5 Facts About the Wealthiest One Percent of Americans

[one...two...tree 2,762]

As the ongoing occupation of Wall Street by hundreds of protesters enters its third week — and as protests spread to other cities such as Boston and Los Angeles — demonstrators have endorsed a new slogan: "We are the 99 percent." This slogan refers to an economic struggle between 99 percent of Americans and the richest 1 percent of Americans, who are increasingly accumulating a greater share of the national wealth to the detriment of the middle class.

It may shock you to learn exactly how wealthy this top 1 percent of Americans is. ThinkProgress has assembled five facts about this class of super-rich Americans:

1. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Owns 40 Percent of the Nation's Wealth

As Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz

points out

, the richest 1 percent of Americans now own 40 percent of the nation's wealth. Sociologist William Domhoff

illustrates this

wealth disparity using 2007 figures where the top 1 percent owned 42 percent of the country's financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one's home). How much does the bottom 80 percent own? Only 7 percent.

As Stiglitz notes, this disparity is much worse than it was in the past, as just 25 years ago the top 1 percent

owned 33 percent

of national wealth.

2. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Take Home 24 Percent of National Income

While the richest 1 percent of Americans take home almost a quarter of national income today, in 1976

they took home just 9 percent

— meaning their share of the national income pool has nearly tripled in roughly three decades.

3. The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Own Half of the Country's Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds

The Institute for Policy Studies

illustrates

this massive disparity in financial investment ownership, noting that the bottom 50 percent of Americans own only .5 percent of these investments.

4. The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Have Only 5 Percent of the Nation's Personal Debt

Using 2007 figures, sociologist William Domhoff

points out

that the top 1 percent have 5 percent of the nation's personal debt while the bottom 90 percent have 73 percent of total debt:

5. The Top 1 Percent are Taking In More of the Nation's Income Than at Any Other Time Since the 1920s

Not only are the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans taking home a tremendous portion of the national income, but their share of this income is greater than at any other time since the Great Depression, as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

illustrates in this chart

using 2007 data:

As Professor Elizabeth Warren has explained, "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody…Part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."

More and more often, that is not occurring, giving the protesters ample reason to take to the streets.

http://www.alternet....t_of_americans/

[mawilson 2,133]

2. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Take Home 24 Percent of National Income

Yet they pay 38 percent of all federal income taxes.

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As the ongoing occupation of Wall Street by hundreds of protesters enters its third week...

OMFG. Can we stop calling it an occupation? They are there because the NYPD has decided they can be. If the NYPD and the Mayor decided they have to go... then they will go. This is New York. You don't fukc around with the engine that pays all the bills. They can march and they can chant but at the end of the day... no one is going to fukc with Wall Street. There is no occupation.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

We could just make it illegal to be wealthy. That would fix everything.

[skiptex 225]

We could just make it illegal to be wealthy. That would fix everything.

i wish it was my problem..

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

i wish it was my problem..

See if we made it illegal you woul dnever have to think about being wealthy again.

The only thing worse than a minimum wage is a maximum wage.

[luckytxn 2,264]

We could just make it illegal to be wealthy. That would fix everything.

Or just tax them at 100% and then confiscate every last bit of their wealth. That should do it.

[skiptex 225]

See if we made it illegal you woul dnever have to think about being wealthy again.

The only thing worse than a minimum wage is a maximum wage.

EXACTLY!!!! that has been my biggest fear with this president.. i have a huge problem when government wants to tell people they make too much and to give away to others.. by choice or by force..

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Or just tax them at 100% and then confiscate every last bit of their wealth. That should do it.

How about we steal everyones first borns too? Wait, that's ridiculous? I thought that's what we were doing.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[mawilson 2,133]

Neel Kashkari?

[Misha & Ira 113]

I am part of the 99%...and I have 0 problem with the 1%. If it wasn't for them, half of America might have to actually work...

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

EXACTLY!!!! that has been my biggest fear with this president.. i have a huge problem when government wants to tell people they make too much and to give away to others.. by choice or by force..

Refusing to enforce our labor laws, passed by congress to protect workers, by looking the other way when US employers hire illegals has the effect of imposing a "maximum wage" on many industries.

I am part of the 99%...and I have 0 problem with the 1%. If it wasn't for them, half of America might have to actually work...

I never worked for a poor guy.

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I have never worked for a guy at all. I've only worked for entities that wouldn't exist were it not for laws that allowed them to do so. Yes, man created those laws but I'm not so sure all those men were rich.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I have never worked for a guy at all. I've only worked for entities that wouldn't exist were it not for laws that allowed them to do so. Yes, man created those laws but I'm not so sure all those men were rich.

And to add, many companies take out loans or even use *gasp* public funds in the form of bonds to build. I think I just heard Gary shriek and run off into the woods holding his pants on.