Five Infuriating Facts About Our Disappearing Middle-Class Wealth (11/03/14)


1. Each Year Since the Recession, America's Richest 1% Have Made More Than the Cost of All U.S. Social Programs

Global Wealth Databook (GWD) 2014
 https://www.credit-suisse.com/ch/en/news-and-expertise/research/credit-suisse-research-institute/publications.html
  2014 Total Wealth: $84 Trillion

Share of Wealth Owned (2014 GWD: Table 6-5)
 Top 1% 38.4 percent

U.S. wealth rose from $54 trillion to $84 trillion in the five years following the recession
38.4 percent of the 2009-14 wealth gain of $30 trillion is $11.5 trillion.

Another reliable estimate is that the 1% took 95 percent of all gains since the recession.
 http://eml.berkeley.edu/%7Esaez/saez-UStopincomes-2012.pdf
95 percent of the 2009-14 wealth gain of $30 trillion is $28.5 trillion.

That's a minimum 1% gain of $2.3 trillion per year, maximum $5.7 trillion



2. Almost None of the New 1% Wealth Led To Innovation and Jobs

Financial Wealth to Non-Financial Wealth
 GWD: Table 2-4, Years 2005 and 2014
  2005: 199/131 (For every $1 of financial wealth, 66 cents of non-financial (home) wealth)
  2014: 284/122 (For every $1 of financial wealth, 43 cents of non-financial (home) wealth)



3. The 47 Richest Americans Own More Than Half of the U.S. Population

 http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/
  Richest 47 own $1.094 trillion

 https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=25EC6CF2-0407-67D9-AAEAAE8BDFEDE378
  Tables 2-4, 6-5: Poorest 50% own 1.3 percent of $84 trillion, or $1.092 trillion

 GWD: Table 2-4: Median U.S. wealth in 2014 is $53,352

 https://www.credit-suisse.com/us/en/news-and-expertise/research/credit-suisse-research-institute/publications.html
  2014 Total U.S. Wealth: $84 Trillion
  2014 Total World Wealth: $263 Trillion



4. The Upper Middle Class of America Owns a Smaller Percentage of Wealth Than the Corresponding Groups in All Major Nations Except Russia and Indonesia.

 GWD: Table 6-5:

 Deciles 6-7-8 own 11.9 percent of wealth in U.S.
 Deciles 6-7-8 own 10.5 percent of wealth in Indonesia
 Deciles 6-7-8 own 7.5 percent of wealth in Russia
 Deciles 6-7-8 own 12 to 27 percent of wealth in all other nations.

 Deciles 1-2-3-4-5 own 1.3 percent of wealth in U.S.
 Deciles 1-2-3-4-5 own 1.9 percent of wealth in Russia
 Deciles 1-2-3-4-5 own 2.6 to 10.2 percent of wealth in all other nations.
  (Note: Denmark is an anomaly in the GWD, using a different measurement of debt.)



5. 10 Percent of the World's Total Wealth Was Taken by the 1% in the Past Three Years

GWD: Table 2-4:
 2011 Total Wealth: $224 Trillion
 2014 Total Wealth: $263 Trillion

Share of Wealth Owned (2011 GWD: Table 7-5. 2014 GWD: Table 6-5)

	2011	2014
Top 1%	44.2	48.2

In 2011 the world's top 1% owned 44.2 percent of $224 trillion, or $99 trillion.
In 2014 the world's top 1% owned 48.2 percent of $263 trillion, or about $127 trillion.

$28 trillion is over 10 percent of the world's total wealth of $263 Trillion