Tony Brewer

I seem to recall reading in a college textbook a few years ago that 98% of America’s wealth is in the pockets of only 2% of American citizens. That doesn’t leave a lot of money left over for you and me, does it? I’m always interesting in finding out how wealthy people have made their fortunes. Obviously a large percentage of them inherit their money from a couple of generations ago when their grandparents were able to do things that are now illegal. Well, there’s really no way we can mimic that now and stay on the good side of the law, is there?

No, I’m more interesting in learning how the Nouveau Riche (French for newly rich) made their fortunes. I was reading a CNN Money website about the Nouveau Riche titled THE BILLIONAIRES 1991, and was interested to see how many billionaires there were in the United states back in 1991. It made me wonder how many there are now, seventeen years later! This article was fascinating in that it wrote about so very many wealthy people, and how they got their fortunes. As I expected, the vast majority of them inherited their fortunes. What I did find interesting was that the Nouveau Riche mostly made their fortunes through real estate transactions.

I was driving to work this morning and heard on the radio that Virginia’s largest tree, named “Big Mama” has died and unexplained death.  I was just reading more about it on the Internet, having “googled” it, reading various stories.  It seems that it was a cypress tree.  I found that interesting because I didn’t even know that there were cypress trees in Virginia!  I don’t know why, I just always thought that those kinds of trees stayed south of the North Carolina border!  Anyway, the cause of death is unknown, which is a shame.  The articles were saying that a few months ago it was discovered oozing a red colored sap, but the article did not say that anyone collected it for a sample to analyze if it was a particular disease.  Anyway, I think it’s a shame that Big Mama has passed away.  She lived a very long life, maybe that’s just the average lifespan of a cypress tree.  What do you think?

I was reading an article on yahoo news that more young soldiers are re-enlisting in the service because they are afraid that they won’t be able to get a good job in the civilian workforce because of the bad economy.  What a very sad state of affairs that is!  To re-enlist, knowing that you will probably go to battle, because you are afraid that you won’t be able to find a job in the civilian world!

The article was explaining that it is pretty much standard fare that when the economy is bad, people join the military because it is a steady paycheck with benefits.  I truly hope that the fighting ends soon; I hate to see any of our citizens put in harms way!

I was just reading that the CEO of Ford Motor Company, as part of his plan brought before Congress, has agreed to be paid a salary of only $1 per year if the company has to take any government money.  I was reading the story on the Internet at the yahoo news site.  The article did not say how many years he would do that…..  I found that very interesting, and I think that all of the CEOs should follow suit. 

It will be very interesting to watch and see what the plans are that the big 3 will bring before Congress, and whether or not Congress agrees to bail them out.