Tuesday, October 20, 2015

US Inequality - again

Of the half-billion poorest adults in the world, one out of ten is an American, many of whom are burdened with so much debt that any remnant of tangible wealth is negated.

Nearly 50 million of America’s 243 million adults are part of the world’s poorest 10%.

While at the top the richest tenth of Americans have averaged over $1 million each in new wealth since the recession. Total U.S. wealth increased by a stunning 60 percent since 2009, from $54 trillion to $86 trillion, but 3/4 of that massive increase went to the richest 10% of Americans.

For 70% of Americans, percentage ownership of national wealth is one of the lowest in the World. That’s 70%. Not just the most impoverished, or the poorest half, but a full 70% of us are near the bottom of the world in percentage of wealth ownership. Just 6.9 percent of the wealth is owned by 70% of us. All other reporting nations range between about 13 and 30 percent.

Among countries with at least a million adults, only Kazakhstan, Libya, Russia, and Ukraine have worse wealth inequality than the United States.




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