The world's richest people - How many are jews?

http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/25/bill04land.html

Its a big list over 200+, how many jews can you pick out?

Post your findings.

Here's the problem. Imagine yourself being so rich that you could easily purchase anything you wanted. Physical comforts would become boring. Recognition would become a liability. If you are that rich or powerful, you'd probably find ways to hide it.

If you were one of the richest or most powerful men in the world, would you want everyone to know it?

I think the richest are presently unknown to us.

I suspect that most of them are jews. That's always been the case.

[lawrence dennis]

THE JEWS OF THE 1999 FORBES 400 "RICHEST LIST"

From the JTR website: "This information was researched by Jewish business author Steven Silbiger and is reproduced in his The Phenonomen of the Jews, Longstreet Press, 2000, p. 88-92. The list below excludes 15 people Silbiger discovered who did not want to be identified as Jews.[p. 88] As 2.5% of the American population, Silbiger notes that 23% of the full list of 400 people on the Forbes "Rich List" are Jewish, as are 36% of the top 50."

It should be noted that the above paragraph, written by the proprietor of the Jewish Tribal Review website, is mistaken about the title of the book. It is actually called The Jewish Phenomenon : Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People.

Dell, Michael: Dell Computer
Ellison, Larry: Oracle Corp. (computer software)
Redstone, Sumner: Viacom/CBS
Pritzker, Robert: Marmon Group, Hyatt Hotels
Pritzker, Thomas:Marmon Group, Hyatt Hotels
Arison, Mickey: Carnival Cruise Lines
Newhouse, Si: Advance Publications/Conde Nast magazines
Newhouse, Donald: Advance Publications/Conde Nast magazines
Bronfman, Edgar Sr: Seagram Co., Time-Warner, MCA, Universal Studios
Icahn, Carl: Investments, takeovers
Fisher, Donald: The Gap
Fisher, Doris: The Gap
Lauder, Leonard: Estee Lauder, CEO
Lerner, Alfred: MBNA Financial (credit cards)
Annenberg, Walter: TV Guide; Triangle Publications
Broad, Eli: Sun America (insurance); real estate
Lauder, Ronald: Estee Lauder; inheritance
Soros, George: Quantum Fund, investments, trading
Perelman, Ronald: Investments, Revlon
Greenberg, Maurice: American Intl. Group (insurance), Sun America
Davis, Marvin: real estate, oil
Bren, Donald: California real estate
Winnick, Gary: Global Crossing (telecommunications); Drexel Burnham Lambert, trading with Michael Milken
Sturm, Donald: Peter Kiewit Sons (investments)
Crown, Lester: Material Service Corp., General Dynamics (weapons)
Blaustein family: Amoco
Geffen, David: Geffen Records; Dreamworks
Marcus, Bernard: Home Depot
Wexner, Leslie: The Limited
Bloomberg, Michael: Bloomberg news service
Stern, Leonard: Hartz Mountain (pet supplies); real estate
Lenfest, "Gerry": Lenfest Communications (cable)
Tisch, Preston: Loews Corp, CBS
Fisher, John: The Gap
Davidson, William: Guardian Industries (glass manufacture)
Tisch, Laurence: Loews Corp., CBS
Fisher, Robert: The Gap
LeFrak, Samuel: New York real estate
Spielberg, Steven: Abin Entertainment; Dreamworks
Haas, Peter Sr: Levi Strauss, inheritance
Helmsely, Leona: New York real estate
Zell, Sam: real estate, investments
Lauren, Ralph: Ralph Lauren fashion
Alfond family: Dexter shoes (Harold Alfond)
Gonda, Louis: International Lease Finance (aircraft leases)
Blank, Arthur: Home Depot
Goldman, Richard: Levi Strauss
Gonda, Leslie: International Lease Finance, real estate
Haas, John: Levi Strauss
Jacobs, Irwin: Qualcomm (telecommunications)
Fisher family: New York real estate (Zachary, Lawrence, Martin and Richard)
Durst family: New York real estate (Seymour, Roy and David)
Ziff, Dirk: Ziff Davis Publishing
Ziff, Robert: Ziff Davis Publishing
Ziff, Daniel: Ziff Davis Publishing Properties; US News & World Report
Fisher, William: The Gap
Weill, Sanford: Citigroup (Travelers Group)
Kimmel, Sidney: Jones Apparel Grou, NIne West shoe sstores
Levine, William: Outdoor Systems (billboard advertising)
Drexler, Millard: The Gap, CEO
Lewis, Peter: Progressive Corp. (auto insurance)
Rich, Marc: fugitive in Switzerland; commodities trader, wanted for fraud and tax evasion
Fisher, Max: Marathon Oil
Berg, Carl: Silicon Valley real estate and investments
Diller, Barry: USA Networks (TV Stations, HSN, Ticketmaster)
Green Pincus: fugitive in Switzerland, commodities trader, wanted for fraud and tax evasion
Kovner, Bruce: investments, Caxton Corp.
Kravis, Henry: Kravis, Kohlberg, Roberts (leveraged buyouts)
Peltz, Nelson: Triac Beverage (Snapple), leveraged buyouts
Abramson, Leonard: Aetna U.S. Healthcare
Lee, Thomas: leveraged buyouts
Honickman, Harold: Pepsi bottler
Kohlberg, Jerome: Kravis, Kohlberg, Roberts (leveraged buyouts)
Taubman, Alfred: shopping centers; Sothebys
Shorenstein, Walter: San Francisco real estate
Solow, Sheldon: New York city real estate
Haas, Peter: Levi-Strauss
Adelson, Sheldon: COMDEX expositions (computer shows), casinos
Milken, Michael: Drexel Burnham Lambert (trading)
Roberts, Brian: Comcast Communications
Geballe, Frances: Levi-Strauss
Haas, Josephine: Levi-Strauss
Katzenberg, Jeffrey: Dreamworks, Disney employment settlement
Haas, Evelyn: Levi Strauss
Eisner, Michael: Disney CEO
Chernick, Aubrey: Candle Corp. (software)
Glazer, Guilford: real estate, shopping centers
Haas, Robert: Levi Strauss
Levy, Leon: Odyssey Partners (leveraged buyouts)
Feld, Kenneth: Ringling Brothers Circus, Barnum & Bailey circus, Disney on Ice
Levine, Stuart: Cabletron Systems
Silverman, Henry: Cendant, Avis, Ramada Inns, HoJo
Subotnick, Stuart: Metromedia

