Hispanic Dems warn Obama he risks losing Latinos

[amiquechu 0]

So bitter

Amen!!!!

And who give a f#$* if someone is rich because they inherited money? Most wealthy people (monetarily speaking) work so damn hard their entire life so they can make life easier for their family once they're gone. I guess I would be evil for having a grandfather who worked more in one year than you've probably worked in the last decade if I inherited some money from him????

Edited June 19, 2008 by SKTEAMO

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

So bitter

Amen!!!!

And who give a f#$* if someone is rich because they inherited money? Most wealthy people (monetarily speaking) work so damn hard their entire life so they can make life easier for their family once they're gone. I guess I would be evil for having a grandfather who worked more in one year than you've probably worked in the last decade if I inherited some money from him????

Tales Of Success

Rags To Riches Billionaires

Tatiana Serafin, 06.26.07, 6:00 PM ET

While inheriting a billion dollars is still the easiest way to land on our list of the world's wealthiest, it certainly isn't the most common. Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination, and not good genes.

Fifty of these self-made tycoons are college or high school dropouts. The most famous billionaire dropout is Microsoft's Bill Gates, who finally got his honorary degree from Harvard University in June, 30 years after quitting the prestigious school to sell software. ''I did the best of everyone who failed,'' joked the world's richest man in his official graduation address. With failure like that, who needs success?

Other billionaires, such as media maven Oprah Winfrey, made their fortunes against far greater odds. Born in rural Mississippi, she spent her early years living in poverty on her grandmother's farm. Wanting a way out, she moved to Wisconsin to be with her mother, but was sexually molested by her male relatives. At age 14, she reportedly gave birth to a premature baby who died. Only after moving to Nashville to be with her father did her luck finally start to turn.

The stories of these bootstrapping billionaires are as diverse as the 10 individuals themselves. They range in age from 40 to 91, hail from diverse industries such as fashion and oil, and live in five different countries. Russia's richest man, Roman Abramovich, was an orphan. Apple's iconic Steve Jobs was adopted. Jobs dropped out of Reed College when he couldn't pay the tuition; his net worth today could support nearly 40,000 students at Reed for four years. Three others, including Ralph Lauren, are also college dropouts.

Another five are high school or grade school dropouts, proving that street smarts can often trump book smarts. The U.K.'s publishing magnate Richard Desmond, for instance, quit high school when he realized he could make more money working in the cloakroom of a club; at age 16, he borrowed his older brother's suit to get a sales job. He's been selling ever since, peddling music, porn and celebrity titles including OK! magazine.

Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing dropped out of school at age 15, after his father died, to work in a factory. Kirk Kerkorian quit during the eighth grade to take up boxing. He later flew airplanes on daredevil missions across the Atlantic during World War II, before sinking his money into his own airline and reinvesting profits in Las Vegas.

Sin City has also been good to Sheldon Adelson. The son of a Boston cabdriver borrowed $200 at age 12 to start selling newspapers; he later held stints as a mortgage broker, investment advisor and financial consultant. The high school dropout and Broadway enthusiast studied voice in his teens, but it was another kind of stage that called him--trade shows, where he made his first fortune.

Adelson later gambled on casinos in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore, and took his Las Vegas Sands (nyse: LVS - news - people ) public in December 2004. Says Adelson, ''I loved being the outsider.''

Good luck and good timing is also helpful when creating vast fortunes from scratch. James Cayne, for instance, moved to New York to play bridge full-time; he was spotted by Wall Street legend Alan "Ace" Greenberg, who was impressed by Cayne's card skills and hired him to be a stockbroker at his firm Bear Stearns (nyse: BSC - news - people ). Cayne is now chairman.

The world's wealthiest novelist, J.K. Rowling, was on welfare raising her little girl when her agent called to tell her that Bloomsbury would publish her book about an adolescent wizard named Harry Potter.

One thing is for sure: There is no lack of chutzpah among our rags to riches bunch.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/22/billionai...ags2riches.html

http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/22/billionai...thisspeed=20000

Very inspiring actually!

[mawilson 2,133]

While inheriting a billion dollars is still the easiest way to land on our list of the world's wealthiest, it certainly isn't the most common. Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination, and not good genes.

Really now? I thought only < 1% were self-made, if Ganja's pie chart is to be believed?

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

While inheriting a billion dollars is still the easiest way to land on our list of the world's wealthiest, it certainly isn't the most common. Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination, and not good genes.

Really now? I thought only < 1% were self-made, if Ganja's pie chart is to be believed?

She has been hooked by liberal divisiveness. It aint pretty either.

[amiquechu 0]

While inheriting a billion dollars is still the easiest way to land on our list of the world's wealthiest, it certainly isn't the most common. Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination, and not good genes.

Really now? I thought only < 1% were self-made, if Ganja's pie chart is to be believed?

