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 The top 1% of Americans own as much wealth as the bottom 95% percent.
The total wealth owned by the top 1% of Americans is equivalent to 200 times the total combined wealth of the bottom 40%. (Or, the top 1% owns 200 times the wealth of the bottom 40%
The total wealth of the top 60% of Americans is 500 times the total wealth of the bottom 40%.
Bill Gates, America's richest individual, alone has more wealth than 40% of the U.S. population combined, or 120 million people.
The top 1% of households own almost 40% of the nation's wealth.
The top 10% of Americans own over 70% of nation's wealth.
The top 20% of the nation's households own 85% of the nation's total wealth.
The top 60% of households own almost 100%, or 99.8%, of the nation's wealth.
The bottom 40% of households own one-fifth of 1% (or 0.2%) of the nation's wealth.
The bottom 80% of Americans own only 15% of the nation's wealth.
Source: Edward N. Wolff, "Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership, 1983-1998," April 2000.
Inequality and Corporate Power
by Edward Wolff and Jared Bernstein
Edward Wolff and Jared Bernstein identify the main forces behind the growing inequality of wealth in America.
Articles:
How the Pie is Sliced
America's Growing Concentration of Wealth
Top 1% earn as much as the poorest 57%
Larry Elliott and Charlotte Denny
Guardian Friday January 18, 2002
The world's richest 50m people earn as much as the poorest 2.7bn and may soon be forced to live in heavily protected gated communities to escape the но шпа daribar.kz of the billions living below the poverty line, a senior World Bank economist warns today.
The Question of Power
"Nothing in the fundamentals of capitalism requires a very steep pyramid of power or the malignant maldistribution of wealth and income." by William Greider,
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A new analysis released by Citizens for Tax Justice looks at the 2003 effects of the latest Bush tax cut plan on a state-by-state basis. The analysis finds that the shares of taxpayers slated to get no tax cut are especially high in lower-income states.
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- We're Paying Dearly for Bush's Tax Cuts: Study Shows Burdens by State from Bush's Borrowing Binge 9/23/03
- Bush's $10 Trillion Borrowing Binge 9/11/03
- CTJ Analyses of the 2003 Bush Tax Plan
- Our Low, Low Taxes: U.S. Taxes Rank Close to the Lowest Compared to Other Countries 11/5/02
Resources:
INEQUALITY.ORG
Economic Policy Institute
Poverty Research Action Council
United for a Fair Economy
- Grounded by an Income Gap
- Memo: Inequality in the United States
- Institute for Research on Poverty
- 2002 EPI Report Says Inequality Booming
- Online Resources on Social Classes From the Journal Capital and Class
- Paul Krugman on Inequality: NYTimes Magazine 2002
- Last Minute Deal Shafts Working Poor to Benefit Millionaires
- Gap Between Rich and Poor is Much Wider
- Rich Get Richer And Pay Less Taxes
- Web Site on Social Class and Inequality
- Collapsing Jobs on Labor Day 2002
- Census: Poverty and Inequality Booming
- Economic Inequality Booned in Nineties
- Home foreclosures reach record high
- Firestorm over foreign workers
- Study Ties Biggest CEO Raises to Largest Layoffs
- Rising Prosperity/Rising Inequality
- IPS Study May 2001 Rising Inequality
- Another Way the Rich Get Richer...
- Bibliography of sites on Social Class and Inequality
- Center for Economic and Policy Research
- Very Richest's Share of Income Grew Even Bigger, Data Show
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