Even the elite class is hurting, economists say

How bad is the recession these days?

It's so bad even the super-rich are beginning to notice it.

This is according to the New York Times. (Caution: Link will bring up some ad, and you have to click past that to get to the story. Guess we all have to make a buck!)

... economists say — and data is beginning to show — that a significant change may in fact be under way. The rich, as a group, are no longer getting richer. Over the last two years, they have become poorer. And many may not return to their old levels of wealth and income anytime soon ...

And ...

Bill Gates, Warren E. Buffett, the heirs to the Wal-Mart Stores fortune and the founders of Google each lost billions last year, according to Forbes magazine. In one stark example, John McAfee, an entrepreneur who founded the antivirus software company that bears his name, is now worth about $4 million, from a peak of more than $100 million. Mr. McAfee will soon auction off his last big property because he needs cash to pay his bills after having been caught off guard by the simultaneous crash in real estate and stocks ... “I had no clue,” he said, “that there would be this tandem collapse.”

Looks like we're all hurting. After that, it's only a difference of degrees.