Richest People In the World Could Fund US Deficit Spending for 135 Days

The United States is expected to post a deficit of roughly $1.1 trillion for the 2012 fiscal year. The country is expecting to spend around $3.729 trillion and take in about $2.627 trillion.

This means that the United States will be spending roughly $3 billion more than what it will take in for each and every one of the 365 days in the 2012 fiscal year.

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As the article title asks - how long could the richest people in the world cover the US deficit before they ran out of money? Let's take a look.

According to Forbes, the ten richest people in the world as of 2011 are:

Carlos Slim Helu & Family - $74 billion
Bill Gates - $56 billion
Warren Buffett - $50 billion
Bernard Arnault - $41 billion
Larry Ellison - $39.5 billion
Lakshmi Mittal - $31.1 billion
Amancio Ortega - $31 billion
Eike Batista - $30 billion
Mukesh Ambani - $27 billion
Christy Walton & Family - $26.5 billion

So, assuming that all ten of these people could sell off ALL of their assets and keep 100% of their net worths, here is how long they could fund the deficit spending of the US government for:

Carlos Slim Helu & Family - 24.6 days
Bill Gates - 18.6 days
Warren Buffett - 16.6 days
Bernard Arnault - 13.6 days
Larry Ellison - 13.1 days
Lakshmi Mittal - 10.3 days
Amancio Ortega - 10.3 days
Eike Batista - 10 days
Mukesh Ambani - 9 days
Christy Walton & Family - 8.8 days

If these 10 fortunes were pooled together, collectively they would be able to pay for the US deficit for a total of 134.9 days before they were all dead broke.

Source: Forbes.com Richest List

Source: Historical US Deficits


Filed under: General Knowledge