Forbes magazine has released its annual top 400 richest persons in America, with its 25th anniversary issue.

Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1917 to 1990) brought Forbes magazine into the forefront of business journals and his son, Malcolm Stevenson (“Steve”) Forbes Jr. (1947 – ) is current President, CEO and EIC of Forbes. Steve Forbes ran for President on the GOP side in 1996 and 2000.

I subscribe to Forbes, not because I’m any kind of investment hound (I can barely balance my own checkbook, much less my future retirement; numbers and finances stun me blind) but because it’s a good source of information and insight.

The “Top Ten” in the 2007 Forbes 400 (all estimates, according to the magazine, are conservative):

Worth: $59 billion

Age: 51; married, 3 children

Runs: Microsoft, Medina, WA

Worth: $52 billion

Age: 77; widowed, remarried, 3 children

Runs: Brookshire Hathaway, Omaha, NB

Worth: $28 billion

Age: 74; divorced, remarried, 5 children

Runs: Casinos, Las Vegas, NV

Worth: $26 billion

Age: 63; thrice divorced, remarried, 2 children

Runs: Oracle, Redwood City, CA

Worth: $18.5 billion

Age: 34; married

Runs: Google, Palo Alto, CA

Worth: $18.5 billion

Age: 34; single

Runs: Google, San Francisco, CA

Worth: $18 billion

Age: 90; thrice divorced, 2 children

Runs: Casinos, Investments, Las Vegas, NV & L.A., CA

Worth: $17.2 billion

Age: 42; married, 4 children

Runs: Dell, Austin, TX

Worth: $17 billion

Age: 71; married, 2 children

Runs: Oil, commodities, Wichita, KS

Worth: $17 billion

Age: 67; married, 3 children
Runs: Oil, commodities, NYC, NY

Oldest member of Forbes 400: John Simplot, 98

Youngest member of Forbes 400: John Arnold, 33

Members of Forbes 400 who are self-made: 270

Members of Forbes 400 who inherited their entire fortune: 74

Members of Forbes 400 who inherited a part of their fortune: 56

Greatest source of wealth, Forbes 400, 2007: investments

Greatest source of wealth, Forbes 400, 1982: oil

Kirk Kerkorian: 3.5 seconds

David Geffen: 22.5 seconds

Oprah Winfrey: 31.5 seconds

Ralph Lauren: 39.5 seconds

$16.4 million a day

$685,000 an hour

$11,400 a minute

$190 a second

Face Lift, 2006: $14,500

Face Lift, 2007: $17,000

Shoes, wingtip, John Lobb, London, 2006: $4,128

Shoes, wingtip, John Lobb, London, 2007: $4,566

Hatteras 80 Motor Yacht, 1,550hp Cat engine, 2006: $4,870,000

Hatteras 80 Motor Yacht, 1,550hp Cat engine, 2007: $5,118,000

But wait; there’s more:

By fearlessly and courageously walking into the ‘Lion’s Den’ … he is sure to become even more of a hero in the Arab-Muslim street than before,” the daily Iran News wrote.

And, of course, more:

Around 200 lawmakers hailed Ahmadinejad’s “historical and memorable” stay in New York, saying in a statement his “courageous” speech on Monday had made Muslims happy while angering Iran’s enemies like Israel, the Mehr News Agency said.

What a wonderful propagandist puppet the United States made, allowing Ahmadinejad to make his speech at the UN and then, further, inviting him to speak at a so-called “prestigious” university. What a willing dupe we were, what useful idiots. Is this not precisely what myself and hundreds of other Conservative bloggers wrote would happen following his speech at Columbia?

Thank you Columbia University, you have just assisted in further legitimizing Ahmadinejad the Mad in the Islamic world, as well as making life for all Israelis and, as an extension, the rest of the planet even more dangerous.

Next time, perhaps we could deign to lean into the punch a little more, eh?

And in case you just tuned in, let me be sparklingly clear:

I STAND WITH ISRAEL.

I am Pro-Israel. I cannot much think of a situation where I would possibly NOT stand with Israel.

Let’s take a look at the Middle East. Here’s a map:

Please note not only the POSITION of Israel compared to its neighbors, but the SIZE of Israel compared to its neighboring nation-states.

I STAND WITH ISRAEL.

Let me make things even simpler: Israel represents a clear-thinking Western nation dealing with the reality of completely-surrounding hostile nations. It represents a dot of logic and common sense in a region rife with a populace and governments wishing nothing more than to see the downfall of Judaism and every Jew extant.

Every surrounding Middle Eastern nation consists of barbaric, repressive, ignorant, sexist, racist, regressive,

There may be an actual smidge of sanity left in politics:

A House resolution urging President Bush “not to go forward with the North American Union or the NAFTA Superhighway system” is – according to its sponsor Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., in an exclusive WND interview – “also a message to both the executive branch and the legislative branch.”

As WND previously reported, on Jan. 22 Goode introduced H.C.R. 40, titled “Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada.”

Representative Goode was quoted by WND as saying: “You won’t hear the leadership in the Republic Party admit it, but there are many in the House and Senate who know that illegal immigration has to be stopped and legal immigration has to be reduced. We are giving away the country so a few very rich people can get richer.”

President Bush has tagged those who might suggest the SPP could turn into a veritable North American Union as conspiracy theorists: “You lay out a conspiracy and then force some people to try to prove it doesn’t exist. That’s just the way some people operate,” Mr. Bush said. Representative Goode also told WND:

President Bush’s position is that we need to carry out NAFTA and we need to have this free flow of goods with Mexico and Canada,” Goode explained. “Well, Bush’s approach involves a derogation of our sovereignty and it also undermines the security and the safety of the country.

“It will be much easier for a truck to get a container on the west coast of Mexico and haul in a biological or radiological or nuclear weapon than it would be if you are going to have to unload the trucks on the Texas-Mexico border and put the goods and material in a U.S. truck,” he continued.

“The problem is that the NAU, NAFTA Superhighways and SPP all go back to money,” Goode stressed. “The multinational companies want their goods from Mexico and China because they want the cheap labor.”

And of course, dear readers, please forget not that China currently enjoys “permanent normal trade relations” with the US, and was placed on “most favored nation” trade status at one point. Yes, the same China whose products and food we are finding to be less than adequately built and prepared.

How much longer shall we continue to sell our very souls for cash and votes? Yes, I mean you, Republicans. Yes, I mean you, Demorats.