Everyone talks about how the demise of the banking system should be avoided, no one says why.

“Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says Forbes rich list underestimates his wealth

Saudi investor severs ties with annual billionaires’ list, claiming its ‘flawed’ valuation  disadvantages Middle East investors” The Guardian, March 5, 2013

What is flawed is the notion that individual wealth that has been amassed by despots by means of oppression, violence and terror, should ever be recognized as the property of the despot.

The tragedy is that the rest of the world choose to not see, to not hear, to not care, as long as the dictatorship is effective enough to produce stability. Rulers of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia… they were good guys until the very day the despot lost control.

Fortune, like truth, is in the eyes of the beholder. This list is fundamentally different from Forbes’.