Wealthy Thrive and Poorest Dive as Surge in US Inequality Continues

[Scuba]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/24-3

According to a new analysis (pdf) of Census Bureau data published Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, since the economy officially emerged from the recession in mid-2009, the wealthiest 7 percent of households saw soaring gains of an estimated $5.6 trillion, while the remaining 93 percent—111 million households—saw their overall wealth fall by an estimated $0.6 trillion.

“It has been a very good recovery for those at the upper end of the wealth distribution,” said Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center and co-author of the report. “But there has been no recovery for the lower 93, which is nearly everybody.”



...

"[T]he Pew report's cutoff for the 93 percentile is a household net worth of $836,033. The average household net worth is just $77,300. For communities of color, the average net household worth drops to just $10,824. If anything, the Pew study doesn't tell the full extent to which the wealthy advanced over the average household, particularly the average household in communities of color," she writes.

Cha adds that the findings demonstrate, "how it is the rich, not the poor, that benefit from government handouts. It was direct government support with taxpayer funds that saved the big banks and, in turn, enriched their shareholders. It's not social safety net programs that are bankrupting our country: it's the rich."

emphasis mine

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[OLDMDDEM]

2. This doesn't surprise me

Money, money, money! That is this county's one true god.