Carlos Slim is Mexican. Actually Arab-Mexican... his last name should really be Salim. Lebanese ancestry like Salma Hayek. And he has almost monopolized the entire Mexican telecom market in addition to having investments all over Latin America.
However, as of 2014 the title of richest has gone back to Bill Gates once again. Carlos is #2.
Not a fan of them, but really, Tea Party puppet masters? Can we please just keep the politics as neutral as possible, at least in the quizzes themselves (people will inevitably bicker in the comments section).
Many of these people have had bankruptcies at some point or another, or they're close to it (Elon Musk). It's part of being willing to take great risks.
Trump-owned businesses have declared bankruptcy six times. Many other Trump businesses have failed without filing for bankruptcy protection. Many other Trump businesses and charities have been forced to close by judicial order, or pay large fines, for being fraudulent and poorly run. The man himself has never declared personal bankruptcy, though according to those close to him he has at times been billions of dollars in debt, owing substantially more than he had in assets. He gets around this mostly by routinely not paying his debts, taking advantage of people, lying, cheating, and doing whatever he can to avoid any sort of responsibility or accountability for his myriad crimes, grifts, cons, and failures. The same behavior that is on public display now 24/7 since becoming president.
Bloomberg is "Former New York mayor and 2020 Presidential hopeful" but Trump is just "Most controversial Twitter user in history?" Really? Trump actually made his money in real estate and had a successful TV show but that's not mentioned; he's the CURRENT President and not just a hopeful but that's not mentioned. Every other clue tells what the person did or does to make their money. Someone clearly has TDS.
I was going to add this myself. He once brought a libel suit against an author who released a book claiming Trump was not actually a billionaire. The court said Trump had to offer proof that the author was lying (i.e., prove you're really a billionaire)...and Trump withdrew the suit. He is a "billionaire" because he keeps telling everyone he is one, but every time someone asks him for proof, he balks. He's full of it. Three years and still no tax returns. He's obviously very rich, but his wealth is probably under $500 million.
He values his own name at between 3 to 8 billion dollars, depending on his mood, according to court filings. This is where most of his own reported net worth comes from. When he was elected president in 2016 it's very likely that he was worth only a few million dollars, or substantially in debt and effectively worth less than zero, but since becoming president he was worked tirelessly to enrich himself and his family at the expense of the country and the world. This is literally been his #1 priority. He may actually be a billionaire by the time he goes back to Mar-a-Lago and/or prison.
I don't know kalbahamut. He's already rich. He'll be dead in another 10-20 years. A simpler explanation is that he is motivated, like nearly all politicians, by pride. Certainly, his political career has done no favors to his business career.
.... what??? Certainly? I know he keeps repeating this over and over and over again to try and appear that he's being magnanimous. But, while, yes, his "brand" has suffered tremendously, due to the fact that his idiocy and ineptitude are on public display all the time now, and his divisive and hateful politics have made people want to disassociate themselves from him, on the other hand he helped push through a massive tax cut for the wealthy that has already helped American billionaires avoid paying billions in taxes, he secured multiple patents for his daughter to do business in China which could end up being worth ungodly amounts of money, he has charged taxpayers an estimated $123 million for his golfing habit and 100% of those trips have been made to Trump-owned properties, he has funneled millions upon millions of dollars to Mar-a-Lago for expenses related to hosting himself and the executive office there, he also doubled fees for membership after the election
He's got foreign heads of state and all sorts of other people lining up to stay at his properties in Miami, Washington, New York and around the world so that they can brown nose and gain access. The RNC among others have been found renting out rooms at Trump properties which were unoccupied. Trump's Tunberry resort in Scotland has made over $200k from military visits since the president started requiring military planes to stop there, often overnight, and refuel at much greater cost than they could at military bases. He tried to get away with hosting the G8 at Doral. Who knows how much money he's made with sweetheart deals on the properties he owns in Moscow and Istanbul by sacrificing American interests at the request of Putin and Erdogan- by Trump's own admission he has a massive conflict of interest in any dealings involving these and other locations due to his financial interests there. His sons have been profiting hand over fist off of this too, and his lawyer.
I am sure that narcissism is the main reason why Trump didn't decline taking the presidency and why he doesn't want to be impeached and also why he wants to get reelected... and it probably factored heavily in to his decision to run in the first place... but it's also undeniable that he has been using the presidency as a means of personal enrichment and this is really the only reason he can comprehend for doing anything. If it benefits him somehow. Something could be beneficial to him because of his pride, that's true, but Trump's ego is tied entirely to how much money he has so these things are pretty much one and the same. Though it is almost guaranteed that Trump is a tax fraud and his taxes will reveal this and numerous other shady things, I'm also pretty confident the main reason he has fought tooth and nail to hide them is to avoid showing how little his assets are worth vs what he claims. Narcissism. At the same time he has said in the past that he ran to self promote his brand.
and just think about how much the next book that he ghost writes will be worth.
and I think like many narcissists he doesn't really grasp the possibility of his own mortality so the fact that he is old and might die soon is not going to stop him from wanting to make more money. This is not a rational person we are talking about.
