Michael Jackson, U2 and The Wealth Report - WSJ Blogs 

zyakaira notes: WSJ blogs also have U2's Larry Mullen speaking against the
Irish Bile and resentment against the rich..the US is cautioned not to treat
them poorly. In a related story, the death of Michael Jackson has caused
speculation about the sale of his rich music collection that's jointly owned
with Sony and includes the vintage Beatles collection purchased by him for
$47.5 million. This collection along with his own is valued at $1 billion
and may go higher given the quality of the artiste's recordings despite the
debts that pwned him and raised questions on his lifestyle. Sony has hard
work cut out for them to sort out these squabbles

The world population of millionaires fell 15% last year, with the super-rich
taking an even bigger hit, according to a new survey.

The Capgemini and Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report, released this morning,
finds that the number of global millionaires fell to 8.6 million from 10.1
million in 2008. The declines were the largest since Capgemini/Merrill
started the survey 13 years ago. (The survey defines millionaires as those
with investible assets of $1 million or more).

There were 2.5 million millionaires in the U.S. at the end of 2008, down
from 3 million in 2007.

The wealth held by the world's millionaires plunged nearly 20%, to $32.8
trillion from $40.7 trillion.

The ultrawealthy, or those with $30 million in investible assets, 

saw their ranks drop 25%, with their wealth dropping 24%. 

According to the survey, the more rapid fall in wealth by the superrich had
an outsize impact on the overall numbers, since so much of global wealth is
concentrated at the top of the millionaire pyramid. At the end of 2008, the
ultrawealthy accounted for less than 1% of the millionaire population but
held 34.7% of the wealth.

The main reason for all the declines: the financial crisis, contracting
gross domestic product and the accompanying declines in stocks, real-estate
values, private equity, hedge funds and other things the wealthy invested
in.

Surprisingly, the U.S. wealthy fared better than many
via The Wealth Report - WSJ(http://blogs.wsj.com)