Over that span of time, America’s total family wealth has
more than doubled, to $67 trillion. But most average American families haven’t
seen a nickel of that gain. In fact, the typical American family headed by
someone under age 65 actually lost wealth between 1989 and 2013, after
adjusting for inflation.
Families in the upper reaches of the American economy, by
contrast, have done just swell. Families in the top 10 percent, the
Congressional Budget Office calculates, have seen their net worths increase an
average 153 percent. Families in the top 1 percent have done the best of all.
Their overall share of the nation’s wealth, the new CBO report finds, has
jumped from 31 percent in 1989 to 37 percent in 2013. Other reputable
statistical methodologies, the CBO report acknowledges, put the current top 1
percent share of the nation’s wealth as high as 42 percent.
Wealth begets more wealth for the wealthy. Society is
becoming ever more unequal.
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