Did The Rich Get Richer As The Poor Got Poorer?

[MacBeth]

We’ve all heard the much-repeated relent, “3% of the country holds 97% of the wealth!” Or something like that, right? A new graph from the Economic Policy Institute takes a fresh look at the disparity in wealth gains over the past few decades. Yes, the rich have gotten richer. Have a look, and impress your friends this weekend as you share with them the most up-to-date figures of just how rich the rich have indeed gotten.

Here’s a quick, easy-to-digest breakdown of the key elements, looking at the period from 1983 to 2009:

1. Of the country’s total wealth gain, 40% was money made by the wealthiest 1% of people. Yes, 1% of people made 40% of the money.

2. The top 5% gained 80%.

3. So, the top 1%, on their own, made as much as the 4% just below them.

4. But still, the remaining 95% of the country made just 20% of the wealth gains.

5. The old saying, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” did unfortunately hold true. The wealth held by the bottom 60% dropped 7.5% percent.



www.mogulite.com/wealth-gain/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mediaite%2FClHj+%28Mediaite%29&utm_content=FaceBook

[wheelspinner]

That is significant, but not as significant as the effects of this.

There is plenty of opinion around that events such as the UK riots have their genesis in this kind of situation. Decades ago it was the underclass and the downtrodden that resorted to riots. In the UK many of the rioters were middle-class, a new and very large group of disenfranchised citizens who can see that their lives are going nowhere, their socie is being pillaged, and they and their kids are going to be stuck with the bill.

I can't give you comparable research immediately, but I'm pretty sure that a similar situation prevails in Australia between the rich and the rest. Sometimes I wish for a few more people like Warren Buffet, who are adamant that the last thing they need is a tax cut at the expense of those less well off.