The 0.1%

 

A new category has been added to the latest Federal Reserve Board figures on the distribution of household wealth—the wealth of the wealthiest one-tenth of 1 percent (0.1%) going back to 1989.  the wealthiest .1% have been the recipients of major transfers of wealth during both Democratic and Republican presidencies. 

In 2019, to gain entry into the wealthiest .1% of residents of the United States required one to be worth over $43 million which was about three and a half times the entry point of $11.1 million for the wealthiest 1%.

There is a vast difference between those at the top of the .1%–people such as Musk, Bezos, and Gates–and those at the entry-level. One worth $43 million could not even afford to pay for two years, at $25 million a year, the annual cost to run Bezos’ $500 million yacht. As of September 30, Musk was the wealthiest of the trio. His net worth was put at $238 billion by the  Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That is a sum that is more than 2,300 times greater than that of a poorer member of the .1% who is worth a mere $100 million.

Despite setbacks during economic downturns, the share of the nation’s wealth held by the wealthiest .1% has increased from a low in the third quarter of 1989 of 8.6% to its highest level in the fourth quarter of 2021 of 13%, a more than 50% increase. During the same time, the share of the wealth of the .1% as a share of the wealth of the 1% also increased.

By the fourth quarter of 2021, the wealth holdings of the .1% had gone from being 2.3 times as much as that of the poorest 50%  in 1989 to almost 5 times more. 

The increase in the nominal dollar value (which is the dollar amount disregarding the impact inflation has on its purchasing power) during this period went from $1.76 trillion in 1989 to $18.46 trillion, a more than 10-fold (1,048%) gain which was a rate of growth more rapid than the rate of inflation during the period. It was far greater than the growth rate for the poorest 50% and poorest 90%. The wealth of the poorest 50% increased in nominal dollars 482% from $.77 trillion to $3.71 trillion and the poorest 90% wealth increased 530% in nominal dollars from $8.19 trillion to $43.45 trillion. The result is a more extreme concentration of wealth at the top with the growth of a much greater gap between the .1% and everyone else, even for those within the wealthiest 1%.

The Wealth of the U.S. Wealthiest One-Tenth of One Percent        - CounterPunch.org