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作家Darrell West在他即將出版的新書Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust (Brookings Institution Press, 2014)中寫道: “我們很容易又崇拜世界上的百萬富翁，卻又十分懼怕他們對選舉、政府及公共策略的影響力。”這本新書將在9/18上市，書中介紹與分析了全球擁有最多資源的人，與他們的影響力所在。

下面只是一些小小的例子:

1. 世界上那1645個擁有百萬美元以上資產的富翁，所擁有的資產總額大約是6.4兆美元。

2. 美國就擁有492個百萬美元富翁。

3. 中國、俄國、德國、巴西等國家依次擁有其餘多數的富翁。

4. 90%的富翁是男性、65%是白人、60%是60歲以上。

5. 2012年Sheldon Adelson花了九千三百萬美元在反對歐巴馬總統的政治活動上，同年歐普拉捐了76000美金給歐巴馬的選舉基金。

6. Mark Zuckerberg(臉書創辦人)捐了九億九千萬美元給矽谷社群基金會(Silicon Valley Community Foundations)

7. 這些百萬美元富翁中有七位是公開聲明自己是同性戀或是變性人。Jennifer Pritzker(原名James)是第一位變性人富翁。2013年，她捐了一百三十五萬美元給變性人創始會(Transgender Military Service Initiative)

8. 把世界首富比爾蓋茲比喻成一個國家的話，他是世界排名第65個有錢的國家。

9. 世界上最有錢的女人叫做Christy Walton，她是Wal-Mart家族的成員。

但我覺得世界正在改變，網路的力量、媒體的力量日益擴大。也因為這樣你看看第五項的案例，再想想現在火紅的台北市長選舉、甚或是近幾年許許多多的大事件。其實都一再證明Everybody counts. Every voice counts.

原文在這裡:

http://goo.gl/XKesh7

想了解更多世界上的富翁可以看這裡:

http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports2/2014/09/billionaires

“It is possible to admire individual billionaires but also fear their overall influence on elections, governance, and public policy,” writes Darrell West in his forthcoming book, Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust (Brookings Institution Press, 2014). The book, available on September 18, is full of fascinating analysis and facts about the men and women worldwide who control a massive share of global assets, and their extraordinary influence over elections, public policy, and governance. Here is just a sample of them:

1. The 1,645 billionaires in the world control about $6.4 trillion in assets
2. There are 492 billionaires in the United States
3. China, Russia, Germany, and Brazil have the next highest number of billionaires
4. 90 percent of billionaires are male; 65 percent are white; 60 percent are 60 years old or older
5. In 2012, Sheldon Adelson spent $93 million in political activities opposing President Obama; in the same year, Oprah Winfrey donated $76,000 to Obama’s Victory Fund
6. Mark Zuckerberg has given $990 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundations
7. There are seven openly gay or transgender billionaires; Jennifer Pritzker, (formerly known as James) is the first transgender billionaire. In 2013, she donated $1.35 million to support the Transgender Military Service Initiative
8. If Bill Gates, the richest person in the world, were a country, he would be 65th richest in the world
9. The richest woman in the world is Christy Walton, part of the Wal-Mart family
10. 42 percent of billionaires who earned their fortune before the age of 40 did it in technology fields

West—the vice president and director of Governance Studies at Brookings, the founding director of the Center for Technology Innovation, and the Douglas Dillon Chair—examines the "wealthification" of politics and society and offers ideas for improving opportunities and fairness.