400 billionaires have more than doubled their net worth over the last 10 years- have you?

[Csainvestor]

Do you think the status quo is working?

Did you know during the same ten years, the middle class has shrunk and actually become a minority in the USA? There are now more poor people in the US, and less people in the middle class.

[Armstead]

1. Who cares? Bernie was grumpy Sunday nite

[liberal_at_heart]

2. The middle class is now a minority. Now that is something to be proud of.

Geez what the hell kind of future are my kids going to have in this country? Is this the progress you pragmatists were bragging about?

[olddots]

3. this is like a bad sci fi movie

except it is real and we do nothing about it because we wish we were one of those 400 .

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. But..but...it will trickle down..someday. And, consider the cost of buying a government!

[liberal_at_heart]

5. and don't forget the trillions it costs to keep our nation safe.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Which is also a failure.

[WDIM]

7. Its working for the billionaires.

But not for the rest of us.
The hardest working people in this country have the least to show for it.

[hill2016]

8. yes I have

I have more than doubled my net worth.

[Csainvestor]

10. and that is why you are supporting hillary clinton.

thanks for your honest answer.

[randr]

9. Obama has been very good for the 1%

Wonder how Mr. IHATEAMERICA did during the Obama years.

[angstlessk]

11. Yes I have!

Last year this time I had $100 in the bank, I now have $200

It's easy to double ones net worth!

[whatthehey]

12. Pretty close and I'm not 1%. Not even 10%

Basically to do that it helped to not panic and keep investing during the recession, and not panic when house prices dipped and ruin my credit by stiffing the bank. I'm no financial geniius and I have no fatcat connections whatsoever. I just don't buy into the doomer keep gold in your mattress and prepare to eat vermin stew nonsense that permeates economic "analysis" on both left and right hyperpartisan websites.

Anybody who didn't do anything stupid and kept putting in normal IRA contributions into equities in the down market (and yes I was out of work for part of it like many others) should have at least comfortably padded their net worth.

[liberal_at_heart]

13. Millions lost their jobs, lost their homes, and had to use up all their savings once

their unemployment ran out. Exactly how were they supposed to contribute to their 401(k)? I'm glad you got yours, but there are a lot that didn't.

[Csainvestor]

14. the 1% support hillary for a reason.

the rest of the US got poorer. There are more people in poverty today, the middle class is poorer today, retirement savings have gone down, 401k's are worthless for most people.

most US citizens do not have 1000 dollars in the bank. But the rich doubled their networth.

[whatthehey]

15. True. And millions also panicked and were fools who shot themselves in the foot

listening to Kunstlerite doomsayers and keeping their money "safe" in cash when inflation exceeded interest rates.


All my sympathy is for the first group not the second, but to answer how I did it it was by living below my means my entire working life so I had a cash cushion to maintain my lifesayle including investments when laid off for a year. I paid for that by living in a cheaper house and driving cheaper cars than my subordinates for many years, not having kids and not spending lavishly. I've pretty much splurged once in my life on a car, and I paid cash.

Every time these things are discussed here the assumption seems to be that everyone lost everything through no fault of their own just because the markets dipped for a few years. If anybody lost their 401k it's because they cashed out in panic, or didn't have a cash cushion to prevent them having to raid it to survive. Sure there are people who can't afford to save a penny, but many many more made stupid choices. The poor have my sympathy and my support for hiugher taxes and a better social safety net. The stupid choice makers don't.

[pat_k]

16. Wealth inequality is far more extreme than income inequality...

...and I don't think the intolerable "distribution" of assets gets enough attention.

A little tidbit from wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States)

According to PolitiFact and others, in 2011 the 400 wealthiest Americans "have more wealth than half of all Americans combined."

Unfortunately, at lot of the other numbers cited in the wikipedia article are older than 2011. I find it a bit mysterious there aren't more recent figures in the article (or perhaps I overlooked in my scan).