Ego of Billionaires is Implausible
Data Remix by Pat Darnell | March Madness 23, 2015 | Bryan TX
Not to worry. Billionaires are too far out of the loop to ever get their way. HA! Who talks to them after their first fortune? Only people trying to stroke the ego's of billionaires remain in the loop. To be in the Wilk's entourage, we imagine one would have to take a lot of abuse.
So where did they manage to make all their b-b-b-billions?
"...Last year, [2013] the Wilkses added about 12,380 acres to their Fergus County holdings alone, where they now hold title to about 91,450 acres – about 143 square miles. In nearby Golden Valley County to the south, the Wilks brothers added more than 8,700 acres to their holdings in 2013, boosting their property there to about 43,750 acres. In adjacent Musselshell County, their holdings held steady at 64,000 acres, land that encompasses the Pronghorn Ranch previously owned by Earl Holding of Sinclair Oil fame.
As of 2012, the brothers owned 276,000 acres in seven Montana counties, not counting their holdings in other states.
The Wilks brothers acquired their fortune from selling their interest in Frac Tech in 2011, a deal that was reportedly worth $3.2 billion. Frac Tech was an oil fracking business, the same technology that’s being used to fuel North Dakota’s Bakken oil shale boom (BRETT FRENCH Billings Gazette. Mar 1, 2014. LINK)..."
If you want to make big bucks in this country, 'guess you have to own lots of land and all its mineral rights. I am not making any friends by looking down on robber baron's largess ... if I were a person with position and/or power, as a person who has something to lose, I might profess a totally different cause for this tirade. But for now I am in a dither about the wasting of our land.
"...A scam is a fraudulent business scheme, or a swindle, and a deliberate ploy to defraud ignorant, naïve, and stupid people out of their money or assets. There are many reasons idiots fall for obviously dubious “deals,” and stupidity aside, greed is often the culprit. But fear of losing something certainly plays a role. Republicans have had a thirty year run convincing stupid poor people looking to get rich, and morons terrified of other Americans taking their “stuff,” that giving up everything they have to the wealthy will magically transform a dirt-poor imbecile into a billionaire, save Americans’ liberty in the process, and teach the government who’s boss.(Rmuse. Sunday, March, 22nd, 2015. LINK)..."This all started with this article:
Meet the Billionaire Brothers You Never Heard of Who Fund the Religious Right: "The fracking boom has produced a surge in wealthy Texans. The fracking boom has produced a surge in wealthy Texans. In 2002, the Wilks brothers created Frac Tech, which produced equipment used in fracking, or in industry parlance, “well stimulation services.” In May 2011, Dan and Farris sold Frac Tech to a group of investors led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund for $3.5 billion. Their share was reportedly 68 percent of that total, and they showed up on the 2011 Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion each. The most recent Forbes list put their estimated wealth at $1.5 billion each. (In our gilded age, that puts them near the bottom of the Forbes 400, and barely gets them into the top 40 in Texas. But you can still do an awful lot with $3 billion.)"
And, why are billionaires always "moralists?"
"...CBN’s Brody reported: “The Wilks brothers worry that America’s declining morals will especially hurt the younger generation, so they’re using the riches that the Lord has blessed them with to back specific goals.” One of those goals may be David Lane’s insistence that politicians make the Bible a primary textbook in public schools (ibid. ) ..."
'via Blog this'
Small fish need not join this ring of fire. [At this point in time I am having second thoughts about the simplest thing, re-financing my little house and property.] You see, Timmy, when you are dealing out there, and you are a high roller, very few legal actions are followed. Most of the robber land barons depend on loopholes, stealth, extortion, and any other means to achieve their objective to own "land." Citizen groups usually find out about a shady land deal two to three years after it has been developed. Then the local politicians are just a bunch of "small fish" barking at the moon.
In land deals it takes about ten to twelve years to realize the returns on investment. Holding large parcels of land can be paid for by divvying up small parts of the whole and selling off to developers.
CONCLUSION
My bonnie lies over the ocean ... my bonnie lies over the sea ... this ditty is just like a land deal. The meaning is unclear, the outcome is based on some sort of shielded loyalty, it depends on a minority largess in heaps, and just doesn't quell the angry spirit of the excluded class. You see, the bonnie is not a girl at all, it is 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' (Y ikki peed ya. LINK).
And we often say we are going to quit writing about billionaires, and kings, and hucksters, but we still find them as good contrast to the middle class that reads us as we go along. Here is a Boy Scout version of 'Bring Back ...'
My mother makes beer in the bathtub,
My father makes synthetic gin,
My sister makes fudge for a quarter,
Wouldja believe how the money rolls in?
My mother, she drowned in the bathtub,SOUR GRAPES
My father, he died from his gin,
My sister choked on her chocolate,
My stars, what a fix I am in.
This post made me: __feel better, __feel good, __feel like middle class, __feel poor, __feel like opening my Bible, __feel like vomiting...
__________________________Reference
http://prospect.org/article/meet-billionaire-brothers-you-never-heard-who-fund-religious-right
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/petition-asks-to-halt-montana-land-exchange-with-billionaire-wilks/article_61736ede-a1ca-11e3-88e0-0019bb2963f4.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bonnie_Lies_over_the_Ocean
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/03/22/real-economist-krugman-calls-gop-budget-trillion-dollar-con-job.html
