Top 1% of American Earners Now Own More Wealth Than Entire Middle Class, Federal Data

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Wed Dec 6, 2023, 06:08 PM - Edit history (1)

- 'The top 1% of American earners now own more wealth than the entire middle class,'
USA Today, Dec. 6, 2023. Ed.

The top 1% of American earners now control more wealth than the nation’s entire middle class, federal data show. More than one-quarter of all household wealth, 26.5%, belongs to Americans who earn enough money to rank in the top percentile by income, according to Federal Reserve statistics through mid-2023.

The top 1% holds $38.7 trillion in wealth.

That’s more than the combined wealth of America’s middle class, a group many economists define as the middle 60% of households by income. Those households hold about 26% of all wealth. Low-income Americans, representing the bottom 20% by income, own about 3% of the wealth.

- The top 1% overtook the middle class in collective wealth in 2020 - Thirty years ago, America’s celebrated middle class commanded twice as much wealth as the upper 1%. Over the years, the rich have grown steadily richer. The top 1% caught and passed the middle class in collective wealth in late 2020, Fed data shows.

The wealth lead has changed hands since then, but the 1%-ers have it now, and their margin is growing.“The number of deca-millionaires has more than doubled since 2000, and the number of centi-millionaires has quadrupled,” said Owen Zidar, a Princeton University economist, referring to people worth more than $10 million and $100 million, respectively...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/12/06/top-1-american-earners-more-wealth-middle-class/71769832007/

[Lovie777]

1. This is not new.....................

but at least it's being exposed, somewhat.

[pwb]

2. Renegade excessive wealth

needs to be addressed. Even the Rockefeller's would agree with that now.

[dweller]

3. You know, sadly there's not enough of the 1%

To feed us all …

🤔



✌🏻

[walkingman]

4. More evidence that we are an oligarchy not a democracy.

[Tomconroy]

5. Why higher taxes on the wealthy isn't a central

Campaign issue in 2024 is beyond me.

[Kid Berwyn]

6. Trickle Down works.

For the 1-percent.

[DFW]

7. The article says the best investment is education.

I doubt that is true for everyone, but it sure was true for me. After inheritance taxes, my siblings and I couldn’t keep the house my parents built in northern Virginia.

When all was settled and divided up, we all ended up with some cash. I put aside every cent of it, and ended up spending every cent of my share on my daughters’ educations. It was the best move we ever made. One is juggling her job and her two young sons in New York City, a place she always wanted to live. She learned the ropes of her job in her college years. The other one went to undergrad in D.C., was “the best intern we ever had” according to Emily’s List founder, Ellen Malcolm, went to Law School in the USA, made partner (from Germany!) at a big NY law firm, and now makes many multiples of what I do. She is also giving as good as she got, spending a fortune on English-language pre-schools for her own daughters, so that they become bilingual like she is, and have the same job prospects. She is also very generous with her money, inviting her sister and her family on family trips. Whatever we ended up not spending on newer cars or fancy home improvements, went into their tuitions in the States, since both had absolutely had it with the German education system. The lawyer’s partner also a German who went to Law School in the USA (paid his tuition by playing poker!!), and is also wildly successful. No top ranked law schools, but top intellects who knew how to make use of what they learned. The peace of mind my wife and I enjoy that they are both taken care of is the biggest reward on any investment we ever made, and we never made many to begin with.

[Lonestarblue]

8. I also owe a comfortable lifestyle to a good education.

Undergraduate degree plus an MBA, paid for by my employer as a job benefit and neither from a prestigious school, helped me get interviews and jobs. Skills learned on the job job then allowed me to build a good career. Education was the best investment for me because it allowed me to live in places I never would have probably even visited without it.

[DFW]

9. As a teenager, I went to school in Barcelona for a year and learned to speak Catalan.

That little oddball skill turned out to be the key to an early immense success, jobwise—ten years later!—that was one of my catapults into the most solid job security ever.

Anyone looking to take my job from me had to first be conversational in Catalan, Russian, German, French and Swedish. There weren’t many who tried, needless to day. Of course, now that I’m 71, and would LIKE a replacement, the daunting job requirements that prevented anyone from trying to take my job away from me before, are now a barrier to finding someone when I would welcome it.

[barbaraann]

10. PLUS--They own the Supreme Court, House of Representatives, and many states.

Not to mention much of our media.

[appalachiablue]

11. Thanks for adding, the scope of the oligarchic power is staggering.