It's Still the Economy, Stupids! Ask any 35 year old Billionaire

Summary: The amount to send one Mars Lander to explore surface geology is approximately $475 million in yesterday's dollars. Inflation could make it $500 million today. The combined losses of billionaires in America was staggering in both over all losses and individual losses.

Remember, at $65 billion, Enron was the largest bankruptcy until 2009. Now the dust has not settled enough to even make an educated wild ass guess of how much has been lost. Swindler Bernie Madoff added billions to the losses all by his lonesome... and probably Ocean's 14 type cohorts...

MooPig's Point is -- for each billion lost we could have sent two Mars Landers to scope out and plot Mars. But NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO....! WTPh?

We could have even made it rain in Iraq from what Steve Spielberg lost, or we could have moved Washington DC to Salt Lake City from what various charities lost....

In the words of the GREAT MADOFF: "I am ashamed for these criminal acts. I always knew this day would come."

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PHOENIX MARS LANDER: "It's highly unlikely that that's the explanation," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which managed the $475 million mission. "It's just water vapor moving around. It's an ordinary, unexciting explanation."

Phoenix landed near the Martian north pole in May and spent five months digging into the soil and ice.

(AP) Did NASA's Phoenix Mars lander find evidence of liquid water before it froze to death?

It confirmed the presence of ice at its landing site and became the first robotic probe to taste it by melting it. It also discovered an abundant amount of the chemical perchlorate, a highly oxidizing salt, in dirt samples.

[Story Retrieved HERE] Mars Lander May Have Spotted Water
Report From Mission Members Says Photos Show Drops Of Liquid That Could Boost Chance Of Life On Red Planet | PASADENA, Calif., March 11, 2009

___________________________________ "For a measly $1 billion I could send two Mars Landers !"
But not before (CBS) Even billionaires are feeling the pinch of the recession.
Recession Hits Forbes Billionaires List | In Magazine's Annual List, Young Billionaires Net Worth Down As A Result Of Economic Crisis | March 11, 2009 [Retrieved HERE]
Forbes released their Billionaires List Wednesday evening, including the world’s youngest plutocrats. The magazine’s Web site reported that the elite club of billionaires under 40 is a lot smaller this year. The average age of the world’s 20 youngest billionaires is 35 this year, up from last year’s average of 32. [SOURCE]

They are a bit poorer too - the average net worth of billionaires age 40 and younger is $2.9 billion, down 30 percent from last year's average of $4.1 billion.

1	William Gates III	United States	53	40.0	United States
2	Warren Buffett	United States	78	37.0	United States
3	Carlos Slim Helu & family	Mexico	69	35.0	Mexico
4	Lawrence Ellison	United States	64	22.5	United States
5	Ingvar Kamprad & family	Sweden	83	22.0	Switzerland
6	Karl Albrecht	Germany	89	21.5	Germany
7	Mukesh Ambani	India	51	19.5	India
8	Lakshmi Mittal	India	58	19.3	United Kingdom
9	Theo Albrecht	Germany	87	18.8	Germany
10	Amancio Ortega	Spain	73	18.3	Spain
11	Jim Walton	United States	61	17.8	United States
12	Alice Walton	United States	59	17.6	United States
12	Christy Walton & family	United States	54	17.6	United States
12	S Robson Walton	United States	65	17.6	United States
15	Bernard Arnault	France	60	16.5	France
16	Li Ka-shing	Hong Kong	80	16.2	Hong Kong
17	Michael Bloomberg	United States	67	16.0	United States
18	Stefan Persson	Sweden	61	14.5	Sweden
19	Charles Koch	United States	73	14.0	United States
19	David Koch	United States	68	14.0	United States
21	Liliane Bettencourt	France	86	13.4	France
22	Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud	Saudi Arabia	54	13.3	Saudi Arabia
23	Michael Otto & family	Germany	65	13.2	Germany
24	David Thomson & family	Canada	51	13.0	Canada
25	Michael Dell	United States	44	12.3	United States

############################################# -- MADOFF? "I am ashamed for these criminal acts. I always knew this day would come."
SIDEBAR -- BERNIE's Billionaire Victims
At least 50 victims of Bernard Madoff sat in a packed U.S. District Courtroom in Manhattan Thursday as the disgraced money manager was led off to jail in handcuffs after pleading guilty to masterminding a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Outside were many more, and they still represented only the tip of an iceberg that is thought to comprise thousands of Madoff victims around the globe, from retirees and celebrities to some of the richest people in the world.

Hollywood mogul Steven Spielberg, net worth $3 billion, lost some of his philanthropic dollars to Madoff, according to a 162-page list compiled by AlixPartners, a restructuring firm tasked with helping liquidate Madoff's investment company.

Several billionaires, as well as foundations or companies funded by or associated with billionaires, were also included. Among them:
First Manhattan Co., a private investment firm founded by long-time Warren Buffett associate David Gottesman.

Gottesman, who sits on the board of Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRK - news - people ), was worth an estimated $1.8 billion when we priced our list of the wealthiest Americans this year.

Art collector Norman Braman, 76, net worth of $1.7 billion In December, Braman told Katie Couric of CBS News he had known Madoff for years and had invested a "considerable amount" of money with him. "I want to see him pay for what he has done to all these people," he told Couric.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel is another who has been vocal about Madoff's betrayal, reportedly referring to him as "a crook" and "evil." In a statement in December, the nonprofit Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity admitted to having “$15.2 million under management with Bernard Madoff Investment Securities"--an amount that represented substantially all of the foundation's assets.

Real estate billionaire Mort Zuckerman, whose net worth has fallen from $2.3 billion to $1.5 billion in the last 12 months. He told Erin Burnett on CNBC three months ago that his charitable foundation lost $30 million via Madoff investments.

Alicia Koplowitz, Spain's richest woman lost half her fortune in the past year, and fugitive financier Marc Rich.

Victims include:

• baseball star Sandy Koufax
• New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon
• Actors Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick
• John Malkovich
• Zsa Zsa Gabor

"I thought it would end quickly, but it proved impossible," said Madoff, before being remanded to jail and facing a possible 150-year sentence. "I am ashamed for these criminal acts. I always knew this day would come."