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In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth, the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 39.7%.

Wealth, Income, and Power

I don't know if I'd trust an article by a Sociology professor at a publicly-funded California university, whose sources consist primarily of liberal diatribes (one of which isn't even published yet), as being anywhere near accurate.

Only one of his sources has anything close to legitimacy (Federal Reserve), the rest of the article is composed of dubious material, making the assertions based on them dubious as well.

In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands.

In this country there are two ways to increase the wealth of the lower quintiles of workers. You can transfer wealth by stealing it (euphemistically referred to as redistribution) from those who create it to those who don't or, you can increase worker productivity.

"Whoever claims the right to redistribute the wealth produced by others is claiming the right to treat human beings as chattel." -- Ayn Rand

When the rich get richer they invest their money which provides the capital necessary to innovate and create the technology that increases productivity. Increased productivity raises our standard of living.

Without Productivity, there wouldn't be any economics, or any economic thinking, good or bad, or any pizza, or anything else. We would sit around and stare at rocks, and maybe later have some for dinner. ... Wealth is based on productivity, and productivity is expandable. In fact, productivity is fabulously expandable."-- P.J. O'Rourke

If you want to get rich and/or stay that way, or if you want your kids or other loved ones to do so, you'd damn well better stand up for everyone else's right to do so too." -- Rick Gaber

Eighty percent of the bottom twenty percent of earners in this country move into the next quintile, or higher, every decade. This incredible mobility is why our economy is able to absorb large population increases and still deliver solid GDP growth, job growth, income growth and increased household net worth. When the rich get richer the poor also increase their wealth.

You're using a socialist professor from a socialist university to sell class warfare on a conservative forum. So which of these do you support, Kabar? Are you in favor of stealing wealth from others or are you for increasing productivity?