The Super Rich are Betraying America - $25 Trillion of New Wealth

[Coyotl]

Nov 5, 2013 - http://www.salon.com/2013/11/05/5_ways_the_super_rich_betraying_america_partner/
5 ways the super rich are betraying America
This small group of takers is giving up on the country that made it possible for them to build huge fortunes
By Paul Buchheit, AlterNet

As they accumulate more and more wealth, the very rich have less need for society. At the same time, they’ve convinced themselves that they made it on their own, and that contributing to societal needs is unfair to them. There is ample evidence that this small group of takers is giving up on the country that made it possible for them to build huge fortunes.

1. They’ve Taken $25 Trillion of New Wealth While Paying Less Taxes

The 2013 Global Wealth Databook shows that U.S. wealth has increased from $47 trillion in 2008 to $72 trillion in mid-2013. But according to U.S. Government Revenue figures, federal income taxes have gone DOWN from 2008 to 2012. Even worse, corporations cut their tax rate in half. ...........

[marions ghost]

1. Crickets

...it's so depressing.

[indepat]

2. Government has betrayed America imo through policies and a tax code permitting a vast accumulation

of wealth without equitable taxation, a cynical misfeasance of mammoth consequences having a disastrous impact on tens of millions.

[thecrow]

3. If they were grateful or even nice they would pay off the country's debt

and we could forgive them and let them party with the $8TRILLION left over.
But they're not grateful and they're not nice.
So we should not forgive them.

[hfojvt]

4. so now the top 5% are super-rich?

"Just how much have the super-rich taken over the past five years? Each of the elite 5% – the richest 12 million Americans — gained, on average, nearly a million dollars in financial wealth between 2008 and 2013."

And if each of those 12 million have their own household (I mean Bill Gates and Melinda Gates are not two of the 12 million, are they?) Then that is 12 million out of 110 million households - or about the top 10%.

Not generally what people think of with the words "super rich".

And according to the 2011 census of wealth, only 13.5% of households have over $500,000 in assets, and the median net worth of that 13.5% is "only" $836,033. That is - only 6.3% of households have more that $836,000 in assets. And that also means that some of that "elite 5%" have less than $836,000 in assets.

So I think they probably gained much less than the average of $1,000,000 in wealth over the last five years.