By James Quinn, Seeking Alpha

On Thursday morning, September 18, 2008 a tragedy almost befell the 450 billionaires and 3,000,000 millionaires that live in the United States. The billionaires were on their way to becoming millionaires and the millionaires were about to leave the club. Luckily, Hank Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary, felt their pain. His $700 million portfolio was probably taking a bit of a haircut too. There are 305 million people living in the United States. The net worth of all the households in the U.S as of June 30, 2008 was $56 trillion. The 450 billionaires have a net worth of approximately $1 trillion and the 3,000,000 millionaires have a net worth of approximately $11 trillion. So, 1% of the population currently owns 21% of the net worth in this country.

Many of these billionaires and millionaires have accumulated their wealth by managing other people’s money. The customers never have the yachts. The money managers have the yachts. The .1% ruling elite are deciding the fate of your grandchildren in Washington D.C. this week out of public view. The ruling elite have the most to lose. Whose best interest do you think they are looking out for?

As I’ve watched the various business networks over the last few weeks, I sense desperation and fear among the commentators, pundits, and “experts”. It is a fear based upon self interest. Their lives depend upon the masses keeping their money invested in the market. They have overwhelmingly been in favor of the bailout bill. I wonder why. Jim “Mad Money” Cramer, who has a net worth of $100 million, is in favor of the bill. Larry “Free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity” Kudlow, a multi-millionaire, is 100% in favor of a socialist bailout of the criminal investment banks. They support this “blank check” to a government that is already $9.65 trillion in debt, because they want to maintain their lavish lifestyle, multiple estates, and prominent positions in society.  Read more….

By Christine Haughney, The New York Times

Do you have millions of dollars in the bank and still worry about filling up your gas tank? Do you fear that the housing slowdown may mean your sprawling beachfront property will face the auction block?

As the economy has soured, Lee Hausner, a psychologist at IFF Advisors Inc., in Irvine, Calif., who works primarily with wealthy families, has noticed rising anxieties about spending.

She has a test for such clients: she asks them to calculate their monthly expenses — from Botox shots to country club fees — and their monthly income from work and investments. Then she has them cut 10 or 20 percent off the income figure. If they can still afford their lifestyle, she tells them that they have enough of a cushion to protect them from a troubled economy. Read more….

You have to love articles like this.

The Billionaires are stealing everything from everyone and you’re supposed to feel bad for them. The reason everyone now has less is because someone else has more. The media likes you to believe money vanishes into thin air when the economy falls apart and all asset prices drop. What they won’t tell you is that this is a huge transfer of wealth from the poor, middle class, and upper middle class to the extremely wealthy or the top .001% percent.

Why do they even run articles like this?

These types of articles are fed to the media by public relations companies hired by some party in need of getting a certain type of message out to the masses (propaganda).  There was a documentary called “Untold Wealth: The Rise of the Super Rich”, Which aired on CNBC recently. They made sure to put a nice spin on how life can be difficult for the ultra rich. Of course the average billionaire needs you to know how difficult life can be when you have an outrageous fortune.

The culprits responsible for this massive financial meltdown hope they can stave off any major fallout or backlash that might arise when everything finally collapses.

I don’t know about you, but these PR news releases make me want to puke.