Gates still the richest American

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the richest person in the United States for the 15th year in a row. Although Gates tops the list with a personal fortune estimated by Forbes to be about $57 billion, this was down from the $59 billion he was worth last year.

“The fact that the rich are not getting richer means that the economy is locked,” said Matthew Miller, editor of the Forbes list. “Credit is not being extended, there is very little liquidity in the markets and deals can’t get done, so the economy contracts.”

Investor Warren Buffett came in at number 2 with an estimated personal wealth of $50 billion, down from an estimated $52 billion last year, followed in third place by Oracle Corp founder Larry Ellison, who is said to be worth $27 billion by Forbes.

Gates, Buffett and Larry Ellison are followed by Jim Walton (USD 23.4 billion), S Robson Waltton (USD 23.3 billion), Alice Walton (USD 23.2 billion) and Cristy Walton and family (USD 23.2 billion) of Wal-Mart, Michael Bloomberg (USD 20 billion), Charles Koch (USD 19 billion) and David Koch (USD 19 billion) in the top ten.