Dropped from the Forbes List in 1999, on the list in 1998:

Pritzker, Jay: Marmon Group, Hyatt Hotels
Fribourg, Michel: Continental Grain
Mandel family: Premier Industries (electronics and auto parts), Morton Mandel
Heyman, Samuel: GAF, investments
Hess, Leon: Amerada Hess, died in 1999
Milken, Lowell: Drexel Burnham Lambert, trading (Michael Milken's brother)
Roberts, Ralph: Comcast, QVC
Simon, Melvin: real estate, shopping malls
Illitch, Michael: Little Caesar's Pizza
Ansin, Edmund: TV stations
Werner, Tom: Carsey-Werner Co. (TV sitcom producer)
Koshland, Daniel Jr: Levi Strauss
Litwin, Daniel: New York real estate
Nash, Jack: Odyssey Partners (leveraged buyouts)
Haas, Margaret: Levi Strauss
Morris, William: J. & W. Seligman (money management)
Sommer, Viola: real estate, inheritance
Wasserman, Lew: MCA (music, movies)
Rennert, Ira: Renco Group (lead, coal, steel), investments

Dropped from Forbes List in 1998, on the list in 1997:

Wynn, Stephen: Mirage Casino
Fireman, Paul: Reebok
Schwartz, Theodore: APAC Teleseries
Milstein, Monroe: Burlington Coat Factory

Dropped from the Forbes List in 1997, on list in 1996:

Friedman, Phyllis: Levi Strauss
Gosman, Abraham: Mediplex Rehabilitation Centers
Weis, Robert: Weis Markets

[lawrence dennis]

found at: http://www.jewishtribalreview.org/jpower.htm

"Every year they are out there for all to see. There it is, in full salacious detail: the BRW Rich List, that quintessence of pennies envy, the vehicle of voyeurism that sums up the worst and most popular features of modern journalism. Each year, it parades the names of Australia's wealthiest, and the Jewish ones are always prominent. In fact, this year, their collective wealth totaled more than $23 billion, close to 40 percent of New Zealand's GDP. The names themselves are all too familiar. There's shopping centre king and former delivery truck driver Frank Lowy ($2.6 billion) and the cardboard magnate Richard Pratt. They are the second and third richest men in Australia." [Others noted include the Smorgon family, Scheinberg family, Harry Triguboff, Boris Lieberman, John Gandel, Solly Lew, Marc Besen, Nathan Werdiger, Joseph Gutnick, Ted Lustig, Max Moar, Eddie Kornhauser, Isador Magid, Barry and Norman Bloom, Chaim Liberman, Morry Fraid, Ruben Fried, Nathan Baron, Henry Krongold, Isi Liebler, Ervin Graf, Peter Joss, Henry Roth, Philip Wolanski, Rodney Adler (and sisters Kathy and Roxanne), Ruth Simon and David Herrman] ... "The Jews on the BRW list represent a group that accounts for a ridiculously small proportion of the general population -- only 0.4 percent in fact, according to the 1996 Census. So why the prominence?"

from Leon Gettler, Dollars and Sense, Generation. Jewish Life [Australia], May 2000, p. 23

[lawrence dennis]

found at: http://www.jewishtribalreview.org/jpower.htm


Forbes 400 Richest in America, Forbes Magazine, [For the year 2000]
The yearly ranking of the wealthiest Americans. Jews represent 2.5% of the American population, yet are AT LEAST 33% of the richest 75 Americans. (Start 'nose-counting' after that yourself, because a high percentage continues).

Among the richest 75 Americans are the following Jewish businessmen:
2) Lawrence Ellison,
5) Gordon Moore,
7) Steven Ballmer,
13) Michael Dell,
14) Sumner Redstone,
18) Harry Samueli,
41) Thomas Pritzker,
42) Robert Pritzker,
43) Eli Broad,
44) George Soros,
44) Samuel Newhouse,
44) Donald Newhouse,
51) Alfred Lerner,
53) Carl Icahn,
56) Maurice Greenberg,
59) Edgar Bronfman,
61) Marvin Davis,
61) Michael Bloomberg,
61) Walter Annenberg,
66) Leonard Lauder,
70) Ronald Perelman,
70) David Geffen,
73) Gary Winnick,
73) Bernard Marcus, &
73) Ronald Lauder.

