Photos: The Greediest People of All Time

Newsweek Web Exclusive

« Return to Multimedia

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: Damn Cynical @ 11/02/2009 5:08:12 PM

    Rush Limbaugh, Alan Greenspan, and Milton Friedman.

  • Posted By: vivaelmundo @ 08/27/2009 2:25:53 AM

    Everyone is getting into Greed or all for me and the hell with everyone else.
    Everyone even the ones on the bottom. They copy the top! Some quotes to illustrate: the porno queen who kidnapped young girls and then killed said in her defense "isn???t it all about me...."? or the Columbine family of the perpetuators who are not willing to compensate their sons victims..."no apology" Or Enron guy who dumped his wife, married the stripper and settled in Colorado with confiscated 250 millions. Or Gingrich, who said to his former wife and his children ...don???t bother me go to the nearest Church and get help...Or Reagan who said "shoot for the Stars" (and basically forget everyone else and the consequences.) Or family saying to each other....your on your own, even on the streets and don???t call and tell me your problems. Or the 60 yr old in Pa. who kidnapped young girls for sex, because his wife was too sick...."I deserve sex so I did it" but few know that history has lead us to this....as Chief Pontiac said...I tell the British about my people starving and they laugh at me???....or Sitting Bull in D.C. looking at the opulent buildings and saying so much wealth and yet there are beggars on the streets...and Chief Joseph saying "your selfishness will do you in" and lets not forget Rev. King who advised us all to have a conscience.....but the most recent was jumping over homeless people in Wall St, and one millionaire broker saying, "I saw you helping the homeless...as if that was a crime against humanity...to help someone in need....Ann Rand...the ugly insisted that we all should be selfish....we have been and look at us now....lost homes, jobs and no one feels guilty...Oh no guilt feeling was also taken from our system too. The protype modern man is the following who says:??? I deserve it all, because I am brilliant, and I am not hampered by guilt, and have no responsibility except to the almighty self???

    • Posted By: earthorbitsthesun @ 09/05/2009 6:45:54 AM

      Not to poke fun at what I consider a serious post, but you need to watch less news!

  • Posted By: Nacionalista Party @ 04/05/2009 6:55:36 PM

    Imelda Marcos is not just greedy; she is "Evil." Take this next title for her article "Evildoer of the Century.

    • Posted By: jhelvillaruel @ 04/06/2009 3:36:04 AM

      who are you to say she's evil. How dare you? remember during her period the Philippines was its glory, what about now? where are we? people like you or groups like pull our country to much worst scenario and bare in mind somehow Mrs. Marcos put our country to the world map. at least people around the world knew that filipinos like Mrs.Marcos have an eye of beauty.

      • Posted By: commentator27 @ 04/06/2009 9:39:55 PM

        You, like most of us Filipinos, don't know your history. The reason why the Philippines is languishing in poverty is largely because of the Marcos regime. The "golden age" of Philippine culture during Imelda Marcos's reign is all but a facade covering the real situation at that time.

        • Posted By: historianworld @ 04/07/2009 5:45:46 AM

          BECAUSE OF IMELDA MARCOS AND THE HER FAMILY, THE PHILIPPINES BECAME FAMOUS IN THE WHOLE WORLD. THE REGIME OF THE MARCOSES WOULD BE THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHILIPPINE HISTORY. I SHOULD SAY THAT ALTHOUGH WHAT THEY DONE TO OUR COUNTRY DECADES AGO IS ABUSING AND BAD. BUT WER THANK THEM ALSO BECAUSE THEY TWISTED AND THEY BECAME OUR FOES LIKE IN THE MOVIE SO THAT THE MOVIE OF REALITY AND THE HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES WILL BE MORE EXCITING AND THRILLING TO BECOME A BLOCKBUSTER HIT!!!!!! AND IT HAPPENED, INDEED! LIKE THE EDSA REVOLUTION WHICH AS FAR AS I OBSERVED THE WHOLE WORLD WATCHES US ON THAT HAPPENINGS WHICH I COULD SAY THE MOST MOST MIRACOLOUS RALLY AND REVOLUTION EVER IN THER WORLD HISTORY!!!!!!! ..... SOBER.....

          • Posted By: martha_ilagan @ 08/22/2009 6:57:32 AM

            Famous? True...but I'd rather be an unknown, stinky old beggar who can speak up his own mind rather than be a rich man known by everyone who is muffled by his own pride and selfishness.

