Bloomberg News posted a list of the 400 top billionaires (those with only a couple of billion don’t make the cut). The collective wealth of these men (and a few women) is nearly $4 trillion.
If you scan the list, you will see the big funders of the corporate assault on public education: Bill Gates; the Walton family; Eli Broad. And you will also see the producers of the edu-propaganda film “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” Philip Anschutz and Jeff Skoll.
You may recognize some other billionaires who have contributed to the attack on teachers and public education. But the list seems incomplete: missing is Michael Bloomberg. Was it my oversight?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
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Towards the bottom of that article:
Bloomberg News editorial policy is to not cover Bloomberg LP. As a result Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, won’t be considered for this ranking.
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Fantastic!
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Brilliant! Do you mind if I link this post to my recent post on the education system in the UK?
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Brix in UK, link at will.
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The things the Anti-Education Billionaires have in common:
1. They can never have enough money.
2. They want to make the educational system their business, a business they own, rather than the people’s business.
3. They consider democracy a nuisance, so it will just have to go.
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Educators clearly outnumber them yet continue to remain disenfranchised in the discussion to privatize public schools. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/tables/sass1112_2013314_t1s_001.asp Are we truly willing to accept money speaks louder than voices? Where is the push to have education be part of the presidential debates?
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No, Michael Bloomberg, who by most estimates is worth something North of $20 Billion, is not listed. Neither is Donald Trump, who claims a net worth of $10 billion but whom most analysts think has less than $3 billion.
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“Fences and Gates”
Fences and Gates
Are all they need
To seal our fates
And feed their greed
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“All lives have equal worth”
Every life has equal worth
To billionaires like me:
Consumers all, to death from birth
And workers, for low fee.
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How much money is too much? We have reached this threshold. Under Eisenhower the top tax rate was 91%. Maybe we shouldn’t tax the 1% that high, but neither should we keep cutting taxes on the wealthy while we have lead in our water, and our bridges and transportation systems crumble. If these multi-billionaires had been contributing more to the common good, they would not have unlimited assets to attack public education, social safety nets and democracy. Society as a whole would be better off.
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But then the billionaires will not have the “freedom” to destroy others’ freedom.
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“The Leading Billionaires”
Our foremost leading billionaires
Will really make a diff
With VAM and test and other wares
They’ll lead us off the cliff
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Every thing should be looked at in perspective of the big picture. Here is some more data.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-net-worth-hits-high-of-84-9-trillion-1434038401
Americans’ Net Worth Reaches High of $84.9 Trillion
First-quarter climb driven by increase in stocks, home values; pace of borrowing slows a bit.
By NEIL SHAH
Updated June 11, 2015 2:14 p.m. ET
Americans’ combined wealth set a fresh record in the first quarter amid rising home values and stock prices, a trend that could prop up economic growth, though consumers also showed some caution when borrowing in a sluggish economy.
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What’s your point, Raj? That the rich are so ridiculously filthy rich that it’s bringing up the American average? Y’know, if you put your head in the oven and your feet in the freezer, your average body temperature is 98.6 – perfectly healthy!
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Some people, quite honestly, have never met or acknowledged a poor person. It’s easy to talk about the glory of our almighty economy when you don’t know what millions of peoples’ lives are like.
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Sent this in a reply to Raj… so worth seeing…real facts! a great video charts that talk about wealth inequality
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Here Raj, is the perspective that you seem to lack when confronted with the FACTS about wealth. Guess Fox News doesn’t explain this well.
HERE IS A SIMPLE CHART ABOUT WEALTH INEQUALITY…. FROM THE FACTS… you know what those little pesky things ar e, Raj>
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Dienne,
I was just pointing out that the top 400 people own about $4 trillion where as the rest own about $81 trillion.
Since you are attacking instead of sticking to the facts here goes. Please place your head in the oven and turn the gas on and do not light it.
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Raj – never in a million years would I pay a dime of my money to the WSJ, so I don’t have access to your linked article to see whether it’s you or the WSJ that’s full of sh–, but the top ten percent own 76% of the wealth in the country. The top 1% owns 35%.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/21/the-top-10-of-americans-own-76-of-the-stuff-and-its-dragging-our-economy-down/
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Diane,
Here is the competing list of 2016 American billionaires, from Forbes, with Bloomberg number 8.
Forbes also has an international list along with other breakouts. For example, it indicates the main source of wealth, whether it was inheretied, inherited and enhanced, who claims to have achieved billions without family or other supports, wealth in extended families like the Waltons and Mars (candy). Much more interesting. Some may want to buy the March newstand version
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2016/03/01/the-full-list-of-every-american-billionaire-2016/#5b941d835880
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And then there’s the rest of us!
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Cross posted
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/The-400-Leading-Billionair-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Billionaires_Bloomberg_Education-160320-485.html#comment588805
with a comment which takes them to these critters who comprise the EDUCATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Click to access eic-oct_11.pdf
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I am an optimist. I am also an Oregonian and a member of the public sector of the middle class. Put those numbers into perspective and consider this: Bill Gates was worth 67 billion in 2013. The Oregon Public Employee Retirement System had assets of 69 billion the same year.
If the public sector of the middle class in a smaller state like Oregon is worth more than Bill Gates, imagine what a difference it would make if the the public and private sectors of the middle class in all states banded together.
No more circular firing squads. No more left/right partisan bickering. The American middle class is a vast constituency. We outnumber the oligarchs and for now at least, are worth more than they are. Why not take our country back from them?
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