Free Republic

When it comes to producing millionaires, the U.S. still leads the pack. Between July 2013 and July 2014, the ranks of Americans with a net worth exceeding $1 million grew by 1.63 million, or more than one-third of the 3.84 million adults worldwide who saw their net worth exceed $1 million over that span, according to a new report on global wealth from Credit Suisse CSGN.VX -3.56%. Overall, the U.S. was home to around 14.2 million millionaires, or more than 40% of those in the world. After the U.S., the United Kingdom, France and Germany added more millionaires than...

President Obama’s efforts to try to differentiate Democrats from “billionaire Republicans” was undercut by his own participation in a posh fund-raiser sponsored by billionaire Rich Richman. Though the entry fee for the event ranged from $1,000 to $32,000, the President insisted that “it was an opportunity for the middle class to have a say in the electoral process” contending that “the $1,000 minimum fee was less than half the annual $2500 savings in health insurance premiums that each middle class family has experienced under the Affordable Care Act.” As for billionaire host Rich Richman, the President asserted that “there are...

President Obama blasted Republicans as the party of “billionaires” on Tuesday while mingling with high-rollers at the $26 million estate of Rich Richman — yes, that’s his real name — in Greenwich, Connectiut. Richman, who built his $10 billion company developing rental housing, lives in the Conyers Farm area, where the minimum lot size is 10 acres. Twenty-five donors paid $32,400 each to get their photo taken with the president. Others paid $10,000 for dinner. While Obama was schmoozing — and the press pool was playing billiards in the basement — he was also soliciting donations for House Democrats in...

Billionaires are holding mountains of cash, offering the latest sign that the ultra-wealthy are nervous about putting more money into today's markets. According to the new Billionaire Census from Wealth-X and UBS, the world's billionaires are holding an average of $600 million in cash each—greater than the gross domestic product of Dominica. That marks a jump of $60 million from a year ago and translates into billionaires' holding an average of 19 percent of their net worth in cash. "This increased liquidity signals that many billionaires are keeping their money on the sidelines and waiting for the optimal moment to...

"The stock market is at an all-time, but economic activity is not at an all-time," explains billionaire investor Sam Zell to CNBC on Thursday morning, adding that, "every company that's missed has missed on the revenue side, which is a reflection that there's a demand issue; and when you got a demand issue it's hard to imagine the stock market at an all-time high." Zell said he was being very cautious adding to stocks and cutting some positions because "I don't remember any time in my career where there have been as many wildcards floating out there that have the...

Those on the left say they abhor big money’s corrupting influence in politics — until a leftist billionaire starts trying to sway public opinion. That’s okay with them, because, you know, old George Soros really isn’t creepy at all — he’s just a grandfatherly figure who gives like Santa Claus. And the same goes for Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg — their billions are okay, too. All Bloomberg wants is for the rest of us to give up tobacco, big gulps, and guns. Now Bill Gates has joined on the great lefty-billionaire good-guy list. Gates is donating $1 million to...

As the 2014 midterm elections approached, the media were quick to criticize conservative donors like the Koch brothers for backing issues important to them. But journalists largely ignored the incredible financial power being used to promote the liberal agenda. Five top donors – Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, Pierre Omidyar, Tom Steyer and George Soros’s own son, Jonathan – are major funders of the left. Together, they have contributed at least $2.7 billion since 2000 to groups pushing abortion, gun control, climate change alarmism and liberal candidates. That’s not how major media depicted them. Broadcast networks applauded when billionaire hedge fund...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Citigroup exec Carlos Gutierrez gave immigration reform firepower last year when they lent their money or names to the cause. But roughly two months before Election Day, the three groups the business titans helped launch are all but silent on the campaign trail. None of the three has purchased airtime for ads on immigration reform this fall. Their virtual absence comes as Senate Republican candidates in battleground states are launching attack ads against Democrats accusing them of supporting “amnesty,” leaving pro-immigration reform candidates even more vulnerable and immigration reform even less likely...

Left-wing financier George Soros has spent more than $100 million funding groups that in some way support "immigrant rights" since 1997, with many advocating for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. He has donated over $3 million to the National Immigration Forum, which has fiercely advocated for comprehensive immigration reform legislation and legalization of the nation's illegal immigrants.

"Among the Palestinians, they tell you straight out, 'I want to get rich.'" In recent days, various media have been publishing photographs of Hamas leaders in luxurious homes with fitness equipment, at luxury hotels around the world, etc. On the other hand, distressing pictures are being shown of the suffering of the Palestinian people in their rundown houses, whom Hamas says it represents. One of the big mysteries is how much the Hamas leaders, the Arab world's new tycoons, are worth, and how they, born and raised in refugee camps, who raise aloft the cause of their people's welfare, have...

“With three work days a week, we would have more time to relax; for quality of life,” Slim said. “Having four days [off] would be very important to generate new entertainment activities and other ways of being occupied.” But there’s a catch: in exchange for working fewer days a week, we should work for more of our lives. Instead of retiring at 50 or 60, workers should work until the age of 70 or 75, the 74-year-old Slim said.

Richard Mellon Scaife, the Pittsburgh philanthropist and reclusive heir to the Mellon banking fortune, whose support for right-wing causes laid the foundations for America’s modern conservative movement and fueled the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died on Friday. He was 82. Mr. Scaife’s death was reported by the The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a newspaper he owned. He had announced recently that he had cancer. Decades before David and Charles Koch bankrolled right-wing causes, Mr. Scaife and Joseph Coors, the beer magnate, were the leading financiers of the conservative crusade of the 1970s and ’80s, seeking to reverse the liberal traditions...

Richard Mellon Scaife, the billionaire publisher and banking heir who financed conservative causes that included attempts to discredit Bill Clinton while he was president, has died. He was 82. Scaife's death on Friday followed his disclosure less than two months ago that he had terminal cancer, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, one of his newspapers. He was heir to the banking, oil and aluminum fortunes of the Mellon family and used his estimated $1.4 billion wealth to underwrite conservative crusades and groups that included the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute.

Nick Hanauer, internet entrepreneur, has a message for his fellow "zillionaires", the revolution is coming. Mr. Hanauer, an early investor in internet retail giant Amazon..... Now, he writes in Politico magazine, he sees a different kind of future, and the outlook for people like him is not a bright one: "If we don't do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn't eventually come...

The United States could soon become a large-scale Spain or Greece, teetering on the edge of financial ruin. That’s according to Donald Trump, who painted a very ugly picture of where this country is headed. Trump made the comments during a recent appearance on Fox News’ “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.” According to Trump, the United States is no longer a rich country. “When you’re not rich, you have to go out and borrow money. We’re borrowing from the Chinese and others. We’re up to $16 trillion in debt.” He goes on to point out that the downgrade...

It certainly isn't breakfast at Tiffany's, but New York's homeless are getting something pretty darn close. A Chinese recycling billionaire has promised $300 and a high-priced lunch to 250 residents of Manhattan's shelters at the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park, according to NBC New York. As guests lunch on sesame-seed encrusted tuna, beef filet, and berries with creme fraiche, host Chen Guangbiao, will serenade them by singing "We are the World." Guangbiao, 46, says that he is trying to deconstruct the image of wealthy Chinese spending too much on luxuries by having this event.

It’s the greatest migration of wealth ever to hit humanity: The unprecedented flood of money, four times the size of the US gross domestic product, that will be passed along to a younger generation over the next half-century. Fueled by rising asset prices worldwide and entrepreneurship, America’s multimillionaire and billionaire baby boomers have embarked on an unprecedented $59 trillion transfer of their fortunes, according to researchers. The cream of America’s 1 percent have already started spreading their money around like confetti to charities, foundations, trusts — and to their Gen X and millennial heirs.

Controversial billionaire Chen Guangbiao placed a full-page advertisement in Monday’s New York Times and a half-page advertisement in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, inviting 1,000 underprivileged Americans to dine with him. “I want to spread the message in the US that there are good philanthropists in China and not all are crazy spenders on luxury goods”. Chen said he was “teaming up with a famous American charity to host a charity luncheon for 1,000 poor and destitute Americans, who each will receive 300 dollars”. The underprivileged will be invited to the Boat House restaurant in New York’s Central Park, where Chen...

That’s $2 billion with an uppercase B! Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has apparently won the bidding war Thursday for the Los Angeles Clippers with a staggering $2 billion offer for the NBA franchise, according to the L.A. Times. The frenzied battle to get the team from Sterling drove the franchise’s price sky high for a team that Forbes estimated was worth at $575 million in January of 2014.

Billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko says he would not let rebel-held east Ukraine become another Somalia as he prepared to take over the presidency with a clear signal from Moscow that it is ready to work with his government. Poroshenko has moved swiftly to stamp his authority as Ukraine's new leader after claiming victory in Sunday's presidential election, with partial results showing he trounced his rivals in the first round. He said Ukraine would press on with an offensive to crush the pro-Russian separatists waging an insurgency in the eastern industrial belt, despite Moscow warning it would be a "colossal mistake"....