5 Facts You Should Know About the Wealthiest One Percent of Americans

[TheDemSocialist]

It may shock you to learn exactly how wealthy this top 1 percent of Americans is.
As the ongoing occupation of Wall Street by hundreds of protesters enters its third week — and as protests spread to other cities such as Boston and Los Angeles — demonstrators have endorsed a new slogan: “We are the 99 percent.” This slogan refers to an economic struggle between 99 percent of Americans and the richest 1 percent of Americans, who are increasingly accumulating a greater share of the national wealth to the detriment of the middle class.
It may shock you to learn exactly how wealthy this top 1 percent of Americans is. ThinkProgress has assembled five facts about this class of super-rich Americans:

1. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Owns 40 Percent of the Nation’s Wealth
As Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz points out, the richest 1 percent of Americans now own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. Sociologist William Domhoff illustrates this wealth disparity using 2007 figures where the top 1 percent owned 42 percent of the country’s financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one’s home). How much does the bottom 80 percent own? Only 7 percent.


As Stiglitz notes, this disparity is much worse than it was in the past, as just 25 years ago the top 1 percent owned 33 percent of national wealth.
2. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Take Home 24 Percent of National Income
While the richest 1 percent of Americans take home almost a quarter of national income today, in 1976 they took home just 9 percent — meaning their share of the national income pool has nearly tripled in roughly three decades.
3. The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Own Half of the Country’s Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds
The Institute for Policy Studies illustrates this massive disparity in financial investment ownership, noting that the bottom 50 percent of Americans own only .5 percent of these investments.


4. The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Have Only 5 Percent of the Nation’s Personal Debt
Using 2007 figures, sociologist William Domhoff points out that the top 1 percent have 5 percent of the nation’s personal debt while the bottom 90 percent have 73 percent of total debt:


5. The Top 1 Percent are Taking In More of the Nation’s Income Than at Any Other Time Since the 1920s
Not only are the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans taking home a tremendous portion of the national income, but their share of this income is greater than at any other time since the Great Depression, as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities illustrates in this chart using 2007 data:


​

As Professor Elizabeth Warren has explained, “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody…Part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”
More and more often, that is not occurring, giving the protesters ample reason to take to the streets.

Uh oh im igniting class war:ssst:....
Can you say a coming oligarchy? And the right seems to be perfectly okay with this... They complain about "mob rule" but isnt an oligarchy "mob rule"?

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response?


http://www.alternet.org/economy/152...lthiest_one_percent_of_americans/?page=entire

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

This should really be a primer on how to become more wealthy, for lower income earners.

Don't take on too much debt, invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, build multiple income streams, etc.
Do what the rich people do and don't complain so much.

 

[jasonxe]

This should really be a primer on how to become more wealthy, for lower income earners.

Don't take on too much debt, invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, build multiple income streams, etc.
Do what the rich people do and don't complain so much.

but im lazzzzzyyy


(seriously, i am)

 

[Mach]

Can you say a coming oligarchy? And the right seems to be perfectly okay with this... They complain about "mob rule" but isnt an oligarchy "mob rule"?

That's absurd.
There is no law in place that requires me to use bank of americas services. That's != oligarchy.
There are laws in place that require me to do certain things (new health care law for example), that are in fact dictated by the majority, i.e. the mob.

Surely you can comprehend the difference? It's the difference between someone building a jail, and someon building it and forcing you inside it and locking it behind you. It's my guess that the difference is significant.

 

[Mach]

but im lazzzzzyyy
(seriously, i am)

So am I. That's why lazy should never be over-incentivized.

 

[jasonxe]

i never asked for a handout from the govt but sometimes the govt gives me one. I then spend it on a asus gaming laptop, big ass tv, and some video games.

 

[Cameron]

So the Top 1% own 40% of the nation's wealth and contribute 38% of our nation's revenues. Remind me what the huge inequity is again?

 

[conservativeguy]

It must suck to be a self-loathing failure that can only find comfort in knowing more people suck like you.

Personally, I love to read about the folks that have created billions of dollars of wealth by providing millions of people the products or services they need or desire.

 

[Cameron]

This should really be a primer on how to become more wealthy, for lower income earners.

Don't take on too much debt, invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, build multiple income streams, etc.
Do what the rich people do and don't complain so much.

Lol, easy. I'll encourage my kids to do that as soon as they graduate from college $75,000+ in debt and are sent out into a market saturated with overqualified competition.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Lol, easy. I'll encourage my kids to do that as soon as they graduate from college $75,000+ in debt and are sent out into a market saturated with overqualified competition.

Your kids should take the low cost route in schooling and find employment in areas with high demand, like engineering.

 

[VanceMack]

Lol, easy. I'll encourage my kids to do that as soon as they graduate from college $75,000+ in debt and are sent out into a market saturated with overqualified competition.

