The Billionaires' Club - Friend of the Little Man

The 2006 list of the world's richest dudes and dudettes is out today, and no doubt you breathlessly scanned the list as we did, looking for that magic "connection", that special someone with whom you might correspond online and pour out your heart's fondest desires and your life's sweetest aspirations, knowing that they will merely snap their fingers and have someone wire your account instantly.

But even though we were teased with the news that the billionaire list had grown by 15 percent (to 793) we were disappointed that we still don't know a single one of them. (One guy on the list is from Oklahoma, so we are not without hope that help is on the way).

Greatest anomaly is the large number of mostly new Russian billionaires (33, and mostly oil monied) who between them have $172 billion of wealth, compared to 11 Saudi billionaires with $68 billion. As we gauge things the possibilities include a) the Saudis do a better job of spreading the wealth (and we would be most happy to help them); b) the Russians are selling more oil, or c) someone somewhere is telling fibs.

Truth is, we don't really care. We just know in our heart of hearts that some billionaire somewhere wants to make the Oklahomilist a healthier, happier, World Class blogger through a one-time grant somewhere around seven figures.

We're just waiting for the good word.