[lawrence dennis]

Wall St. and Business Wednesdays: Exclusive Q & A With Steven Silbiger, Author Of The Jewish Phenomenon (Part I)

Steven Silbiger had already sold 200,000 copies of his classic, The Ten-Day MBA. But that success did not fully prepare him for the reaction he received for his follow-up effort, The Jewish Phenomenon, wherein he broached the "taboo" subject of Jewish success and wealth, disproportionate in terms of the community's relatively small population size - in America and throughout the world. The back cover of The Jewish Phenomenon gets right to the heart of the matter promising to answer why : 1) Jews make up only 2% of the total U.S. population, yet 45% of the top 40 of the Forbes 400 richest Americans are Jewish 2) One-third of all American multimillionaires are Jewish 3) The percentage of Jewish households with income greater than $50,000 is double that of non-Jews while on the other hand, the percentage of Jewish households with income less than $20,000 is half that of non-Jews 4) 20% of professors at leading universities are Jewish 5) 40% of partners in leading New York and Washington D.C. law firms are Jewish and 25% percent of all American Nobel Prize winners are Jewish.

The subject has been so "off-limits" that Mr. Silbiger was greeted with scheduled media appearances cancelled; and journalists and editors who knew him from his first effort (which has now sold 300,000 copies) informing him that they could not write about his book or publicize it in reviews because it was just too controversial. National Public Radio (NPR) even canceled a scheduled show featuring Mr. Silbiger and Black conservative intellectual John McWhorter out of fear that a discussion involving The Jewish Phenomenon would alienate NPR's numerous Jewish benefactors. Only John McWhorter appeared on the radio that day.

Earlier this month, BlackElectorate.com Publisher Cedric Muhammad met with Steven Silbiger just outside of Philadelphia for a lunch meeting to discuss his controversial book and exactly what it is all about....

Cedric Muhammad: You were telling me some interesting anecdotes that we were discussing over lunch regarding how your book, really, for lack of a better description, hasn't gotten the best reception from journalists, media outlets and opinion leaders in the Jewish community. Could you elaborate more on the nature of this - the reasons for it as you were telling me earlier?

Steven Silbiger: Sure, the people who have read the book enjoy the book, it is very useful but within the media there has been an almost silence about the book because they would rather the book not create any discussion. A lot of the book reviewers and people in the main press don't want to cover the book because the subject of Jewish success in America is more controversial than anything else. Because the idea is that if you publicize Jewish success and the reasons for it, then it will bring additional anti-Semitism to the Jewish community. I have spoken to Jewish groups, B'nai B'rith, Haddasah - many Jewish groups, and the book has been universally well-received when presented but book reviewers and other opinion leaders would rather not deal with the subject because their downside is much greater than the upside for covering the book. I wouldn't mind negative reviews. But they'd rather not review it at all because of how powerful the message is in this book. From people who have read it that aren't Jewish; African-Americans; Latinos and such; they find the book very enlightening - they didn't know Jews. They knew about anti-Semitism. But this book really provides the reason why Jews are successful in the United States, and after you read the book it is obvious that anybody else could emulate it. It is not a conspiracy among Jewish people. There is no international cabal. It is just a matter of following these principles that I outlined in this book.

Cedric Muhammad: And Steven, would you say that the resistance is counter-productive on the part of some members of the Jewish political establishment and the media? When would they be willing to openly say, 'Ok, let's let everybody know why we are as successful as we are in certain areas'?

Steven Silbiger: When? I would think maybe in the next generation because there is still the older generation of Jews who have experienced the holocaust and really experienced head-to-head racism and anti-Semitism in their lifetimes. Hopefully this next generation will (realize) that they have lived with the fruits of their (the older generations) efforts and haven't experienced as much (opposition). So, in the next generation the idea of expressing this publicly will have been more well-received.

Cedric Muhammad: Steven, please run down the seven principles...

Steven Silbiger: Great, number 1 is : "Understand that real wealth is portable; It's knowledge". It shows that Jews have highly valued education all through the centuries and that education translates into higher incomes and Jews not only pursue education for income but also just for education's sake. They like to be informed. They just venerate knowledge and if somebody is an artist, they become the best artist they can; if they become a social worker; just anything; they just go and get a great education and pursue it to the best of their ability. Number 2 is: "Take care of your own and they will take care of you". Jewish people give the largest percentage of their income twice as much as the average to charities. But when they do so they support causes that affect their community as well as the issues that affect their community and the general population. When it comes to charities and taking care of their own community they have set up social welfare systems, not only in Europe but here in America, so that when government is lacking or Jews are in need and have problems where they may be fleeing a bad situation like in Argentina recently or in Russia in the past; they can come here and get a good start and the community will support them. Number 3 is: "Successful people are professionals and entrepreneurs". Again, it relates to getting the best education you can. Obviously becoming a doctor, lawyer or businessperson involves education. And where possible, and in the face of discrimination, Jews have gone in areas that other people didn't want to be. So, when they were barred from becoming a post office worker or working for General Motors they found their own ways for being creative. When the big law firms in the nation did not want Jews in their ranks, Jews went into parts of the law that were distasteful to other lawyers - tax law; labor law; securities law; while the other Protestant, Anglo-Saxon types, they pursued other places. So we as Jews created opportunities for ourselves...

