Who Rules America: Facts About Wealth, Income and Power

[Mimosa]

Very interesting information here:

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Excerpt:

So far there are only tentative projections -- based on the price of housing and stock in July 2009 -- on the effects of the Great Recession on the wealth distribution. They suggest that average Americans have been hit much harder than wealthy Americans. Edward Wolff, the economist we draw upon the most in this document, concludes that there has been an "astounding" 36.1% drop in the wealth (marketable assets) of the median household since the peak of the housing bubble in 2007. By contrast, the wealth of the top 1% of households dropped by far less: just 11.1%. So as of April 2010, it looks like the wealth distribution is even more unequal than it was in 2007. (See Wolff, 2010 for more details.)
The Wealth Distribution

In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one's home), the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 42.7%. Table 1 and Figure 1 present further details drawn from the careful work of economist Edward N. Wolff at New York University (2010).

Table 1: Distribution of net worth and financial wealth in the United States, 1983-2007
Total Net Worth
Top 1 percent Next 19 percent Bottom 80 percent
1983 33.8% 47.5% 18.7%
1989 37.4% 46.2% 16.5%
1992 37.2% 46.6% 16.2%
1995 38.5% 45.4% 16.1%
1998 38.1% 45.3% 16.6%
2001 33.4% 51.0% 15.6%
2004 34.3% 50.3% 15.3%
2007 34.6% 50.5% 15.0%

Financial Wealth
Top 1 percent Next 19 percent Bottom 80 percent
1983 42.9% 48.4% 8.7%
1989 46.9% 46.5% 6.6%
1992 45.6% 46.7% 7.7%
1995 47.2% 45.9% 7.0%
1998 47.3% 43.6% 9.1%
2001 39.7% 51.5% 8.7%
2004 42.2% 50.3% 7.5%
2007 42.7% 50.3% 7.0%

Total assets are defined as the sum of: (1) the gross value of owner-occupied housing; (2) other real estate owned by the household; (3) cash and demand deposits; (4) time and savings deposits, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts; (5) government bonds, corporate bonds, foreign bonds, and other financial securities; (6) the cash surrender value of life insurance plans; (7) the cash surrender value of pension plans, including IRAs, Keogh, and 401(k) plans; (8) corporate stock and mutual funds; (9) net equity in unincorporated businesses; and (10) equity in trust funds.

Total liabilities are the sum of: (1) mortgage debt; (2) consumer debt, including auto loans; and (3) other debt. From Wolff (2004, 2007, & 2010).


Figure 1: Net worth and financial wealth distribution in the U.S. in 2007

In terms of types of financial wealth, the top one percent of households have 38.3% of all privately held stock, 60.6% of financial securities, and 62.4% of business equity. The top 10% have 80% to 90% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and over 75% of non-home real estate. Since financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing assets, we can say that just 10% of the people own the United States of America.

[The Magistrate]

1. People Need To Understand This, Ma'am: Most People Who Think They Are 'Middle Class' Are Peasants

[midnight]

2. True.

[villager]

3. So when do we get a peasants' revolt?

:shrug:

[Sherman A1]

5. That is the question

[Golden Raisin]

6. Too many people (peasants)

are caught in the vicious cycle/struggle of simply trying to hold on to their jobs and survive from day-to-day and week-to-week in this Economy. Too many people can't seem to turn off 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' and 'Dancing With The Stars' to get out in the streets and protest.

[villager]

7. At least... not yet.

I guess the desperation hasn't ratcheted up enough...

[The Magistrate]

9. They Have To Realize They Are Peasants, Sir

So long as they think of themselves as petty gentry (which is what people who describe themselves as 'middle class' actual mean), the will think it is themselves who would be the targets of a peasant revolt, and that their interests lie with those of the high nobility. This country depends on the successful mass-marketing of the idea of aristocratic privilege, for everyone; our true founding slogan was 'Every man a country Squire!'

[pscot]

11. Ask the guy in the mirror

n/t

[clixtox]

12. Don't hold your breath waiting...

“The patience of the oppressed has always been the most inexplicable, as well as probably the most important, fact in all history.”


Author Amos Elon from "The Pity of it All"

http://www.amazon.com/Pity-All-Portrait-German-Jewish-1743-1933/dp/0312422814/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278221490&sr=8-1

[Mimosa]

4. CEOs in the country's S&P 500 companies make 319 times more than the average American worker

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/walmart-ceo-pay-hour-workers-year/story?id=11067470

Excerpt:

Smith, an alderman in Chicago, presented posters at a city council meeting showing that Walmart CEO Michael Duke's $35 million salary, when converted to an hourly wage, worked out to $16,826.92. By comparison, at a Walmart store planned for the Windy City's Pullman neighborhood, new employees to be paid $8.75 an hour would gross $13,650 a year.

A study last fall by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal Washington D.C. research group, found that CEOs in the country's S&P 500 companies make, on average, 319 times more than the average American worker.

IPS associate fellow Sam Pizzigati said that in the 1970s, that ratio was 30 to 1.

"We've seen, over the past three decades, a tenfold-plus increase in the gap between top executives and average American workers," Pizzigati said. "That Chicago alderman is putting his finger on a very real problem in American economic life."

[snot]

8. K&R'd

[Kat45]

10. K&R

Important information.

[gulliver]

13. The 1% have lost ground since Clinton?

And they had 43% of the wealth in 1983, just like now?

That surprised me. I found the link on Google, but since this has been discussed here before, I just kicked this older post.

[Mimosa]

14. Thanks, Gulliver.

We shouldn't forget to help people learn exactly what has been going on.