@kalbahamut In Trump's defense (I can't believe I just typed that) does anyone want to be impeached? I agree with the rest, but I think it is natural to not want to be impeached.
I doubt it. I was just conceding that his ego may be the primary reason he does anything even if it's not the only reason. And I imagine that other presidents might wish to avoid impeachment for other reasons... for instance because they had a vision for the country they wanted to implement. In Trump's case, there's nothing else there.
Someone just get really angry at the fact that a morally bankrupt, narcissistic monster who embodies the antithesis of all our alleged values -- both constitutional and moral -- is the object of so much admiration and holds the most powerful office in the world. I don't think it makes them deranged. I think it's pretty much the marker of sanity.
Can I suggest removing the "Dallas Mavericks owner and "shark tank" host" clue, as for a Brit, and possibly a non North American, that clue reads as 'Owns sports team you have never heard of and presents a TV show that isn't shown in your country."
I appreciate there is a limited pool of globally famous billionaires but that one is all but impossible for those of us from over the pond.
How about replacing it with someone like David Geffen, or James Dyson?
No he is not, never heard of cuban, and instantly knew who dyson was. Even if you dont know much about him himself, the vacuum cleaner with his name is pretty wellknown worldwide. (Wether or not you like vacuuming, which cant be said for cuban. There are some athletes than are known worldwide whether or not you like/watch sports. He is not one of them.)
I've heard of Dyson vacuums but that doesn't mean I know who James Dyson is. Is James Dyson on a famous reality TV show and appear regularly on other talk shows? If I said, hey, haven't you ever heard of Junichi Honda before? Would you say that you had, simply because you know what a Honda Civic is? If so.. then you'd look silly because I just made that guy up. The founder of Honda was apparently a guy named Soichiro.
I don't like or watch sports at all. But I've seen Mark Cuban on TV. but honestly I don't really care I'm just giving Algernon grief because he posts the same whiny comment on every single quiz it seems. All based on his very limited and myopic point of view, i.e. if he doesn't know something, it must not be internationally famous, and if he does know something, well then it must be. This is obviously wrong.
You could include Michael Jordan, the only athlete to reach billionaire status. Tiger Woods might have gotten there if not for the...unpleasantness that sidelined him around 2010.
These people need to get taxed the hell out of. No one needs this amount of money for personal use. Some are good at donating to charity, thanks! But most are pieces of shit who has no empathy what so ever.
Some of them, definitely. Others, it's hard to say. My gut says it's very difficult to become a billionaire without stepping on a lot of people, but that's just a generalization. Those in the arts (Oprah, Spielberg, Lucas) made their money mostly by entertaining people. Good for them. I think Mark Cuban and Mike Bloomberg made their money by cornering information markets without really crushing any little guys along the way. My opinion on Elon Musk changes by the day. JK Rowling is probably the most benign billionaire in the world (if she is in fact a billionaire, which many sources estimate, but that Rowling herself denies).
If Rowling is a billionaire, she is like Oprah, Spielberg, and Lucas. She also wrote a series of books that I've read a couple dozen times so I would like to thank her for that.
Im so out of the loop.. only got 9 and after seeing the answers, there was only one other name I recognized. Two of the ones I got were armani and berlusconi, would have thought their % would be higher (so that my answers would line up with the most guessed ones, never heard of the more guessed buffet for instance. But I guess the many american visitors of this site makes a difference in the results.)
Hey JetPunk - I love your quizzes but not the sly political commentary. Please keep your opinions to yourself. Trivia should be non-partisan enjoyment. If I want to raise my blood pressure, I will do so by watching the news. Thanks.
However, as of 2014 the title of richest has gone back to Bill Gates once again. Carlos is #2.
Anyway, since Trump refuses to release financial records, including tax returns, we have no idea how much money he has.
and I think like many narcissists he doesn't really grasp the possibility of his own mortality so the fact that he is old and might die soon is not going to stop him from wanting to make more money. This is not a rational person we are talking about.
I appreciate there is a limited pool of globally famous billionaires but that one is all but impossible for those of us from over the pond.
How about replacing it with someone like David Geffen, or James Dyson?
I don't like or watch sports at all. But I've seen Mark Cuban on TV. but honestly I don't really care I'm just giving Algernon grief because he posts the same whiny comment on every single quiz it seems. All based on his very limited and myopic point of view, i.e. if he doesn't know something, it must not be internationally famous, and if he does know something, well then it must be. This is obviously wrong.
Anyway, cheers for the handy list of people to guillotine. :)