You don't hear T. Boone Pickens talk much about wind energy, once the cornerstone of his plan for U.S. energy independence. It's not so much that he's given up on the idea of wind as a key component of the country's future energy portfolio as that his recent forays into the market have been disastrous.

In Texas, his plan for the world's largest wind farm was tripped up by the recession and regulatory hurdles. The investment he made instead, in a proposed Minnesota wind farm, went little better.

He summed it up nicely in an interview last year with MSNBC's Morning Joe: "I've lost my ass in the business."

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He's also lost many, many millions of dollars, enough that Forbes has officially stripped him of the billionaire mantle, knocking his net worth down to $950 million.

A crushing blow for Pickens, who must suffer the indignity of being a common multi-millionaire and not having his name plastered on every building in downtown Dallas. Feel free to express your condolences by paying $7 million for his Preston Hollow mansion.