            Yes, I also can't deny that without the Marcoses, there would be no EDSA revolution, no event that showed the true strength of the Filipinos. But was that fame worth all those tears, blood, and sweat the people who were brave enough to stand up to the conjugal dictatorship of Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos shed?

            Imelda deserves every tiny trash comment thrown at her. And so is deeming her as one of the greediest people of all time. Thanks newsweek!

          • Posted By: Benchgurl @ 04/07/2009 8:04:45 AM

            Are you serious? she's evil! she deserves to be on the list. Shame on the Marcoses.

  • Posted By: Veteran's Wife @ 08/14/2009 4:14:38 PM

    This is an excellent list, but she left out the "Greediest of ALL" when she didn't list our current President and Congress members. The House and Senate Members were elected to serve the People, not use and abuse them.

    Congress is over paid for a very, very part-time job. Each and every one gets personal perks that aren't available to the working folks that pay through the nose for Congress to act high and mighty. By their every day actions, the professional politicians show their greed and desire for money and power.

    And our current President - we just love (please note the heavy sarcasm here!)paying for him to play the part of royalty and King as he plays tour guide for his family at our expense. I too would like to have the ability to take my family to Europe and then off to the Grand Canyon on someone else's dime.

    So please put the President and Congress at the very top of the Greediest List where they belong!!!!

  • Posted By: rho1953 @ 06/09/2009 6:04:10 PM

    Let's throw Barack Obama into the mix. He wants all of our money and control over everything in sight. Surely such lust for power and money merits mention.

    • Posted By: Rav1 @ 07/28/2009 1:26:50 AM

      Every politician is after money and power. They are poor creatures with the inferiority complex. They act like children looking for attention of the crowds, wanting to be flattered, aplauded.
      That's how immature people behave. No intelligent person will ever evince any desire for politics.

      • Posted By: sportscarnut @ 07/30/2009 10:08:22 AM

        Sad but true. The best and brightest would never lower themselves to do what used to be a selfless act of civil service. There should be stringent term limits, no pension, and a vow of poverty that would prohibit future business involvement (in essence only successful individuals that are content with what they have already earned, and willing to share the wisdom that they gained to improve the lives of thier fellow humankind).

    • Posted By: HopeforAmerica @ 06/14/2009 9:54:20 PM

      YTO: rho1953--Your statement makes absoulute NO Sense what so ever! Obama has nothing to do with this! Stop making up stuff!!

  • Posted By: surfer_001 @ 06/14/2009 10:28:41 PM

    I would add the executed President of Romaniaa. Ciaucescu who exported all produce and starved the people. Ciaucescu who paid for people to bear children that they could not afford only to be placed in orphanages & abused to be turned into wild inhuman compassionateless cold hearted killing machines for his tufuture army. I would also add the Catholic Church specifically the head. Go to Rome and visit St. Peters Cathedral and see for yourself the disgusting amount of greed within it's walls. Marble, gold, silver , architecture, paintings etc. while the peasants kneel and pray without decent clothes or shoes on their feet. That my friends is GREED in its highest form and most corrupt power. In the the name of God let us kneel, pray and repent before the temple of gold then go walk home to our humble abode & lay down to sleep hungry! How shameful!!!

    • Posted By: Rav1 @ 07/28/2009 1:14:30 AM

      And who is responsible for all this business that is going on in churches? Stupid crowd takes part in it at its own will, nobody enforces it to participate, donate, and then wonder why we are so poor and down. But 90% of people are just too foolish or too scared to say "End of it now!"

    • Posted By: Rav1 @ 07/28/2009 1:13:42 AM

      And who is responsible for all this business that is going on in churches? Stupid crowd takes part in it at its own will, nobody enforces it to participate, donate, and then wonder: why are we so poor and down? But 90% of people are just too foolish or too scared to say "End of it now!"

  • Posted By: Belmonty @ 07/25/2009 2:32:54 PM

    You forgot my sister

  • Posted By: star3 @ 07/22/2009 8:58:28 PM

    So, where are they all now? How much good is their wealth doing them now? Jesus said He wants us to prosper and have abundant happiness now. He, also, said, "What does it serve a man/woman if they gain the whole world, yet, lose their own soul. The difference is, how the wealth was obtained, and that will be the determining factor when they face their creator, on where they spend eternity. Money will not impress or buy them anything there. Not all poor people are nice, and not all wealthy people are greedy. God judges the heart, not the purse.

