Could America's Uber-Rich Pay Down the Nation's Debt?

$47 billion estimated net worth The Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, helped launch The Giving Pledge. But even if he wanted to, the Oracle of Omaha wouldn't make a dent in America's national debt, rated at $13.3 trillion as of 5PM EDT according to USDebtClock.org. Indeed, his entire estimated net worth of $47 billion would pay off just about 0.0035% of that debt. Source: Forbes.com Photo Credit: Reuters

$18 billion estimated net worth Mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg News Michael Bloomberg worked to ban trans fats in New York City; maybe he could do the same with pork... government pork, that is. Bloomberg could use his estimated net worth of $18 billion to pay off the costs of federal earmarks, which are currently at $17.8 billion in the federal budget, according to USDebtClock.org. Source: Forbes.com Photo Credit: Reuters

$1.2 billion estimated net worth Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion. With that amount of money, she could make the first out of more than 1000 payments on the current federal budget deficit of $1.4 trillion, according to USDebtClock.org numbers. You can dress up that number all you want, and it still won't be pretty. Source: Forbes.com Photo Credit: Reuters

$28 billion estimated net worth Larry Ellison, Founder of Oracle Corporation, makes a pretty penny or two, with an estimated net worth of $28 billion. But it would take 29 Larry Ellisons to pay for all the credit card debt in the nation, which USDebtClock.org pins at at $812 billion. Source: Forbes.com Photo Credit: Reuters

$3 billion estimated net worth Founder of Lucasfilm LTD and famed director, George Lucas's film "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" had a budget of $115 million. Lucas could have made that film 1730 times with the cost of interest on the U.S.'s debt, which is $198.9 billion, according to USDebtClock.org. Source: Forbes.com Photo Credit: Reuters

$1.1 billion estimated net worth Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, with his estimated worth of $1.1 billion, could use his money to pay down the total personal debt of about 20,755 people. The average total debt per citizen in the U.S, according to USDebtClock.org, is about $53,000. Source: Forbes.com Photo Credit: Reuters

$53 billion estimated net worth Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation Bill Gates, who joined up with Warren Buffett to set up The Giving Pledge, has an estimated net worth of $53 billion. But even the former richest man in the world (recently surpassed by Carlos Slim) only has enough cash to pay for a quarter of the country's federal pensions, currently at $194 billion, according to USDebtClock.org. Source: Forbes.com Photo Credit: Reuters