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In America: The Top 1% Own 32.1% of The Country's Total Wealth, The Bottom 50% Own 2.5%
Mish Talk ^ | 02/14/2022 | Mike Shedlock

Posted on 02/14/2022 8:55:55 PM PST by SeekAndFind

The percentage of wealth owned by the top 1% keeps rising over time. Who's to credit or blame?

Data Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Fed), Chart by Mish

This data series compiled by the Fed started in the third quarter of 1989. The most recent data is from the third quarter of 2021.

If you have not seen charts of this series before, the numbers may seem shocking.

1989 Q3 vs 2021 Q3 Percentages

Gains or Losses Since 1989

Key Points

  1. The bottom never had much to lose but they managed to lose a bit anyway.

  2. The top keep padding their wealth but remain the most impacted by recessions.

  3. The middle class is shrinking.

Credit and Blame

Many people will blame the wealthy. But the actual culprit is the Fed.

The bottom 50% sure don't gain from bubbles.

Those with assets are the beneficiaries. And when the Fed steps on the gas, look at the far right of the chart to see what happens.

Beneficiary of Inflation

Inflation benefits those with first access to money and that's the banks and the already wealthy.

The poor who spend every penny and them some on food and shelter get hammered by inflation.

Meanwhile, the middle class keeps shrinking.

CPI Jumps Most in 40 Years

The Fed tried for a decade to increase inflation. The Fed even wanted to "make up" for lack of previous inflation.

But the CPI rose another 0.6% in January, at a year-over-year clip of 7.5%. The CPI is at the highest pace in 40 years.

For discussion, please see CPI Jumps Most Since February 1982, Up at Least 0.5% 9 Out of Eleven Months

The Fed finally succeeded and then some at producing inflation. Now doesn't know what to do about it.

But should the banks get in trouble again, the Fed will be right there again to bail them out just as it did in 2000 in the dotcom bust and again in the 2007-2009 housing crash.

* * *


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; income; inequality; wealth
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1 posted on 02/14/2022 8:55:55 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

they print money everyday, and it’s up to ME, to get as much as i need/want of it.

never been a rich man’s wealth able to stop be yet...

then again, they aren’t trying to, so i am confusion


2 posted on 02/14/2022 8:59:37 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe the bottom 50% should stop voting Democrat (not that the top 1% doesn’t)


3 posted on 02/14/2022 9:07:16 PM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Meaningless.


4 posted on 02/14/2022 9:07:55 PM PST by SaxxonWoods ("If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself." - Minquass)
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To: Chode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr9EKIcAqXk

[Was there anything wrong with Go-Go?]


5 posted on 02/14/2022 9:10:18 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Chode

“A cruise ship wastes enough food that can feed thousands of families”Al Gore”
“A cruise ship wastes enough food that can feed thousands of families” The Kenyan.

People work 50 weeks a year and have earned that right to splurge. Uneaten food spoils. Does this mean they should open a soup kitchen on the ships?

They both said nothin but it sure makes us feel guilty and them self righteous.


6 posted on 02/14/2022 9:10:34 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: SeekAndFind

Sounds like a normal stratification of wealth in a society. It doesn’t sound like a problem.


7 posted on 02/14/2022 9:12:17 PM PST by TigersEye (Ashli Babbitt was murdered)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

God helps those who help themselves-read it somewhere.
The government helps those who can’t. Read it at a federal office.

A small percentage will fall into that(can’t)category. A smaller percentage will make a good living pointing out these differences. They live in gated communities.

As I remember 85% had medical insurance before Obamacare. Those 85% percent were happy with their insurance. What is it now?


8 posted on 02/14/2022 9:16:15 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: SeekAndFind

The “wealthy people” always have, and always will
control everything.
Since the beginning of time.
Pharaohs, kings, and emperors...
Do you think Warren Buffet or Bill Gates care about
the cost of gasoline or chicken?


9 posted on 02/14/2022 9:20:08 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Our Founding Fathers knew why we needed a gold standard and why the income tax was unconstitutional.

How is the current money breakdown any different from England prior to the colonies?

10 posted on 02/14/2022 9:21:03 PM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: SeekAndFind

The goal fo tptb is to shrink the middle class and have everyone drop 1-2 levels, while the elite striving to remain in the top 1%.


11 posted on 02/14/2022 9:40:56 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: SeekAndFind

These days most of the rich did not get rich from doing something to truly earn it. A good lot of them just figured out how to manipulate other peoples money.


12 posted on 02/14/2022 9:55:38 PM PST by Revel
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To: SeekAndFind

They get us fighting a culture war so we won’t fight a class war


13 posted on 02/14/2022 9:59:26 PM PST by Nomad577
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To: SeekAndFind

This is one way to look at things.

But, there is another way which I think is much more fair. What is the total wealth of a rich family and what is the total wealth of a poor family?

Since the total wealth of the country grows faster than population, the poor are gaining absolute wealth even if they are not gaining relative to the rich.

Compare out bottom 5-25% with the bottom 5-25% in Africa, Asia, South America, or even Europe. Where would you rather be?

There are lots of poor people voting with their feet at our southern border to join the US. It is far better to be poor here than anywhere else.


14 posted on 02/14/2022 10:16:39 PM PST by CurlyDave
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To: SeekAndFind

In a socialist economy, how much does the bottom 99% own?


15 posted on 02/14/2022 10:28:20 PM PST by Hypo2
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To: TigersEye

Let them eat cake. It is a problem, we will become Brazil soon enough.


16 posted on 02/14/2022 10:29:26 PM PST by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team sco uts photo-op locations.)
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To: SeekAndFind

A lot of that wealth is just valuation. It’s theoretical wealth. It doesn’t actually exist.


17 posted on 02/14/2022 10:30:42 PM PST by libh8er
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To: SeekAndFind
Are these numbers per Capita or per household? The number of people per household, especially at the low end, has been dropping. People are marrying later if at all which will drop the per household wealth.

The middle class is shrinking.

Has anyone in the history of the universe who states this as an unquestionable Truth ever stated what their definition of the middle class is including income range at the beginning and end of the period and number of people in that range?

18 posted on 02/14/2022 10:33:49 PM PST by KarlInOhio (I stand behind Alec Baldwin. It is far too dangerous to stand in front of him.)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Algore and Obama have taken private jets for decades and lived in massive houses consuming tons of energy. Their carbon footprints alone are tens of thousands of times bigger than the average persons’.


19 posted on 02/15/2022 12:14:21 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: libh8er

Actually in Real (real) Estate it does. It’s “hard copy” if you will , but the value can does fluctuate according to the buyer.


20 posted on 02/15/2022 12:21:18 AM PST by Varsity Flight ( "War by the prophesies set before you." I Timothy 1:18)
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