Wealth Inequality in the United States

  • SOURCE:  Wikipedia, 2020-04-28

  • RELATED: The Abolition of Wealth

  • ONTOLOGIES:

  • A September 2014 study by Harvard Business School declared that the growing disparity between the very wealthy and the lower and middle classes is no longer sustainable.

  • A 2014 study by researchers at Princeton and Northwestern concludes that government policies reflect the desires of the wealthy, and that the vast majority of American citizens have "minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.

    Wealth inequality in the United States, also known as the wealth gap, is the unequal distribution of assets among residents of the United States. Wealth includes the values of homes, automobiles, personal valuables, businesses, savings, and investments. The net worth of U.S. households and non-profit organizations was $107 trillion in the third quarter of 2019, a record level both in nominal terms and purchasing power parity. If divided equally among 124 million U.S. households, this would be $862,000 per family; however, the bottom 50% of families, representing 62 million American households, averaged $11,500 net worth. As of Q3 2019, the bottom 50% of households had $1.67 trillion or 1.6% of the net worth, versus $74.5 trillion or 70% for the top 10%. From an international perspective, the difference in US median and mean wealth per adult is over 600%.

    Wealth distribution by percentile

    Just prior to President Obama's 2014 State of the Union Address, media reported that the top wealthiest 1% possess 40% of the nation's wealth; the bottom 80% own 7%. The gap between the top 10% and the middle class is over 1,000%; that increases another 1,000% for the top 1%. The average employee "needs to work more than a month to earn what the CEO earns in one hour." Although different from income inequality, the two are related. In Inequality for All-a 2013 documentary with Robert Reich in which he argued that income inequality is the defining issue for the United States-Reich states that 95% of economic gains went to the top 1% net worth (HNWI) since 2009 when the recovery allegedly started. More recently, in 2017, an Oxfam study found that eight rich people, six of them Americans, own as much combined wealth as half the human race.

    A 2011 study found that US citizens across the political spectrum dramatically underestimate the current US wealth inequality and would prefer a far more egalitarian distribution of wealth.

    Wealth is usually not used for daily expenditures or factored into household budgets, but combined with income it comprises the family's total opportunity to secure a desired stature and standard of living, or pass their class status along to one's children. Moreover, wealth provides for both short- and long-term financial security, bestows social prestige, and contributes to political power, and can be used to produce more wealth. Hence, wealth possesses a psychological element that awards people the feeling of agency, or the ability to act. The accumulation of wealth grants more options and eliminates restrictions about how one can live life. Dennis Gilbert asserts that the standard of living of the working and middle classes is dependent upon income and wages, while the rich tend to rely on wealth, distinguishing them from the vast majority of Americans.

    A September 2014 study by Harvard Business School declared that the growing disparity between the very wealthy and the lower and middle classes is no longer sustainable.

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    Effect on democracy

  • See also: Income inequality in the United States § Effects on democracy and society

  • As of 2020, Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world.

    A 2014 study by researchers at Princeton and Northwestern concludes that government policies reflect the desires of the wealthy, and that the vast majority of American citizens have "minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy ... when a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose." When Fed chair Janet Yellen was questioned by Bernie Sanders about the study at a congressional hearing in May 2014, she responded "There's no question that we've had a trend toward growing inequality" and that this trend "can shape and determine the ability of different groups to participate equally in a democracy and have grave effects on social stability over time."

    In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French economist Thomas Piketty argues that "extremely high levels" of wealth inequality are "incompatible with the meritocratic values and principles of social justice fundamental to modern democratic societies" and that "the risk of a drift towards oligarchy is real and gives little reason for optimism about where the United States is headed."

    According to Jedediah Purdy, a researcher at the Duke School of Law, the inequality of wealth in the United States has constantly opened the eyes of the many problems and shortcomings of its financial system over at least the last fifty years of the debate. For years, people believed that distributive justice would produce a sustainable level of wealth inequality. It was also thought that a certain state would be able to effectively diminish the amount of inequality that would occur. Something that was for the most part not expected is the fact that the inequality levels created by the growing markets would lessen the power of that state and prevent the majority of the political community from actually being able to deliver on its plans of distributive justice, however it has just lately come to attention of the mass majority.

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    Billionaires Row

  • See also (Wikipedia): Billionaires Row. Billionaires Row, Billionaires' Row, or Billionaire's Row is the nickname of several streets or neighborhoods throughout the world that have residences belonging to some of the world's richest people. Places known as Billionaires Row include the following neighborhoods.

    • Billionaires' Row (Manhattan)

    Billionaires' Row is a set of ultra-luxury residential skyscrapers, constructed or in development, that are arrayed roughly along the southern end of Central Park in Manhattan,   New York City. Several of these buildings are in the supertall category, taller than 1,000 feet (300 m), and are among the tallest buildings in the world. Since most of these pencil towers are built or proposed on 57th Street, the term has been used to refer to the street itself as well.

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  • See also:

    • Additional Reading

  • [📌 pinned article] [Institute for Policy Studies; IPS-DC.org, 2021-10-18] U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surged by 70 Percent, or $2.1 Trillion, During Pandemic. They're Now Worth a Combined $5 Trillion.  Sen. Wyden's billionaires income tax tapping those huge returns could raise big revenue to fund President Biden's Build Back Better investment plan.

  • [📌 pinned article] World Inequality Report 2022

  • [Truthout.org, 2022-02-17] Bernie Sanders Rips Into Billionaires for Creating “Oligarchic” Society in U.S.

  • [Inequality.org, 2022-02-07] America's Inherited Wealth Dynasties Park Trillions Out of Reach of Taxation.  A new report estimates that $21 trillion of that wealth will pass internally within America's already dynastically wealthy families between now and 2045.

  • [JacobinMag.com, 2022-02-06] Billionaires' Absurd and Growing Wealth Undercuts Democracy.  The obscene wealth of the world's billionaires doesn't just mean they get to lead lives of luxury. It also means they have almost complete control of the economy - control that is fundamentally undemocratic and unjust.

  • [Truthout.org, 2022-01-18] World's 10 Richest Men Doubled Their Wealth as Many Lost All During Pandemic.

  • [CommonDreams.org, 2021-12-07] Richest 1% Took 38% of New Global Wealth Since 1995. The Bottom Half Got Just 2%.  A new report finds that global inequities in wealth and income are "about as great today as they were at the peak of Western imperialism in the early 20th century."  |  "If there is one lesson to be learnt from the global investigation, it is that inequality is always a political choice."

  • [RobertReich.org, 2021-11-03] How Wealth Inequality Spiraled Out of Control.

  • [JacobinMag.com, 2021-10-20] U.S. Billionaires Got 70% More Wealth Under COVID. They Didn't Deserve Any of It..  New data shows that Elon Musk's fortune grew by 750% [7.5 times] during the pandemic. It's not because he worked 750% harder than the rest of us.

  • Jesse Walker, Stephanie J. Tepper, and Thomas Gilovich (2021-10-26) "People are more tolerant of inequality when it is expressed in terms of individuals rather than groups at the top." PNAS.DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2100430118.

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