record year for the world's billionaires

[blucher]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41989924/ns/business-forbescom/

This 25th year of tracking global wealth was one to remember. The 2011 Billionaires List breaks two records: total number of listees (1,210) and combined wealth ($4.5 trillion). This horde surpasses the gross domestic product of Germany, one of only six nations to have fewer billionaires this year. BRICs led the way: Brazil, Russia, India and China produced 108 of the 214 new names. These four nations are home to one in four members, up from one in ten five years ago. Before this year only the U.S. had ever produced more than 100 billionaires. China now has 115 and Russia 101.
The top 5
1. Carlos Slim Helu, $74 billion
2. Bill Gates, $56 billion
3. Warren Buffett, $50 billion
4. Bernard Arnault, $41 billion
5. Larry Ellison, $39.5 billion

Atop the heap is Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu, who added $20.5 billion to his fortune, more than any other billionaire. The telecom mogul, who gets 62 percent of his fortune from America Movil, is now worth $74 billion and has pulled far ahead of his two closest rivals. Bill Gates, No. 2, and Warren Buffett, No. 3, both added a more modest $3 billion to their piles and are now worth $56 billion and $50 billion, respectively. Gates, who now gets 70 percent of his fortune from investments outside of Microsoft, has actually been investing in the Mexican stock market and has holdings in Mexican Coke bottler Femsa and Grupo Televisa.

[ZonaJeep]

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Food and fuel prices are rising. Drinking water is getting more and more scarce.

Yup, we're doomed.