  • Posted By: star3 @ 07/22/2009 8:49:31 PM

    So, where are they all now? Even the ones still living will, eventually, die. Where they go after that, all their money will not impress or buy them anything. They may have enjoyed a rich life here---for a brief time, but if they obtained their wealth by oppressing others or by any wrong means, they will be poorer than then anyone ever was living on earth since the beginning of time, in the place where they go after death, so what good did it all do them. As the Bible says, "What does it serve a man/woman if they gain the whole world, but lose their own soul?" God doesn't mind us being wealthy, He wants us to prosper, Jobe was wealthy, and God replaced all he lost, plus more. The difference is, how the wealth is aquired, and that will be the determining factor when they face their creator.

  • Posted By: S10ison @ 07/22/2009 3:43:20 PM

    I'm curious as to why Kenneth Lay does not appear on this list.

  • Posted By: S10ison @ 07/22/2009 3:42:43 PM

    I'm curious as to why Kenneth Lay does not appear on the list.

  • Posted By: hercius @ 07/20/2009 10:33:19 AM

    12th, The USA Government (not the people) for taking (buying or by force) land, resources and people from :
    "Nuevo Mexico, Tejas, California, Hawaii, Alaska and many islands" once also tried to take
    Vietnan, Panama and recently have a new addition (IRAK and maybe Afghanistan) in the future perhaps
    the Amazon will be on the target as well as other merchandise for (taking), maybe should include
    yourself as 13th, the Newsweek CEO from going from Us$125 (2008) to $225 in one year for a 52 issues subscription
    maybe your evident content will focus in the mos powerfull and the Ban(bers) a new mix nowadays that
    makes serial killer looklike toddlers, for now internet is almost free we will see later

  • Posted By: anna banana @ 06/17/2009 4:27:38 AM

    Please add First Gentleman Mike Arroyo to the list. He sure knows how to steal big-time!!!

    • Posted By: rheame @ 06/30/2009 5:32:18 PM

      Proverbs: 30: 14
      There are people who take cruel advantage of the poor and needy: that is the way they make their living.

  • Posted By: tministry.com @ 06/23/2009 12:48:07 AM

    A person can have nothing and still be greedy. So being "greediest" has nothing to do with wealth. Although this was entertaining article, the title is not quite for it. It may have shown some examples of wealth some greedy people acquired, but that by no means shows the "amount" of greed of the individual.

  • Posted By: DCtonian @ 06/19/2009 9:27:24 AM

    Add the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who ran on a promise of improving the French???s buying power. The average monthly take home pay in France is around 800 euros. Workers only ask 1500 euros month. After taking office, Sarkozy raised his own salary 140%, then flaunted his new ???bling-bling??? jet set lifestyle in the media???Rolex watches, private yacht vacations, meetings in jeans and sunglasses... After being dumped by his wife, Sarkozy married an Italian ex-model, heiress to a family castle. Angry French workers, mocked by their newly elected leader, have been protesting ever since.

  • Posted By: LORD_SAMUEL @ 06/16/2009 12:38:37 AM

    I do not think these 10, not a single one, even all combined, can match the Thai Royal family. According to Forbe's Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej is placed at the top of its list of wealthy monarchs with a fortune of US$35 billion. Though, this is not obvious in the country, but world knows!

  • Posted By: Seamus8 @ 06/15/2009 9:02:27 PM

    No diamond Jim Brady? Leona Helmsley? Jay Gould? Fisk, Rocafella, Carnegie, Chin xir hwang di, Tamerlane, JPMorgan, Henry Morgan, Albert Bell, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Tiberius's mom (forget the name)...

    Lots of greedy people in this world.

  • Posted By: aelliott30 @ 06/15/2009 12:36:59 AM

    I don't know about individuals, but group greed dwarfs them all. government heads of many nations take the monies (properties and personal belingings) of the people and place the nation into an unpayable det. The moneyis spent on an endless amount of "things" that the people cannnot utilize, even in times of dire need. And the times when the people get the chance to use some of the "things" they come with an additional price, charged yet again to the people...

  • Posted By: iamiam @ 06/14/2009 11:37:22 PM

    I really don't think #4 Vanderbilt belongs on this list... And it's kind of conspicuous that he makes the list 11 instead of 10. Everyone else listed is a criminal... Vanderbilt (at least his sound byte) is just a wealthy business man. I really don't think you can compare (running a large business in a "free market") to (money scams/fraud, war mongers, non-democracy government rulers, and ostentatious people hording junk like gold and gems just because they claim to be valuable)

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse