6 Filthy Facts About the Rich
http://www.alternet.org/economy/6-filthy-facts-about-rich
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1. Accumulating almost all the wealth
As evidence of the extremes between the very rich and the rest of us, the average household net worth for the top 1% in 2009 was almost $14 million, while the average household net worth for the bottom 47% was almost ZERO. For nearly half of America, average debt is about the same as average asset ownership.
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2. Creating their own wealth
In another alarming testament to wealth at the top, the richest 10% own almost 90 percent of stocks excluding pensions. Consider what that means. The stock market has historically risen three times faster than the GDP itself. Since the recession, as the U.S. economy has "recovered," 62 percent of the gain was due to growth in the stock market, which surged as much in four years as it did during the "greatest bull market in history" from 1996 to 2000.
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3. Taking ALL the income gains
If the richest 1% had taken the same percentage of total U.S. income in 2006 as they did in 1980, they would have taken a trillion dollars less out of the economy. Instead they tripled their share of post-tax income. And then they captured ALL the income gains in the first two years of the post-recession recovery.
4. Donating a smaller share than the poorest Americans
Two dependable sources provide pretty much the same information. Barclays reported that those with earnings in the top 20% donated on average 1.3 percent of their income, whereas those in the bottom 20% donated 3.2 percent. And according to the New York Times, the nonprofit Independent Sector found that households earning less than $25,000 a year gave away an average of 4.2 percent of their incomes, while those with earnings of more than $75,000 gave away 2.7 percent.
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This is the thing that most chafes me political discussions.
There are SO many people dead set in their minds that the lesser haves are dragging the country down.
That is their reality and there is no getting past it.
All about the meme about the low lifes who "take."
The top are taking INFINITELY more, but that does not even register.
I have no ill will toward people who manage to get themselves into the position to accumulate great wealth.
But, the REAL problem with our economy is the "redistribution' of wealth to the ultra rich.
It just is flat common sense that an economy can't properly function when the wealth gets incrementally syphoned to the top and does not make it back into the larger economy.
The stock market is flat out like a casino. Every person who walks into a casino leaves with less than what they went in with. It does not seem like a lot, but it just keeps happening over and over. Ultimately the house just keeps raking and raking.
We are so out of balance it is not even funny.
But, everyone saw some welfare person at the line at the grocery store using food stamps to buy cigarettes.