Yes, 99.9999999999999999999999999999999% of the rich in the US are stay-at-home trophy wives and spoiled rich kids who play tennis and golf all day. All American companies just run themselves.

[mawilson 2,133]

While inheriting a billion dollars is still the easiest way to land on our list of the world's wealthiest, it certainly isn't the most common. Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination, and not good genes.

Really now? I thought only < 1% were self-made, if Ganja's pie chart is to be believed?

Yes, 99.9999999999999999999999999999999% of the rich in the US are stay-at-home trophy wives and spoiled rich kids who play tennis and golf all day. All American companies just run themselves.

[Peikko 1,575]

The owners of a company and those who run them are not necessarily one and the same.

Although, quite how we got to this point on a discussion about 'Hispanic Democrats' (that homogenous group that whirls around like a school of herrings) I don't quite know.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

While inheriting a billion dollars is still the easiest way to land on our list of the world's wealthiest, it certainly isn't the most common. Almost two-thirds of the world's 946 billionaires made their fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination, and not good genes.

Really now? I thought only < 1% were self-made, if Ganja's pie chart is to be believed?

Yes, 99.9999999999999999999999999999999% of the rich in the US are stay-at-home trophy wives and spoiled rich kids who play tennis and golf all day. All American companies just run themselves.

Evil bastages

[mawilson 2,133]

The owners of a company and those who run them are not necessarily one and the same.

So those who run them are poor now?

What happened to the "Waaaaa! American CEOs make 365 times more than workers! The gap is widening!"

[Peikko 1,575]

I don't think I said they were poor. However, I will go back and check.

[HAL 9000 96]

To bring the topic back into the fold, I'd speculate that absolutely most US-born latinos are probably NOT the born-with-spoon-in mouth crowd... and hence more likely to understand the idea of upward mobility as something that is not that easy from a position of being in the USA.

Perhaps the Republican Party can capitalize on this by flowing more in the direction of "green for all" instead of just "green for the already green." The Democratic Party, whom has been more "interested" in social justice issues for all, can be said to better represent this 'segment' of the population, but it needs to do so more out of inclusion into the entire society instead of as a voting block for political reasons.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

To bring the topic back into the fold, I'd speculate that absolutely most US-born latinos are probably NOT the born-with-spoon-in mouth crowd... and hence more likely to understand the idea of upward mobility as something that is not that easy from a position of being in the USA.

Perhaps the Republican Party can capitalize on this by flowing more in the direction of "green for all" instead of just "green for the already green." The Democratic Party, whom has been more "interested" in social justice issues for all, can be said to better represent this 'segment' of the population, but it needs to do so more out of inclusion into the entire society instead of as a voting block for political reasons.

I think most ppl are starting to understand how expensive being green is and will be rejected.

[mawilson 2,133]

To bring the topic back into the fold, I'd speculate that absolutely most US-born latinos are probably NOT the born-with-spoon-in mouth crowd... and hence more likely to understand the idea of upward mobility as something that is not that easy from a position of being in the USA.

Perhaps the Republican Party can capitalize on this by flowing more in the direction of "green for all" instead of just "green for the already green." The Democratic Party, whom has been more "interested" in social justice issues for all, can be said to better represent this 'segment' of the population, but it needs to do so more out of inclusion into the entire society instead of as a voting block for political reasons.

I think most ppl are starting to understand how expensive being green is and will be rejected.

I think mavi meant "green" as in "money".

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

To bring the topic back into the fold, I'd speculate that absolutely most US-born latinos are probably NOT the born-with-spoon-in mouth crowd... and hence more likely to understand the idea of upward mobility as something that is not that easy from a position of being in the USA.

Perhaps the Republican Party can capitalize on this by flowing more in the direction of "green for all" instead of just "green for the already green." The Democratic Party, whom has been more "interested" in social justice issues for all, can be said to better represent this 'segment' of the population, but it needs to do so more out of inclusion into the entire society instead of as a voting block for political reasons.

I think most ppl are starting to understand how expensive being green is and will be rejected.

I think mavi meant "green" as in "money".

I reread your right

[Cassie 8]

To bring the topic back into the fold, I'd speculate that absolutely most US-born latinos are probably NOT the born-with-spoon-in mouth crowd... and hence more likely to understand the idea of upward mobility as something that is not that easy from a position of being in the USA.

Perhaps the Republican Party can capitalize on this by flowing more in the direction of "green for all" instead of just "green for the already green." The Democratic Party, whom has been more "interested" in social justice issues for all, can be said to better represent this 'segment' of the population, but it needs to do so more out of inclusion into the entire society instead of as a voting block for political reasons.

I think most ppl are starting to understand how expensive being green is and will be rejected.

how about understanding what maviwaro actually meant? It had nothing to do with environmentalism.

oops i'm slow, nvm.

Edited June 19, 2008 by Cassie