Instead, encourage them to bust their ass in high school and earn scholarships, to work and put away money instead of eating Cheetos and drinking Mountain Dew and playing video games, and to work a part time job to help pay for their college as they go. There ARE options...

 

[whysoserious]

This should really be a primer on how to become more wealthy, for lower income earners.

Don't take on too much debt, invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, build multiple income streams, etc.
Do what the rich people do and don't complain so much.

You have to have capital to do all of those things and an income that allows it as well.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

You have to have capital to do all of those things and an income that allows it as well.

Sure, so get a job.
Even if it's minimum wage, you need to start building a foundation.

Quite frankly, most people don't have to the fortitude to build wealth, that is required to become wealthy.
It means denying yourself a lot of wants now, to have the power to get a lot of wants later.

 

[TurtleDude]

we also


pay 40% of the income tax

Pay almost all the federal estate (death) tax

contribute millions upon millions to schools, the arts, charitable foundations

provide millions of jobs to other people

 

[TurtleDude]

Sure, so get a job.
Even if it's minimum wage, you need to start building a foundation.

Quite frankly, most people don't have to the fortitude to build wealth, that is required to become wealthy.
It means denying yourself a lot of wants now, to have the power to get a lot of wants later.

Many of my classmates from College are now in that top one percent. They became Wall street Lawyers, doctors, business owners, etc. At my 25th reunion many of them had kids under age 12. a substantial majority of them did not start having children until after they had

1) earned their PhDs

2) made partner at their law firm or accounting firm

3) have completed their medical residencies and started at a practice

4) had done their grunt work on wall street, received their MBAs or passed their CPA or CFA exams and were now principals at firms.

delayed gratification is a major component of being wealthy

 

[molten_dragon]

Instead, encourage them to bust their ass in high school and earn scholarships, to work and put away money instead of eating Cheetos and drinking Mountain Dew and playing video games, and to work a part time job to help pay for their college as they go. There ARE options...

I did all of these things and still graduated with roughly $60,000 in unpaid student loans. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about it, because I do think my degree was worth the money, but a degree in a valuable field (like engineering) from a good college is really expensive.

 

[OscarB63]

1. They have no souls

2. They eat puppies and kittehs

3. They giggle every time a minority baby or an old person starves

4. They wipe their arse with 20 dollar bills and then tip the waiters with the ****ty bills

5. They hate YOU

 

[CriticalThought]

So the Top 1% own 40% of the nation's wealth and contribute 38% of our nation's revenues. Remind me what the huge inequity is again?

Income growth. Right now, the bottom 90% are stagnating. That means in 5, 10, 15 years from now, the top 1% will garner most of the nation's new income growth but the bottom 90% will be making about the same or even less (if you account for inflation) than they are now. For example, if you are making 40K now and are expecting after working for a couple decades to have a salary of 60-70K then you are going to be in for a big surprise.

 

[jasonxe]

Community college isn't so bad. I don't even need college to learn coding & math anymore. Most of the time, I can hardly understand what the teacher is teaching until I go on youtube and practice it out.

 

[Ikari]

This should really be a primer on how to become more wealthy, for lower income earners.

Don't take on too much debt, invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, build multiple income streams, etc.
Do what the rich people do and don't complain so much.

Yeah, I mean invest all that free capital on the same aggregated basis that the rich people do and.....oh wait.....

 

[winston53660]

1. They have no souls

2. They eat puppies and kittehs

3. They giggle every time a minority baby or an old person starves

4. They wipe their arse with 20 dollar bills and then tip the waiters with the ****ty bills

5. They hate YOU

Oh the drama:roll:

 

[Platypus]

So the Top 1% own 40% of the nation's wealth and contribute 38% of our nation's revenues. Remind me what the huge inequity is again?

That's ridiculous. They don't contribute 38% of the nation's revenue. They may happen to own it but it is the rest of us doing the work. The whole thing makes no sense at all.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Yeah, I mean invest all that free capital on the same aggregated basis that the rich people do and.....oh wait.....

That's not what I said.
Some of us have started at the very bottom (hello, meet me) and have worked their way up to a point where they have investments that are starting to earn addition income, while having low debt (hi again).

It takes a lot of focus and willpower to deny luxuries, to get to that point.

 

[Aunt Spiker]

That's not what I said.
Some of us have started at the very bottom (hello, meet me) and have worked their way up to a point where they have investments that are starting to earn addition income, while having low debt (hi again).

It takes a lot of focus and willpower to deny luxuries, to get to that point.

What luxuries? The luxury of debt for crap you don't need?

*oooh the luxury*

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

What luxuries? The luxury of debt for crap you don't need?

*oooh the luxury*

:lol:

To swipe that credit card, to get the shiny.
What a rush. :2razz: