If you think that the economic crisis is affecting you and your wealth, you might feel better after reading the Forbes Rich List of 2009.

The BBC published some figures today from Forbes latest, showing that 332 names have been wiped off Forbes magazine’s “rich list” of world billionaires, leaving only 793 people to lay claim to a place on that list.

While few of us would be shedding tears for the plight of billionaires nor would they be entitled to much in the way of charity, the Chief Executive of Forbes Magazines, Steve Forbes, said:

“Billionaires don’t have to worry about their next meal, but if their wealth is declining and you’re not creating numerous new billionaires, it means the rest of the world is not doing very well,” he told reporters. “The typical billionaire is down at least one third on their net worth.”

Here is our summary of some interesting figures at a glance:

1. The total net worth of the world’s billionaires fell from $4.4 trillion to $2.4 trillion, reducing the number of billionaires in the world to 793 from 1,125.

2. Microsoft Founder Bill Gates has resumed his title as the world’s richest, as the global financial meltdown wiped out $2 trillion from the net worth of the world’s billionaires.

3. The stock market collapse has costed Mr. Warren Buffet $25 billion, reducing his wealth to $34 billion. But Gates can’t be too happy either, considering his fortune has declined £13.06 billion ($18bn) to $40 bn.

4. Indian businessman Anil Ambani, the biggest climber on the list last year to #6, has dropped to 34 after being the biggest loser this year. His net worth sank $31.9 billion to $10.1 bn.

5. Russian billionaires lost a total of $369 billion between them, thanks to plunging oil prices.

6. There are now 52 Chinese billionaires on the list with a decrease in billionaires from the mainland, but their collective wealth shrank less than those from emerging economies like India and Turkey.

7. The depreciating economy means that to make the top 20 on the Forbes list, you now only need $14bn instead of $21bn in 2008. (Oh, so achievable!)

8. Mexico’s druglord Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, nicknamed for being 5 ft. tall, killed his way to the top of Mexico’s cocaine export to the USA after escaping from prison in 2001. He has also compensated for his height by following in Pablo Escobar’s footsteps, making it onto the Forbes Magazine list of the world’s richest people with an estimated $1 billion fortune. [Reuters]

Now that these poor billionaires only have millions to survive on, maybe a tear is worth shedding after all. Except for “Shorty”. He’s winning ‘Man of the year’ instead.

[BBC] (thanks, Daniel!)

God bless the kids with nothing better to do than rummage through old videos of news bulletins and slap captions from today’s news all over them. Especially when they highlight the ludicrous predictions of a national banking institution. Northern Rock had already gone bust and everyone’s spidey-sense was already tingling, yet at the end of 2007, Nationwide did their bit to inject confidence into the flagging housing market. “Wide of the mark” doesn’t quite cover it:

Your grandmother and her friends may adore crappy porcelain figures of girls in bright blue bonnets walking a labrador, but they’ll all be dead soon, and it’s not the sort of stuff you’re keen to see grace your IKEA coffee table.

And so the bony digits of Deathwatch finger the china and ceramics firm Wedgewood who, according to the BBC, are expecting to call in the administrators today. The company, which has just entered is 250th year, has also requested that shares be suspended from trading on the Irish Stock Exchange. Nearly 3,000 staff are employed across the UK and Ireland, with another 5,000 working for Wedgewood around the world.

Sir Anthony O’Reilly, non-executive Chairman said: “We are consoled only by the fact that everything that could have been done, by management and by the board, to preserve the group, was done.”

While the company remains hopeful of finding a buyer, its collapse could be the harbinger of doom for chains such as Collectables; everyone can manage without expensive gifts and trinkets during a recession, and crystal vases may take a long time to come back into fashion.

Ah, the Boxing Day sales. Time once again to hold your head in your hands, despairing at the cash you could have saved if you hadn’t been sucked into the whorish vortex of Christmas past.

Debenhams opened at 7am this morning with all guns blazing; there’s up to 70% off all clothing lines, although a quick flick through the website reveals half price reductions to be the norm. If you want to avoid the crush, there’s free delivery on all online orders over £100.

Tesco began their sale just before Christmas; you can expect up to 50% off everything except groceries. Some of the better deals include a Sony 32″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview, down from £500 to £349.97, plus another £7.46 off in VAT reductions (and 3% off with Quidco if you’re so inclined). The (up to) 70% sale is ongoing online at Littlewoods, while in the real world there are up to half price sales at Homebase, M&S, John Lewis and plenty more besides.

And despite everyone in the country claiming to be poor, we’re still behaving like a famine is on the way, clearing the shelves and clearly spending even more money we don’t have. According to the BBC, customers outside Selfridges in London began queuing at 2am. That’s in the morning. A spokesperson said:

“It was mental when they came into the store. I’ve never seen anything like it. People were running into the store and grabbing bags. Some women had four or five bags in their hands. Security had to get more people down to the store to help.”

Mental indeed. The Beeb reckons these sales will mean life or death for some retail chains, as this is the time of year when many retailers must pay their next three months’ rent. Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers has suggested that 82% of High Street retailers offered either sales or promotions in the run up to Christmas. Plenty of us are being swept along in the hysteria to save money; will it be enough to prevent our high streets going bust and being boarded up?

Bloody hell, another shop I was in just last night; I appear to be the grim reaper of the economically challenged.

Around 3,000 jobs are at risk after Zavvi went into adminstration this morning. The DVD and music retailer has been in trouble since the collapse of Woolworths; not only was Entertainment UK (the distribution arm of Woolworths) the major supplier to Zavvi, but according to the Guardian, Zavvi owed Entertainment UK over £100million.

Losing such a significant supplier will have no doubt forced Zavvi to try and negotiate terms with other suppliers; not an easy task during a downturn at Christmas.

Zavvi was formed from a management buyout of Virgin Megastores last Christmas. It’s expected the 125 stores across the UK and Ireland will continue trading today and Boxing Day.

I ambled past a branch of The Officers Club last night (having just witnessed the nuclear desolation that is the toy department in Woolworths)  and two things were immediately apparent;

• The Officers Club is nothing of the sort; no officer, even a parole officer would be found buying a leather jacket there, let alone pulling up a bar stool and crooning songs by the Everly Brothers
• I don’t understand who it is setting astronomical RRPs or how such a procedure is regulated, in order for a store to constantly sell goods at over two thirds of their “original” price

Seemingly I’m not the only one; the sums didn’t add up (a quick peek at their financial records – a loss before tax of £794,000 for 2007 on sales of £52 million – suggests they were in trouble long before now) and on Monday, the North East based company went into administration.

Yesterday, a buyer was found; 118 of the 150 stores were sold to a third party backed by the The Officers Club chairman, David Charlton. Not all bad news then – the sale safeguarded the jobs of 900 staff. The other 32 stores were closed immediately.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports experts are warning that ten or more national or regional retail chains risk going bust in January. Seemingly next month is the most vulnerable for struggling retailers, since most are cash-rich and stock-poor; if creditors are going to force a business into administration, January’s the time to do it.

So we need ten predictions for you – which stores will cease trading in the next five weeks? There’s a Bitterwallet prize pack* for every correct answer!

* Prize pack may be nothing of the sort. May contain nut products.

Seriously, how much sympathy is it possible to muster up for estate agents? These businesses made millions during the housing boom; hundreds of houses on the books and thousands of buyers desperate to climb onto or up the property ladder. Demand outstripped supply, customer service sank through the floor, and estate agents raped and pillaged their way through the market and made a fortune fit for burying on a treasure island.

Now the tables have turned, and once where smugs of offices sprung up in glee, now there are but empty window fronts, pining for the days when hopeful punters would stare through them and cry at the price of a walk-in cupboard in Ealing.

Yes, with Barclays offering doomsday predictions of houses dropping from their peak value by up to 30% next year, the findings of the National Association of Estate Agents come as no surprise whatsoever. Based on activity in November, estate agents are now selling just six properties a month, while the number of properties on agents’ books has dropped to 87.

The average number of house hunters per office fell by 5.1 per cent from October to 186. The NAEA claimed this fall was typical of a traditional pre-Christmas lull, but the total number of house hunters was down 35.9 per cent on a year ago.

The average flat is now worth £114,288, a terraced house is going for £149,589. Semi-detached and detached homes are being sold for £192,042 and £287,922 respectively. Will this see those cash-rich folk starting to snap up cheap bargains and repossessed homes? We suspect so; plenty of people with money in the bank have been waiting patiently for the explosion in house prices to blow itself out. Now that prices are falling, and throw in the fact that banks currently aren’t keen to lend, there’s sure be be a surge in demand for rented properties.

And so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And estate agents get served a slab of stale humble pie, shortly after receiving a bloody good hiding. One out of three ain’t bad.

"I don't get it. What's wrong with 'persecuting' short sellers again?"

Don’t worry. I don’t know much more than Bush either. I still don’t really understand what’s going on fully.

This is why The Money Meltdown certainly provides a great starting point to understanding the current crisis.

This site clearly summarizes the banking crisis, with links to articles of varying complexity.

The site is sectioned into different ‘chapters’, from explaining the situation behind the current panic, along with a nice list of 15 things you need to know about the panic.

And not because I’m slow. I just ‘don’t have the time’. I now have it bookmarked, and plan to eventually read it.

Here’s a selection of articles worth reading from the site:

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