How the "Rich" get poorer

Forbes magazine recently published its list of the 15 richest fictional characters.

I will reproduce it so you do have to:

10: Willy Wonka, 2.3 billion
9: Thurston Howell III, 5.7 billion (Gilligans Island)
8: Bruce Wayne, 6.5 billion
7: Jed Calmpett, 6.6 billion
6: Scrooge McDuck, 8.2 billion
5: C. Montgomery Burns, 8.4 billion
4: Lex Luthor, 10.1 billion
3: Richie Rich, 17.0 billion
2: Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks, 27.3 billion
1: Santa Claus, Billions on top of Billions
(actually it has the symbol for infiniti, but i can't make that, or don't know how)

I would first like to congradulate Daddy Warbucks. in the time since this list was last published (2002), he passed Richie Rich to comandingly take over the #2 spot on the list. While Richie foolishly squandered nearly 7.7 billion dollars, Daddy made a whopping 17.3 Billion.
A couple of people lost money such as Thurston Howell, who has been stuck on an Island and connot properly invest,(would you give money to the professor for one of his "destined to fail" schemes?) and Willy Wonka made that crappy movie and the low carb craze is a killer, but to drop nearly 8 Billion Bucks!! Richie is Blowing his inheritance!!!

But let's stop and think about what has happened lately to cause this shift in power. Richie's comics are not selling. Period. Who wants to read about the antics of some rich kid. He had that cartoon in the 80's to boost his net worth a bit, I'm sure, and then that Macully Culkin movie, but since then, nothing. Rumor has it that he tried to start a clothing line for kids that was nothing but waistcoats and blue shorts. It bombed horribly. Plus comic strip movies have shifted to a more action oriented role. X-Men, Batman, Fantastic 4, even The Punisher are getting movies. No one wants to see a movie about the Archie Kids.

Now Daddy Warbucks has been busy. He's not making his money from "Annie the musical" doing well in high schools across the country. Daddy's in the defense market. Defense industries is his game, and the U.S. wants to play. Iraq, Afghanstan, this Middle East conflict is doing wonders for his fortune. Everyone wants Daddy's help and G. W. B. is no exception. I also think that his body guards Punjab and Asp creep Bush out a bit. Bush knows that those two have mystical powers and are not afraid to use them. I envision thier conversation to go something like this.

B- Hey Oliver
D- What's new Mr. President?
B- Well, this war isn't going over well with the people. I need something to get them back in the swing of terrorist dislikibility.
D- Umm... Ok... My people have been working on a couple of really big guns and tanks. We have a new misile launcher we are calling the A.A.O.E.
B - What's that?
D- Anti Axis of Evil. It's big enough to impress your N.R.A. supporters and scare the crap out of hippies.
B- Damn Hippies. You can make me up 100,000 then?
D- Sure I can. Who's your Daddy?
B- Alright! Thanks D Dubba-u!
D- No problem G Dubba-u!

I think that as long as the war is going strong, Oliver Warbucks will be riding the good life. Heck, if Bush has his way, he has the potential to challenge Santa for the top spot. Only time will tell.

Peace
Benny