According to the latest Forbes list http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/05/richest-people-billionaires-billionaires08-cx_lk_0305billie_land.html America is no longer the economic superpower.
If you examine the Top 10 you will find only 2 Americans in the list - Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Of the remaining 8, four are from India, one from Mexico, one from Russia, one from Sweden and one from Germany.
As interesting as these lists are, what is it really telling us ?
If we look at the source of their wealth we find that the richest non-american Carlos Slim Helu is a self made billionaire, making his money from his telecoms network.
The next on the list is Lakshmi Mittal, an India citizen though a resident of London, England. He inherited part of his fortune but grew it through his steel company, which just supplied the raw materials for the WTC memorial in New York.
The next two on the list are brothers, also from India, both of whom inherited part of their fortune. The first, Mukesh Ambani, credited with being the richest person in Asia, has grown his personal wealth through the leadership of petrochemical giant Reliance Industries.
His brother, Anil Ambani who also inherited part of the family fortune and has grown it through his stake in Reliance Communications, experienced the largest personal wealth growth on this years list.
Just examining these first few you can see the trend, they are either involved in industries in which the US used to dominate or they are providing services to the newly created middle classes in countries where outsourcing is now the dominant industry.
How many years until we see a Top 10 list that has no Americans in it ? Any guesses ?
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