"President Obama is presiding over a rich man's economic rebound" [View All]

[Better Believe It]

Why this is a rich man's recovery
By Michael Brush
MSN Money

A rising tide is supposed to lift all boats. In the Obama recovery, however, the high-end yachts are doing much better than the dinghies.

On the one hand, the country is still out the 8 million jobs that vanished during the recession. One in six people is out of work, and many who have jobs are worried about losing them. Though job losses have hit every level, the wealthy have bigger cushions to fall back on.

On the other hand, the stock market has rebounded sharply; it's up about 70% from the lows of a year ago. Driven by this, household net worth advanced $5.7 trillion from last March to $54.2 trillion at the end of last year. The benefits tilt strongly toward the wealthy, who have proportionally more of their money, and simply more money, invested.

Here's something else that helps the wealthy: Though hiring is scarce, executive bonuses are flowing, and they are definitely back on Wall Street after falling sharply in 2008. And sales at Tiffany's flagship store in New York City shot up 20% over the past holiday season.

The bottom line: Although President Barack Obama's $800 billion stimulus package, along with the bank and auto-sector bailouts, were meant to lift the economy as a whole, the effects so far have been felt mostly by the wealthy. Obama is presiding over a rich man's economic rebound.

Please read the full article at:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/why-this-is-a-rich-mans-recovery.aspx