Jim Urquhart / REUTERS

Bill Gates, the 1% chairman of Microsoft Corp, topped the list for the 19th year in a row with $66 billion, up $7 billion from a year earlier.

The net worth of the richest Americans grew by 13 percent in the past year to $1.7 trillion, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday, and a familiar cast of characters once again populated the top of the magazine's annual list of the U.S. uber-elite, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Larry Ellison and the Koch brothers.

The average net worth of the 400 wealthiest Americans rose to a record $4.2 billion, the magazine said.

Collectively, this group's net worth is the equivalent of one-eighth of the entire U.S. economy, which stood at $13.56 billion in real terms according to the latest government data. But the 13 percent growth in the wealth of the richest Americans far outpaced that of the economy overall, helping widen the chasm between rich and poor. ( worst Depression in History)

Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corp, topped the list for the 19th year in a row with $66 billion, up $7 billion from a year earlier.

Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of insurance conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc, stood second with $46 billion, followed by Larry Ellison, head of software maker Oracle Corp, with $41 billion; and the Koch brothers, Charles and David, who run the energy and chemicals conglomerate that bears their name, Koch Industries, were tied for fourth with $31 billion, Forbes said.

The ranks of the top five were unchanged from a year earlier.

Two notable names dropped from the top 10, however. Casino magnate (mafia ?)Sheldon Adelson, also active in conservative political causes, ($100 million to Mitt Ronmey campaign) fell to the 12 spot from No. 8 last year, and financier George Soros (also mafia ?) dropped five spots to No. 12 from the No. 7 position one year ago.

The disappointing stock market debut of Facebook Inc also took a toll on the fortune of its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. His net worth fell by nearly half to $9.4 billion, and he slid to the No. 36 slot from No. 14 a year ago, Forbes said

Harvey Schwartz, who will take over as chief financial officer at Goldman Sachs earl..., is set to receive an annual salary of $1.85 million.

Currently a senior trading executive, Schwartz will replace David Viniar as CFO at the end of January. Viniar, who plans to retire, spent 12 years in the role, making him the longest-serving CFO on Wall Street.

Viniar, 57, is also among the best-compensated executives in the financial services industry, having made $15.8 million in 2011.

However, the salary portion of Viniar’s pay is the same $1.85 million that Schwartz will receive,( meaning his real income is 15 to 16 million) and is also received by the bank’s president, Gary Cohn, and its two vice chairmen, Michael Evans and John Weinberg.

Viniar was CFO at Goldman as it became a public company in 1999, and through the financial crisis of 2008. He spent a total of 32 years as an employee at the bank.

He will become a member of Goldman's board after his retirement and will become eligible for cash bonuses of several million dollars for 2011 and 2012 in addition to his conventional compensation if the company hits preset profitability targets.

Viniar said in a conference call late Tuesday that it was the right time for him to step down, as the bank is now in a strong position, from a capital and liquidity perspective.

The bank emerged from the recent financial crisis relatively unscathed, but it has not avoided bad publicity in recent years.

A former board member was found guilty in a government investigation into insider trading and had to pay a $550 million settlement and(a slap on the hand), with regulators over charges of securities fraud linked to mortgage investments.

But it was a scathing Op-Ed article in the New York Times from a former Goldman employee titled “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs” that grabbed the most headlines.

In his article, Greg Smith, a former executive director at the investment bank, accused Goldman of routinely ripping off its clients and described the bank’s culture as “toxic and destructive,” putting profit ahead of the interests of its clients.

The appointment of Schwartz is the latest in a series of executive moves at Goldman as it prepares for a change in top management, perhaps to improve the bank’s public image.

Schwartz is one of a small group of executives who are seen as potential candidates to take over from current Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein should he decide to step down.

In April, Blankfein appeared in his first television interview in two years, admitting to CNBC that the bank “hasn’t gotten everything right” in its dealings with the public.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.” (George Washington?

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