Posted on 11/07/2025 10:57:37 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Wealth in the U.S. is far more concentrated today than at any time in modern history. Over the past four decades wealth has become increasingly concentrated at the top. The wealthiest 1% of Americans held 22.8% of U.S. net worth in 1989 with this share rising to 30.8% by 2024. In dollar terms, the top 1% held $49.2 trillion in wealth in 2024.
Moving to the other end of the distribution, the bottom 50% held 3.5% of total U.S. wealth in 1989 with this number shrinking to 2.8% by 2024. Federal Reserve data reveal that the least-wealthy 50% of U.S. households hold less than 4% of the nation’s wealth, while households in the top 10% hold over two-thirds of that wealth.
Student loans.
My take: There was a lot less crony capitalism in the Reagan years than there has been since.
Because abilities and talent are not uniformly distributed across the population
Neither is ambition.
Ignorance of the facts of it and seeking a free hand out as not having to earn it.
LAZY
Yes. The Middle Class, where I live, has been eviscerated. Over the past five years, my monthly expenses have increased nearly $2,000. I’ve not changed anything. Same house, same car, same pretty much everything. Insurance, groceries, and literally everything else have just skyrocketed. (Example: took a friend to lunch. We both had BLTs. He had water. I had iced tea. The tab, with tip was $54. Going out for lunch used to be fun. Not any more!). That $2K used to be MY money. I could use it for fun, if I wanted to, or save it. No longer. Who now has that money? Someone does. It’s just not me. And I know I’m never getting it back. That makes me angry at a very deep level, and I have to believe alot of others feel the same.
American Thinker is usually not this stupid. It’s all about greed and corruption in our politics system. And no, I’m not talking about President Trump. He is the corrupt state’s enemy.
There’s also a lot more idle wealth, in the hands of people who have no appreciation as to how that wealth was acquired.
Oh and to add:
“ There are three primary factors that collectively explain the growing support for socialism in the U.S. First, wealth has become increasingly concentrated at the top. Second, while the distribution of wealth is highly skewed, the distribution of votes across the electorate is not. Third, the myth that refuses to die is that wealth can be redistributed without significantly reducing its size.”
Missed to top one: the NEA’s indoctrination of kids for decades.
Stop importing workers and wages will go up almost immediately. It’s that simple. Rising wages used to be viewed as a great thing. Now it causes fear and panic in the managerial investment class.
“It’s all about greed and corruption in our politics system. And no, I’m not talking about President Trump. He is the corrupt state’s enemy.”
Everything is traceable to this
Wealth is always skewed. Education has been teaching the evils of private ownership and goodness of socialism for decades. Parents for their part did not care. Chickens coming home to roost.
This is a variation on the 9/11 atrocities causing the professors and media to ask “Why do they hate us?”
If someone contributes to society, makes money and this is more than the ones who feel resentful, it means the resentful ones should better their situation, not bring the top ones down to the bottom in socialism/communism.
And ALL communist rulers end up with themselves in high class mansions along with insiders while millions starve.
Let’s see Mamdani’s anti-American father use the new free bus to get to the food line at the socialist grocery distribution center.
$2000?
Letting big finance ship jobs overseas while also importing the 3rd world doesn’t exactly help the middle class.
This is an extremely easy to answer question: Everything costs so g*dd*mn much that no one can achieve the American dream without inheritance or crushing debt. Socialism promises (falsely) that the government will provide opportunity and justice. Two things that are on short supply in our current corrupted system.
“The wealthiest 1% of Americans held 22.8% of U.S. net worth in 1989 with this share rising to 30.8% by 2024.
My take: There was a lot less crony capitalism in the Reagan years than there has been since.”
My take:
A few people like Zuckerberg and Musk skew the numbers somewhat. Maybe quite a bit.
FWIW, with a convertible/Fiat/paper currency, it doesn’t matter. When money was represented by gold, silver, or copper coins, it was possible for me to not enough. Nowadays, the fact that Elon Musk has $ 300 billion is not a problem because it means that Elon can have 300 trillion if he wants, and I still have the funds to buy groceries.
The Fiat currency effectively allows the rich to get rich without the poor getting poorer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.