Half Of All American Households Only Hold 1 Percent Of The Wealth
Dan Froomkin
Posted: 07/19/2012 2:30 pm Updated: 07/19/2012 3:53 pm
WASHINGTON -- The share of the nation's wealth held by the less affluent half of American households dropped precipitously after the financial crisis, to 1.1 percent, according to new calculations by Congress's nonpartisan research service.
By contrast, the share of total net worth held by the weathiest 1 percent of American households continued rising, hitting 34.5 percent in 2010. The top 10 percent's share was 74.5 percent.
The bottom half's share of wealth has declined since it reached a high of 3.6 percent in 1995. But the most dramatic drop occurred after 2007, according to the analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances.
Another staggering indicator of the concentration of wealth at the top in the U.S: When all household wealth is divided by the number of households, the mean household net worth in 2010 totals $498,800. But the median household net worth -- the level at which half the households have more and half have less -- was $77,300, meaning that the rich have so much that the average net worth in the U.S. is actually 6.5 times that of a typical American family.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/households-wealth-american-1-percent_n_1687015.html
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