Cedric Muhammad:...that others didn't want...

Steven Silbiger:...yes, that others didn't want! And where needs are sought. To be able to be supported by a family or pursue a dream and not be shot down. It is ok to not work a 9-to-5; it is ok to pursue your dream to invent something to go the other way. And the book is replete with situations and stories of people who went the other way and that is why Jews have been so successful. We have been good at inventing things out of nothing. Number 4 is : "Develop your verbal self-confidence". If you are confronted with a situation and you don't agree with it, you just don't take it; you speak up and are forceful. If ever there is a defacing of a synagogue or a form of discrimination, you had better believe that Jews are going to be the first ones out there. We are not going to bite our tongue or be inarticulate. Number 5 is: "Be selectively extravagant but prudently frugal". That means, when you are making money, you need to spend your money where it is most important. You can't spend it on everything but if education is really important, well, then you will spend a lot of your money on education. If golf is important, that is great but you can't have everything at the same time and the whole idea of delayed gratification is one that Jews have done well with for a long time. If most of the Jews in a country were first or second generation they made sure that the third generation would not be in the same situation. Jews didn't immigrate with a great deal of wealth themselves. They actually created it by saving it and realizing that they needed to go their own way. Number 6 is: "Encourage individuality and celebrate creativity". For Jewish people it is ok to stand out and it is ok to be different and it is ok to pursue different ideas and different careers. Some of the greatest successes come from people who have gone their own way. Number 7 is: "Have something to prove: a drive to succeed". Jews feel that as outsiders to the mainstream Christian society they have a freedom and objectivity to be themselves and accept that it is fine to stand out and that it is ok to be different. And because they were outsiders, Jews have felt this pressure to want to belong to the United States' general mainstream but to do that they've pursued different areas that have brought them great success, like for instance, Ralph Lauren, which represents the epitome of what White Anglo Saxon Protestant country-club living is all about; Ralph Lauren's real name is Ralph Lifshitz. He is a Brooklyn boy. He is the one from the perspective of an outsider who saw what it really is to be in a country club set. So he packaged it, marketed it and sold it, you know. And that is all possible when coming from an outsider's standpoint. If you goto different areas - whether Gap in jeans, or Calvin Klein, or if you are looking at some of the major brands of Levi's you are going to find Jews there in the fashion industry and they concentrated themselves there in the fashion industry as designers. But when the Jewish immigrants were coming over to America and didn't have jobs in the fashion industry, and designing was going on; they were also in the garment industry so that the wealth that they created in the industry by being fashion designers wasn't given to somebody else, because the money that was in the entire garment industry was kept within the Jewish community. So they weren't creating wealth for other people - they were creating it for themselves....

See one thing that I think Jewish Americans appreciate and understand while others have not is that since they, over the centuries, have had to leave different places because of discrimination; they realize that the one thing that has kept and sustained throughout has been their capital - their financial capital. And, they might hate you - people might hate you or discriminate against you - but when the rubber hits the road it is the money that talks. In the United States that is what talks. So, during the 1950s, 30s and 20s when people, in this country were very anti-Semitic; but Jews were still influential because of their business. So people did not want them at the table, but they had to be there because of the financial capital. And Jews realized that it is not something that government was going to bring to them. It was not going to be handed by them. It is going to be earned. And the means to that in the United States is a great education. And the true financial power of a group relates to its political power and not by numbers; it is simply by political contributions - that is leverage. So whether it be the Jewish community or the Black community, we are big consumers and big spenders but who are the big savers? So that even if you are working for somebody else it brings value to the Jewish community through savings. That is the mindset....

Well, if you look, the beginning of the book does deal with the Jewish religion per se and obviously a faith in God would help anybody in any walk of life but what the Jewish religion and Jewish culture has had within. It is that it is ok to disagree, it is ok to debate, it is ok to pursue things that are different. Some of my friends who are Catholic don't have that same upbringing. You are supposed to agree, you aren't supposed to debate, you are supposed to accept whole-heartedly. Well the whole Jewish experience is about debate, turmoil and being articulate. Those types of skills have directly translated into success in the United States. So if it would be years of suffering or the years of suffering that Jews have experienced as a group or experienced in different countries, that "outsider-mentality" has helped us immeasurably in the United States to pursue different goals....

... the whole idea that you are able to question things. So, if you are thinking of looking for a group to be inventive in a secular way or to create new ways or new novel ways of doing things, this group through centuries of acculturation sets the stage for all of this and just happens to be in the United States, the first country in history where they were really given the freedom to pursue those, all at the same time. Now, will the Jewish religion be as powerful or successful in the next century? Probably not. Why? Because some of the things that affect us, the discrimination, the outsiders affecting our community, has dissipated, so that mentality that has driven a lot of very successful people in the 20th century does not exist in this century, because there isn't that impetus or that drive. The trends are that in 50 years half the Jewish population won't be Jewish anymore because we don't have that outside siege mentality anymore and the religion has not been that important....

I have refrained from comment, even though this fellow Silbiger has some fancy notions about human nature, and especially about what qualities make one good and decent versus successful and wealthy.

[lawrence dennis]

Wall St. and Business Wednesdays: Exclusive Q & A With Steven Silbiger, Author Of The Jewish Phenomenon (Part II)

... Cedric Muhammad: Steven, one of the most fascinating parts of the book for me is what you wrote about sports....

Steven Silbiger: It's all about percentages and where you want to end up. And if it was by design or what have you...There are about 5,000 highly-paid professional athletes in this country. So, if your community is focused on getting your boys and girls to be one of those 5,000 - there are very few slots. When the musical chairs end, mostly everybody is not in a chair. In the Jewish community the probability of becoming a successful doctor, lawyer or businessperson is not like one one-eighth of one percent. It is much, much higher. So the outcome for a lot more people in life, by being highly educated and being a professional or entrepreneur, is creating a wider array of opportunity that is much greater for Jewish people than the African-American community. So if you said, 'oh would you like a chance at the lotto or would you like a chance picking out of this fishbowl with twenty tickets', I would like to be dealing with the twenty tickets as opposed to the lottery. And that is the economic outcome. It is just the facts. Jewish people, at the turn of the century, when they were in New York, a lot of them were in professional sports, in baseball, in boxing and what have you. But obviously, as other people pursued it in greater numbers it became less important for the Jewish community. For the Jewish community sports is a great pastime to watch and to own the teams! But not to go send your kids to go do this stuff....

Steven Silbiger: But the greatest appreciation revolves around whether or not you are highly educated; are you well-prepared to take advantage of opportunity or create your own today? Are you a contributor to your community? The celebrity stuff is good and there are celebrity Jewish people. I mean, the four major television networks were started, founded and owned by Jewish people. If you go into the radio areas - wherever you go in the media there are Jewish celebrities but when it gets down to who owns the means of getting to the people, it is going to be Jewish people. Yes, there are going to be Jewish comedians and a lot of actors but that's a very small slice of it! The list of Jewish comedians pales when compared to the number of Jewish scientists or Jewish entrepreneurs. Certainly in terms of what is celebrated within the community and family. So when I wrote the book it wasn't like I was going looking for a little pocket of Jewish success. It didn't matter where I turned, in whatever walk of life, lawyers, businesspersons, scientists, musicians, creative people, there were Jewish people because they were allowed to pursue their dreams to the nth degree and it was ok to be different, and to stand out. And that is where real wealth is created....

Steven Silbiger: Right, it is in violation. And a lot of people think it is "innate intelligence" - no. That doesn't account for this at all. And there have been people who have been thinking that I.Q. has something to do with this. But it really does not. These principles can be lived and led by anybody. And a lot of the people who have been extremely successful have only been at the right place, at the right time with the right education pursuing their dreams and possibilities....

Steven Silbiger:...but you've got to remember the major banks are not Jewish at all. You have J.P. Morgan and Chase. These are all very Christian banks that kept these people (the Jews in the securities business) out of the banking business. So when it comes to Salomon Brothers and Goldman Sachs these are investment bankers all started by entrepreneurs. Now we look at them as huge! And these investment banking firms dwarf the traditional banks today because of all of the deregulation....

Steven Silbiger: Yeah, creating a market. This is true regardless to the industry or niche whether in the garment industry as I have already spoken to it, or the whole diet industry - Weight Watchers, Nutri-Systems, Jenny Craig. Who would have thunk it? These are all Jewish businesses. The ice cream market. The major businesses in that area are Jewish. The jewelry market. Diamond-cutting is a Jewish industry. There are different areas where there is this consumer need and they saw it before other people and pursued it. But that is where the genius of America is. Where people talk about Americans being progressive and being inventive and what have you. That is where the values and the rules that make America great, are the same values that American Jews hold dear in their community as well. And because they are both alike that is why there has been such great success. Has there been great Jewish success in the Soviet Union? No. [So much for the breadth of Silbiger's 'education'--L.D.] Why? Because the government and the rules there did not allow the Jews to conform to allow for success there. Deliberately so. So here in the United States for the first time, those rules are present and the capital sources have been wide open and they have taken advantage of it....

...and here in America, where there were opportunities; even when there were not the best opportunities, Jews pursued what they could of other opportunities. And that has been the Jewish experience throughout the ages. When one door is closed, the other one is open. So when Jewish lawyers couldn't join the large firms; Jewish lawyers, accountants and others created their own. If you keep them out, guess what? They will build their own. You can't get accepted to Harvard because there is a quota preventing more Jews from going there? Well, we will create our own colleges. And that is the way it is. And fortunately, in the United States, the opportunity, after a door has been shut, has been here. We have been able to go the other way.

Cedric Muhammad: Well next to banking, the most controversial sphere of influence that Jews have had has been precious metals, diamonds etc...This is a sensitive subject as it relates to Africa. What is the summary or the genesis of that relationship or that area of expertise and do you think it in any way was exploitative or set the stage for such, today on the continent of Africa...

Steven Silbiger: Well, I am not familiar that the diamond trade in Africa today is Jewish - the production of diamonds is not a Jewish business...

Cedric Muhammad: ...what I am saying is that there is a perception that there is exploitation in those industries today. I am asking you do you think that the manner in which the diamond industry developed set the stage for what is happening today, or is there no connection in your view?

Steven Silbiger: I don't see the connection. The diamond mining industry isn't a Jewish industry. The diamond cutting industry is a Jewish industry. Jewelry is, because as Jews developed those skills internally and that expertise, they carried it from country to country wherever they were forced to leave. And here in the United States, they have not only been involved in the cutting of the diamonds, the trading of raw diamonds and then the retailing and the making of jewelry.

Cedric Muhammad: But in the Congo there is still a significant Jewish presence, and there are pockets of it throughout Africa...

Steven Silbiger: Right...

Cedric Muhammad: But there is a view that here you had Africans all over the continent. They were sitting on top of something. And to one degree or another they weren't making an industry out of it and here came these foreigners. Do you think there is anything wrong with one group of people getting their sustenance or an enormous amount of wealth from the land of another group of people who weren't exercising the law of use. Or, is it, in your view, just survival of the fittest?

Steven Silbiger: ... No, I don't think it was right but the whole idea is that at the time the resources weren't developed by Africans and they were sitting on top of them. But the problems are internal too. Even today a lot of the wealth that is created in Africa through oil drilling has been siphoned off by despots and hasn't benefited the community at all or their countries. So, there are a lot of internal issues in Africa that transcend even modern times. The (trans-Atlantic) slave trade itself was aided by other tribes of competing Africans who sold other competing tribes to White people, which is horrendous. They were so disunited. So that whole idea of being a community and united is a theme that has benefited the Jewish community...

Cedric Muhammad: So you are saying that what happens in the way of exploitation is a byproduct of the disunity of a community...

Steven Silbiger: Disunity brings a problem! And it certainly isn't just happening in one group. I have outlined in this book that there were great divides between people of Jewish-American descent or Eastern Europe descent or Spanish descent. But when the community was attacked from the outside by others the community came together not only morally but financially. Like for instance, you can look at Jews from Argentina and Russian Jews who are fleeing from problems. These Jews that came from Russia were not even practicing Jews. They just happened to be Jewish people by birth but guess what? When they came here they were supported by the federations, the Jewish temples, and what have you because they were Jews. So, if they needed a car to get to work or they needed an education, they were given that because it was important.

Cedric Muhammad: And there is nothing stopping people of African descent from doing the same...

Steven Silbiger: Nothing at all…

Cedric Muhammad: Let's go into this section that you deal with dealing with Jews and African-Americans in your book. And I want to stay as economically-focused as possible. We will conduct another interview that will deal with this relationship from a more political angle.

Steven Silbiger: Right...

Cedric Muhammad: Essentially there has been a tension because of this physical labor to intellectual capital ratio that has existed between the two communities all revolving around financial capital. If you are a Black professional athlete you frequently have a Jewish accountant, a Jewish lawyer and the controlling entity - in terms of the chief employer or owner of the team, business or company is much, much more likely to be Jewish than Black. This has been the case in sports and in music and in drama... ... you have one community that so visibly exercises its physical attributes – "labor", and another community that disproportionately exercises its intellectual attributes - "capital", when historically dealing with one another in the United States? Do you think it is ok the way it is now or do you think that there is opportunity...

Steven Silbiger: ... the same success that African-Americans have had in sports or in music or other areas can be enjoyed in other areas. In America it is the dollar that really talks so you have to focus on people like Oprah - a great example. She is a talented individual and she has a great show. But she is not just the figurehead - she owns her own production company. If it was Bill Cosby, he owned his areas. He owned a piece of the action. So while he was sleeping he was earning money. And that is the idea of deriving your income and your capital, not by your physical efforts but by the force of your ideas.

Cedric Muhammad: ... I think that sense of alienation that some Blacks feel derives partly from a recognition of Jews that goes like, 'you knew what was good for you, but you didn't necessarily give it to us'. Steven, we didn't get this book from Michael Eisner, or you can go back to the history of Jews over the centuries and those in America. Jewish leaders often preached or supported integration and government activism for us. And not the principles that made them successful. We didn't get this book that you wrote in the 20th century during the height of the civil rights movement; we get the book from you in the 21st century...

Steven Silbiger: Sure...

Cedric Muhammad: In that light, is it appropriate for, say, as an example, a Hollywood Jewish house, or a director to cast a Black person in the role of a buffoon? Because that Black person wants to play the role of a court jester or a comedian; is that the free-market at work or is that one community not exercising its self-enlightened interest while another community does and exploits the ignorance of another?

Steven Silbiger: I would say...that's a tough question. Is what is portrayed in Hollywood a reflection of the community or is it Hollywood creating the community that is watching the show? Uh, like Spike Lee had the movie, Bamboozeled which was excellent. It just shows you how things can be twisted.... But I think it is how you want to look at your self and what type of self-esteem you have and that is where that whole idea of being an individual, to be educated is important. So that no matter what somebody is portraying about you or what somebody is telling you, you know different. You know what's going on....

Cedric Muhammad: Anything you would like to say in closing Steven?

Steven Silbiger: The Jewish Phenomenon is a book that anybody can read. It is written to be read and enjoyed. It is not academic, there are jokes in the book that are funny. There are anecdotes about Jewish-ness. There is a whole area in the back of the book that is an appendix of Yiddish and Hebrew terms. So if you hear some jokes or you hear Jewish-Americans talking you can translate that and know what they are talking about and some of the things you might see. And I think the book gives a better understanding of a community that has been exceptionally misunderstood in the Black community. That is what I think this book really contributes, and it is a good read....

[lawrence dennis]

A rather amusing take on being 'chosen' to accumulate 'filthy lucre' and how Judaism helps make it all kosher.

