Forbes top 10 Billionaires: more than half are "self made"

[R_P_A_S]

Ok guys,

So what do we have to say about this? If you click on the Billionaires name it gives you a break down of who they are and there's a state there which tells you "how they made their fortune" More than half reads: "SELF MADE".

What truth is there to this claim? I though this self made thing was just a fable. I know there are very few true stories.. BUT.. the most richest men in the world? wow!

People still believe this when they read about it.. "i can be one of these guys!"

http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/10/worlds-richest-people-slim-gates-buffett-billionaires-2010_land.html

[Susurrus]

No, they aren't self made. Their wealth was created by the manipulation of capital made by workers.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

Meh, I'm reading these all I'm seeing is 'Inherited, inherited, inherited, computer guy, joined fathers company, son of a government minister, inherited...'

Slim... his family managed to move a printing press from Lebanon to Mexico. I have no idea how many Lebanese families would have had access to a printing press but I can only assume they lived somewhat comfortably for the time. Ellison... like Gates, managed to jump into computers early and made a fortune... case of right place, right time. Ortega... self-made man in the early 70's possibly when he was still hand stitching bathrobes by himself... now he just outsources to slave-labour sweatshops in Brazil for a dollar then sells the shit for hundred times the actual price. In all cases they earned the vast majority of their wealth off the backs of working class, so self made? Forbes be trollin'.

[Revolutionair]

Even if they were self made, I wouldn't care. I dislike capitalism because it's a class society. Social mobility just proves that it is a class society. (you can't have social mobility without classes as there would be nothing to move from/to)

[Buitraker]

The people who control the world dont put her face in a magazine for 5$

[ZeroNowhere]

Let's unmake them.

[xub3rn00dlex]

Let's unmake them.

What do you propose comrade?

[Obs]

What do you propose comrade?

I don't know about ZeroNowhere, but I'd propose using some rope to tie their one arm to a lamp post and the other to a small tractor, then hit the gas.

[Luís Henrique]

One guy that is often cited as a self-made millionaire is Sam Walton.

When you analyse his biography, though, you have to conclude - even within capitalist criteria, in which if you exploit others cleverly it counts as "work" - that he made (or faked) himself from a poor guy into middle class, and that he turned a small fortune into a huge one.

But the step from "middle class" to "small fortune" wasn't "self-made" at all; he just married the small fortune.

Luís Henrique

[Johnny Kerosene]

Bill Gates was self-made, but the only reason he was able to get all that fancy computer stuff in the first place is because his parents were well off. If he had been in the lower class he probably wouldn't be a billionaire.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I don't know about ZeroNowhere, but I'd propose using some rope to tie their one arm to a lamp post and the other to a small tractor, then hit the gas.

No, not a tractor...a forklift is much more appropriate.

[Seth]

A lot of the richest of the rich started out already millionaires. Some started from the petit-bourgeoisie. A lot inherited their spot on those lists.

What is truly rare is "rags to riches."

I remember some thing a while back that showed a majority of the top something hundred wealthy people inherited that money or were rich to begin with and increased their fortune.