The Forbes 400

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Richest People in America

Forbes has been chronicling the fortunes of the nation's super rich since 1982. The 400 richest Americans lost a staggering $300 billion in the last 12 months -- bringing their collective worth from $1.57 trillion to $1.27 trillion -- just the fifth yearly decline in the history of the list.

Click through our gallery as we highlight the five richest Americans from Forbes' list.

· Read Forbes' full list

First Up: No. 1 Richest American

More from Forbes:

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Don't have time to click through the gallery above? Use these links below to go directly to the slides you are most interested in.

No. 1: William H. Gates III

No. 2: Warren Buffett

No. 3: Lawrence Ellison

No. 4: Christy Walton & Family

No. 5: Jim C. Walton

See the Full 400 Richest Americans List

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COMMENTS ( 82 )

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cashforallll

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Georgia Kritikos

1:32PM Oct 5 2009

sum think there meat is better than others...wrong!!!!!!!cant control what you dont know!!!!

Georgia Kritikos

1:26PM Oct 5 2009

who cares who is rich and who is not...who is eating organic and who is eating crap....we all have the same destiny...but we all will be judged differently.....read the bible daily...;)

Afbigfish

12:29AM Oct 5 2009

Thats not her age thats how many illegal aliens she has working in each of her stores

Afbigfish

12:27AM Oct 5 2009

What did you think was going to happen when you outsourced the jobs of the people that bought your goods? I have no hard feelings for the wealthy people of the world only the ones that got there by screwing over the people that helped get them there. The ones that weren’t happy making modest profits and outsourced the labor overseas in order to make obscene profits. We have finally reached the point ******** now affecting the very people responsible for this mess we are now in. It kills me to read these posts from the wealthy business owners complaining about government aid to the poor and how they will have to pay higher taxes to support all the job less losers. These are the same people that would be complaining if they had to pay a FAIR wage to their employee’s. Sorry to brake it to you but guess what who do you think buys your overpriced Chinese crap your selling? Do you think the Chinese worker making $2.00 a day is going to buy your $75.00 shirt? HA !! if so you are a complete idiot. AMERICANS need to go back to work ask any of the unemployed out their 99% would love to go back to work for a decent wage and tell you to take your tax funded assistance and shove it straight up you know what. So ******** bring back American jobs or pay higher taxes to support the people you outsourced but either way stop your crying!!!!!!!!!!!