Jews and money: By Rabbi Berel Wein

Feb. 20, 2003-- In Temple times, the Talmud tells us, the collecting of the half-shekel "tax" for the support of the Temple services began with the entrance of the month of Adar. Therefore, in commemoration of this ancient Jewish rite, this Sabbath is known as "Shabbes Shekalim".

The half-shekel was to be assessed "b'shekel hakodesh," by the standard of the holy shekel. The Talmud describes in great detail the actual amount of silver required in each coin to meet that specification. But the Talmud indirectly reminds us that part of the task of Judaism, and therefore of necessity of its adherents, the Jews, is to somehow invest a sense of holiness into the shekel — into otherwise grubby money.

According to Midrash, Moses was shown a holy shekel of fire on Sinai. The Jewish understanding of the symbolism of fire has always been that fire is ambivalent — it can burn and destroy or it can light and warm. So, too, with money. Money can accomplish great good and it also is able to bring about great evil. It can build hospitals and schools and help the needy or it can wreck personal character and corrupt society, government and industry. It finances war and causes violence and cultivates crime and yet it can just as well succor the widow and orphan and save the helpless from disaster.

Thus, the notion of "shekel hakodesh" exists in our world as strongly as it did in the times of the Temples in Jerusalem. To take the ordinary shekel and transform it into the "shekel hakodesh" is the mission of Torah and Israel. [Yes, all the best money-laundering schemes seem to involve jews alright.--L.D.]

There is an entire section of Shulchan Aruch (the Code of Jewish Law) devoted to money and the task of transforming it into the "shekel hakodesh." There are many volumes of Talmud devoted to this issue as well. Judaism sets a minimum standard of human behavior regarding monetary matters that is recorded in these legal tomes. But it also sets a standard of moral behavior that though legally unenforceable is nevertheless necessary in order to attempt to create a more just society — in short, in order to raise money to the level of "shekel hakodesh."

This moral standard regarding money is called "lifnim meshuras hadin" — above the minimum face of the law itself. The Talmud saw that one of the spiritual causes of the destruction of the Temples was the lack of willingness to behave "lifnim meshuras hadin." People insisted on their legal rights and were not willing to accommodate others even when morally obligated to do so. A society that does not allow for a moral code of law to accompany the strictly legal code of law eventually turns corrupt and rotten and dooms itself to destruction.

The Talmud is replete with examples of "lifnim meshuras hadin" in monetary matters. Money is a great test in life. The rabbis of the Talmud held monetary probity in such high and necessary esteem that groups of people (such as shepherds, for example, who usually grazed their herds on other people's property) who had bad reputations as far as money was concerned were held to be unacceptable as witnesses in Jewish courts of law. A great rabbi once told me that it is far easier to have glatt kosher meat on one's plate than to have glatt kosher money in one's pocket. Sadly, he was right in that assessment. "Shabbes Shkalim" comes to remind us about glatt kosher money.

Judaism has always stressed the importance of imparting knowledge to its children. But it has stressed even more the teaching of values. In current world society, we speak of the value of money in purely economic and social terms. But there is a value of money in spiritual and holy terms as well. And it is that value of money — the "shekel hakodesh" value — that needs to be addressed in the education of our children and in our own personal and national life.

Throughout Jewish history, movements arose to help cleanse the money of the House of Israel from immorality and cupidity. The Mussar movement that originated in Jewish Lithuania in the nineteenth century did wonders in developing a "shekel hakodesh" attitude amongst its adherents. The influence of the Mussar movement was widely felt throughout Jewish society. To a certain extent, even the secular Jewish labor organizations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries also were trying to achieve a "shekel hakodesh" attitude and society, being still based upon the Torah rules and attitudes regarding money that were part of the Jewish psyche and soul over the ages.

Improving our attitude towards money is a vital step in rebuilding ourselves spiritually and morally and refocusing our attention towards creating a more just society.

The following work may shed a little more enlightenment on 'Jews and Money' (it is a PDF file):

The Jews and Modern Capitalism
by Werner Sombart, Translated by M. Epstein, Batoche Books, Kitchener, 2001

[Hugo Böse]

Originally Posted by Border Ruffian

Here's the problem. Imagine yourself being so rich that you could easily purchase anything you wanted. Physical comforts would become boring. Recognition would become a liability. If you are that rich or powerful, you'd probably find ways to hide it.

Originally Posted by Border Ruffian

If you were one of the richest or most powerful men in the world, would you want everyone to know it?

I think the richest are presently unknown to us.

I suspect that most of them are jews. That's always been the case.

I think the contrary is more likely to be true, there are many rich Europeans who own privately held companies that do not want to be identified. Unlike rich Europeans, jews primarily made their wealth through self promotion, nepotism and use of the media, they also seek out funding for their projects through the open market, so they don’t really have a choice but to be very public.

Anyway, kikes love flashing their cash and celebrating their success in their media.

[lawrence dennis]

NYC Jewish billionaires

More fodder for the conspiracy theorists: Gawker's publisher estimates that at least 19 of the Forbes 400's 25 NYC billionaires are Jewish. (20 by my count.) Not that we're obsessed or anything. The full list, with Gawker annotations, is below.

· Samuel I Newhouse Jr 7.7 yes
· George Soros 7.0 yes
· Carl Icahn 5.8 yes
· Michael R Bloomberg 4.8 yes
· David H Koch 4.0
· Leonard A Lauder 2.6 yes
· Samuel J LeFrak & family 2.6 yes
· Ronald O Perelman 2.5 yes
· David Rockefeller Sr 2.5
· Edgar M Bronfman Sr 2.3 yes
· Clive Calder 2.3 ?
· Maurice R Greenberg 2.3 yes
· Preston R Tisch 2.3 yes
· Ronald S Lauder 2.2 yes
· Leonard N Stern 2.2 yes
· Girard Louis-Dreyfus & family 2.1 ?
· Laurence A Tisch 2.0 yes
· Leona Helmsley 1.9 yes
· Ralph Lauren 1.9 yes
· Donald J Trump 1.9
· Herbert A Allen Jr 1.8 ?
· Stanley Druckenmiller 1.5 yes
· Laurance Spelman Rockefeller 1.5
· Bruce Kovner 1.4 yes
· Henry R Kravis 1.3 yes


[The annotation 'yes' indicates that the person in question is definitely Jewish. A question mark indicates uncertainty. No comment indicates not Jewish.--L.D.]



NY billionaires for 2004 follow:

This Year’s NYC Billionaires

Congratulations to all of us for the addition of six New York City billionaires on the Forbes annual list: last year, we only had 25. (Technically, we’ve got more than 31: for instance, George Soros’s current use of his upstate address excludes him from the list somewhat inaccurately.) More skewing: three on this billionaires list are the Ziff boys. (Daniel Ziff: still single!)

We all know that the more people hoard vast amounts of wealth, the better off the rest of us are, right? Riiight. In any event, the real story this year: a marked statistical increase in goyishe billionaires. 9 out of the 31 are Gentiles, as opposed to last year’s list, with only 5 of the 25.
The World’s Richest People [Forbes]


NYC Billionaires: Jewish or not?

Keith Murdoch
Samuel Newhouse Jr yes
Carl Icahn yes
Michael Bloomberg yes
David Koch yes
Ronald Perelman yes
Maurice Greenberg yes
Leonard Lauder yes
Gérard Louis-Dreyfus & family ?
Edgar Bronfman Sr yes
David Rockefeller Sr
Donald Trump
Clive Calder
Ralph Lauren yes
Leona Helmsley yes
Leonard Stern yes
Ronald Lauder yes
Leonard Blavatnik
Bruce Kovner yes
Herbert Allen Jr
Stanley Druckenmiller yes
Laurance Rockefeller
Sanford Weill yes
Barry Diller yes
Henry Kravis yes
Mortimer Zuckerman yes
Austin Hearst
Daniel Ziff yes
Dirk Ziff yes
Robert Ziff yes
Herbert Siegel yes

[Mike Mazzone of Palatine]

Here's an in depth analysis of the "World Money Power":

http://www.silver-investor.com/charl...e/cs_dec04.pdf
http://www.silver-investor.com/charl...e/cs_jan05.htm
http://www.silver-investor.com/charl...oneypower3.htm

And the secret society "Pilgrims":

http://www.silver-investor.com/charl...5_pilgrims.htm

And if you want to read more, here's "The New York Boys":

http://www.silver-investor.com/charl...eptember04.htm

...

However, the silver Senators were understandably angry at being accused of what amounted to “helping Hitler” by allegedly withholding silver from the war effort. Their true concern was that the war use of silver not be used by the New York Boys as a smokescreen to usher silver out of our monetary system, which sadly they succeeded in doing by 1968 when the last silver certificates were redeemed in a public rush before that silver window closed.

...

[lawrence dennis]

Originally Posted by Tench

http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/25/bill04land.html

Its a big list over 200+, how many jews can you pick out?

Post your findings.

Here is an attempt to pick out the Jews from among a list of the world's wealthiest: http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-leaders-...lionaires.html

The preface to the list indicates considerable uncertainty as to the accuracy of kike identification, though:

Found by a Jew Watch researcher. This was posted on usenet under alt.politics.nationalism.white, (ourhero, 6/20/1999, 3:07pm) --disclaimer: most seem correct but were not independently verified by www.jewwatch.com research--so be careful in using them without researching it.

[THIS IS A LIST OF THE BILLIONAIRES IN THE WORLD WHO DON'T MIND BEING LISTED IN A PUBLIC FORUM] [ALTHOUGH SOME OF MY GUESSES MAY BE WRONG AS TO WHO IS OR IS NOT JEWISH, I'D GARNER THAT THE MAJORITY OF MY GUESSES ARE CORRECT, AND THAT I HAVE MISSED A FEW ON THIS LIST TOO]

[Hugo Böse]

Here is an attempt to pick out the Jews from among a list of the world's wealthiest: http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-leaders...llionaires.html

The preface to the list indicates considerable uncertainty as to the accuracy of kike identification, though:

I find many of the claims of jewishness on that list questionable; the author particularly seems to think many of those German names equate to kikery. There needs to be more research into many of those claims.

[The_skunk]

Murdoch is a Jew - Mother's was a jewess named Greene

[Mathewkey]

Making lists of rich people and their various circumstances and demographics. The Richest people in the world ranked by their wealth, career, lineage, and culture. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous indeed.This lists include the richest black people in america, richest dead celebrities(2010), and much more. Check them out!


richest people in the world