Post Numero Uno.

For my first post, I read an article on the Forbes 400 and the top 40 richest Americans.

The article was about who made the cut as "richest" and who didn't, but what I found interesting was that some of the people who were on it are off it now because of the rising and falling stock market. Such numbers as $6.8 BILLION dollars were lost in cases like Kirk Kerorkian's, and (not surprisingly) Oprah's net worth rose from $200 million to $2.7 billion.

It's absolutely ridiculous how much money some people make. The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, made it on the list as well at a net worth $1.5 billion. Other popular companies heads such as Urban Outfitters' chief Richard Haynes were also on the list. I think this shows how much popularity effects the amount of profit you can make on something. It isn't surprising at all, rather very demonstrative of the mentality most of America has- the "cooler" it may be, the more you want it. Almost everyone I know has a Facebook, and I know I've shopped at Urban Outfitters before. Oprah is a swelling phenomenon that I don't quite understand myself, but with such a huge fan base I can see why she would become so rich.

This has nothing to do with the article itself, but now I am thinking about how all of that money could go to something better, not necessarily entirely pocketed like much of it must be. So many people could benefit from it, and while the people who earned it entirely have the right to do whatever they want with it (it's their profit, after all), I think that some of the time when it is donated it's for the press time. I don't mean to insinuate that it is strictly for press coverage all of the time, because I know it's not, but when you have so much it's hard to open your eyes to the people that have nothing.

Just a thought.

-Stacey