians like Meg Whitman, John Raese, and Linda McMahon, writes Frank Rich for the New York Times . But maybe they should: Whitman and Co. were at least trying to give back, unlike most obscenely wealthy folk. The top 1% of American...

The Rich Are Mad as Hell, and Getting Away With It

Wealthy dodge modest tax hikes while everyone else suffers

(Newser) - “Anger is sweeping America,” Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times , and no, “I’m not talking about the Tea Partiers. I’m talking about the rich.” Although the recession has taken homes and jobs away from millions of poor Americans, “real political rage”...

For the Rich, Sleep a Status Symbol

 For the Rich, Sleep 
 a Status Symbol 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

For the Rich, Sleep a Status Symbol

Young heirs feel no need to look busy

(Newser) - Looking industrious has fallen out of favor among America’s upper crust. Jamie Johnson, who covers the lifestyles of the rich for Vanity Fair , writes that it’s fashionable for today’s wealthy heirs to lounge in bed until 4 or 5 in the afternoon—any stigma once associated with...

Middle Class Morphs Into 'New Poor'

Ever more Americans heading downward

(Newser) - At first, it seemed the financial crisis wouldn't leave the US deeply scarred, that's we'd ultimately emerge from it with renewed energy—until Americans stopped to look around and realized that somewhere along the way the middle-class had atrophied, leaving a small super-rich elite and swelling ranks of the poor....

For Once, Super-Rich Not Getting Richer

Recession halts 30-year rise of the super-wealthy

(Newser) - Since the 1970s, the rich have been getting richer with stunning consistency, but now, thanks to the recession, that decades-long run has hit a wall, the New York Times reports. Wall Street pay is indeed returning to normal, but for every investment banker who’s benefiting from that, several more...

Credit Crisis Snips Ranks of Super Rich

Millionnaires' club gets smaller as investments plummet in value

(Newser) - Won't somebody think of the poor millionaires? The global financial crisis has hit the world's "super rich" hard and left many of them merely extremely wealthy, the Financial Times reports. The number of "ultra high net worth individuals" with over $30 million to invest shrank by nearly...

Obama Wants to Revive 'Death Tax'
Obama Wants
to Revive
'Death Tax'

Obama Wants to Revive 'Death Tax'

Estate levy set to expire in 2010; Dems want richest 2% to pay up

(Newser) - With the estate tax—a levy on inheritances dubbed the “death tax” by opponents—set to expire in 2010 as a last gasp of President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts, Barack Obama and fellow Democrats are looking to keep America’s richest paying up, the Wall Street Journal reports....

Diamond-Inlaid Mastercard? 'I Like!'

Company readies lavish gold card for rich Kazakhstanis

(Newser) - MasterCard hopes that a worldwide recession won't stop shoppers from toting around a gold-encrusted, diamond-inlaid credit card, the Financial Times reports. Later this month, the company will issue VIP customers in Kazakhstan the "Diamond" card—which comes with a personal manager, is trimmed with gold, has a 0....

Billionaire Pays $500K for 27 Bottles of Wine

Global economic downturn? What global economic downturn?

(Newser) - As the global economy falters, many people are fighting to make ends meet. And then there’s the Chinese billionaire who spent $500,000 for 27 bottles of wine today. The sale set a record for a single lot. “I don’t think he has bought this as an...

Recession Not Slowing Ultrarich
 Recession Not Slowing Ultrarich 

Recession Not Slowing Ultrarich

Real estate, art, yachts still finding no shortage of willing consumers

(Newser) - As many Americans batten down the hatches, the über-rich are still living it up, the New York Times reports. Already this year, 71 New York apartments have sold for more than $10 million—compared to just 17 in 2007. The good times were so good, many say, they haven’...

Rich Getting Even Richer, Even Faster

Gap between super wealthy and rest of US grows even bigger

(Newser) - America’s economy is great, the New York Times says, if you’re already super rich. Between 2003 and 2005, America’s top 1% saw a meteoric 42.6% jump in income. The rest of us? Well, the middle fifth earned an extra 4.3%, and the bottom fifth just...

Your Log-in Please, Sir?
Your Log-in Please, Sir?

Your Log-in Please, Sir?

Social networking sites for the super-rich

(Newser) - The super-rich are joining the social networking craze, but they're certainly not going to mix with the masses on MySpace. Exclusive sites for millionaires using the same membership criteria as snooty country clubs are appearing on the Web, reports the Wall Street Journal. Invitation-only site aSmallWorld.net has proven popular—...

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