They say that once you’re a multi-multi-millionaire, the first thing you want is…to be a billionaire.

If so, there are now 946 people who got their wish, according to Forbes. The world’s population of billionaires climbed to 946 last year, a record. Bill Gates is still at the top, with some $56 billion to his name, while new entries include Howard Shultz of Starbucks and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. The second one is a bit galling. How out of hand has corporate CEO pay gotten when you can build up a billion-dollar fortune in an office job? That seems too much like a something from the snap of a genie’s fingers.

Meanwhile, U.S. households with a net worth over $5 million, excluding the primary home, topped the one million mark in 2006, up from 250,000 in 1996. A rising tide may not lift all boats, but it looks like the American Dream is alive and well.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Extravagance, wealth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.