Thread: The Top 5 Facts About America’s Richest 1%

The American dream is alive and well for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, but unfortunately, if you are in the other 99% the jury is still out.

"America is obviously a country where you can go from being middle class to upper class, but right now class mobility has sort of collapsed in the United States," says Zaid Jilani, senior reporter for the progressive think tank ThinkProgress.org. (See: America's Middle Class Crisis: The Sobering Facts)

This grim reality is in part the impetus for the Occupy Wall Street movement, which, now in its fourth week, will take to the streets of Manhattan's Upper East Side Tuesday in what it is calling the "Millionaire's March." Demonstrators will rally outside the homes of some of the city's wealthiest, including News Corp. (NWS) head Rupert Murdoch and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, to protest New York state's 2% millionaire tax set to expire at the end of the year.

As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow, The Daily Ticker wanted to find out just how rich America's super-rich 1% really is. Jilani recently compiled the following research, entitled How Unequal We Are: The Top 5 Facts You Should Know About The Wealthiest One Percent of Americans.

As discussed in the accompanying interview, here's what Jilani outlined on his blog:

#1) The Top 1% Owns 40% of the Nation's Wealth:

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz points out the richest 1% of Americans now own 40% of the nation's wealth. This disparity is much worse than it was in the past, as just 25 years ago the top 1% owned 33% of national wealth.

How much does the bottom 80% own? Only 7%.

#2) The Top 1% Take Home 24% of National Income:

While the richest 1% of Americans take home almost a quarter of national income today, in 1976 they took home just 9% -- meaning their share of the national income pool has nearly tripled in roughly three decades.

#3) The Top 1% Own Half of the Country's Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds: The Institute for Policy Studies illustrates this massive disparity in financial investment ownership, noting that the bottom 50% of Americans own only 0.5% of these investments.

#4) The Top 1% of Americans Have Only 5% of the Nation's Personal Debt:

Using 2007 figures, sociologist William Domhoff points out that the top 1% have 5% of the nation's personal debt while the bottom 90% have 73% of total debt.

#5) The Top 1% Are Taking In More off the Nation's Income Than at Any Other Time Since the 1920s: Not only are the wealthiest 1% of Americans taking home a tremendous portion of the national income, but their share of this income is greater than at any other time since the Great Depression, as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities illustrates in this chart, using 2007 data.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...183022655.html

And some people have audacity to say that people protest because they are high, uneducated idiots, confused by Soros's money and liberal ideas ?! Only complete moron would do nothing when there is such social trend in the country.

#1) The Top 1% Owns 40% of the Nation's Wealth:

We don't wanna talk about wealth. Hell, we don't even want to talk about income. They are off the table.

Signed,
A Republican

Originally Posted by Serlak2007

And some people have audacity to say that people protest because they are high, uneducated idiots, confused by Soros's money and liberal ideas ?! Only complete moron would do nothing when there is such social trend in the country.

Notice how the top 1% only hold 5% of the nations debt. Do you think that might have something to do with why they are rich in the first place? Perhaps smarter with money than the other 99%?

There is no such thing as old money in America anymore. Almost everyone in the 1% are self made first or second generation.

These people earned their success, they didn't screw anyone out of anything.

Originally Posted by SiliconMagician

Notice how the top 1% only hold 5% of the nations debt. Do you think that might have something to do with why they are rich in the first place? Perhaps smarter with money than the other 99%?

There is no such thing as old money in America anymore. Almost everyone in the 1% are self made first or second generation.

These people earned their success, they didn't screw anyone out of anything.

How do you know they earned their success? Are you a mind reader as well as a Tea Bagger?

By the way, half of the superwealthy in this country inherited their wealth, so your argument is bogus. But then you really don't care -- it was a disingenuous argument from the start.

Originally Posted by Serlak2007

And some people have audacity to say that people protest because they are high, uneducated idiots, confused by Soros's money and liberal ideas ?! Only complete moron would do nothing when there is such social trend in the country.

We obviously need to cut their taxes. We aren't yet a banana republic.

Originally Posted by SiliconMagician

Notice how the top 1% only hold 5% of the nations debt. Do you think that might have something to do with why they are rich in the first place?

Someone has to give money to those who need money. When I'll be rich I'll have no debt too, all I'll have will be a bunch of debtors.

Originally Posted by Serlak2007

And some people have audacity to say that people protest because they are high, uneducated idiots...

Far from it. They are layabout greedheads, looking for someone else to blame for their personal failure and someone to pay for their mistakes.

Read Durant's 9 volume history. There are dozens of societal examples where the cognitive elite gather the most wealth through industry, thrift and ingenuity only to have the looter class destroy them through violence.

Welcome to the looter class.

Originally Posted by Serlak2007

Someone has to give money to those who need money.

Got it. All wrapped up in one sentence.

Originally Posted by Iriemon

We aren't yet a banana republic.

This is actually a very good thing. Obama would destroy the banana industry.

The Top 5 Facts About America’s Richest 1%

1. Their capital is responsible for more employment than you can possibly imagine.

2. They pay more taxes than you can possibly imagine.

3. They require less government services as a percentage of their tax payments than any other cohort.

4. None of their wealth was earned by you.

5. You want most of it.