About wealthy people.

[PM Martin]

Every year, Forbes publishes a list of the wealthiest people in the world and the US.
They also try to estimate the value of people who are not worth a billion. Do you suppose that there are people who could be billionaires but cannot be traced for some reason or another?
If so, how would they keep their fortune a secret?

[Vincardog]

1. Easy keep your money in the criminal BCCI

[gateley]

5. What's the BCCI? (I obviously don't have the money to even know what that is.) nt

[Vincardog]

12. A very old friend of the bush crime family check out this link.

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_International >

[gateley]

15. Whoa. That's a big frightening. Thank you! nt

[gateley]

2. That's an intriguing question. I'm K&R-ing because I'm interested to hear

what those who might actually know something about this have to say.

What do YOU think?

[PM Martin]

3. Thanks for the R!

I'd like to hear much more about this. That is why I am asking.

[BeHereNow]

4. Off shore privately owned banks.

That's my guess about where the 9 billion in Iraq went.
Probably the 3 trillion that went missing from the
pentagon too.

We'll never know.

BHN

[gateley]

8. Oh - that makes sense. And I'm guessing you're probably right. Those

who have that much would know how to do it without leaving a trace, probably.

[BeHereNow]

10. They have perfected the art ever since the creation of the Federal Reserve,

which is NOT a government entity despite the name "Federal."
BHN

[gateley]

16. I read a book entitled The Creature from Jekyll Island which explains how

the Federal Reserve came about. Infuriating.

[BeHereNow]

19. The Federal Reserve is the biggest scam ever perpetuated on a people.

When I hear a candidate address THIS crime, I will be
the first in line at the polls.

BHN

[SDuderstadt]

20. This is a myth....

they are, in fact, an independent federal government agency. You're getting mixed up by the member banks being privately owned. Read up on how the Federal Reserve actually works.

[mikelewis]

6. I would imagine organized crime lords try to keep their earnings a secret...

It isn't unreasonable to assume a few of them could be billionaires.

[BeHereNow]

7. Yep- witness the invisible men behind the current government puppets.

Organized global criminals.
BHN

[conspirator]

17. It's truly a NWO nt

[leftofthedial]

9. several

they distribute their money among family members

they keep their assets *very* private and difficult to trace

but there aren't that many billionaires

[Justitia]

11. Sure. There are people who make $$$ in ways that are not high profile

or their companies fly below the radar, they aren't "sexy" flashy companies, or they aren't publicly traded so they don't have to disclose jack to anybody.

There are also folks who make money on investments or inheritances and are considered independently wealthy. The only people who need to know what they make is the IRS, and then it's only "income" per annum, not accumulated wealth which is sure to be much, much higher.

None of these individuals is doing anything proactively covert, they just don't attract the attention of high finance movers & shakers.

[PM Martin]

13. True. If someone is investing in land/real estate.

it is not going to attract that much attention, unless it's an REIT of course.

[Justitia]

14. We have no real way to estimate "wealth" (unless voluntarily disclosed), only income.

And if an individual is really, really wealthy, his income is only a fraction of his wealth.

Most of what we know about "wealth" in this country comes from the IRS (which only tracks income) or financial transactions which must be disclosed by public companies (still an income issue), so it is guaranteed that there is a great deal of wealth out there that we simply aren't aware of. There is nothing illegal or nefarious about it, they aren't dodging any legal reporting requirements.

And really, a good deal of people that are that wealthy can be discreet about letting on just have much they have in the bank - for obvious reasons.

[blondeatlast]

18. Exactly; and the 99% of us would do well to heed your words.

The Bush and Cheney families (I picked them at random, I swear :evilgrin:) are worth way, way more than can ever be traced.

The One Percenters are a different breed from the rest of us entirely.

[Beerboy]

21. If their assets are in gold. n/t.