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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWealth Gap Between Rich and Poor Americans Highest on Record
New analysis from Pew Research Center finds that economic gains of the wealthiest continue to soar as the middle-class and low-income families face chronic stagnation
by
Sarah Lazare, staff writer
The gulf between rich and poor people in America has hit a new record.
An analysis released Wednesday by Pew Research Center finds that the wealth gap between the top 21 percent of families and everyone else is the widest since the Federal Reserve began collecting such income data 30 years ago.
Last year, the median wealth of upper-income families ($639,400) was almost seven times that of middle-income families and nearly 70 times that of lower-income families.
Measured as the "difference between the value of a familys assets (such as financial assets as well as home, car and businesses) and debts," wealth is an "important dimension of household well-being because its a measure of a familys 'nest egg' and can be used to sustain consumption during emergencies (for example, job layoffs) as well as provide income during retirement," the report notes.
"The latest data reinforces the larger story of America's middle-class household wealth stagnation over the past three decades," the report states. "The Great Recession destroyed a significant amount of middle-income and lower-income families' wealth, and the economic 'recovery' has yet to be felt for them."
The findings follow another Pew analysis published last week which finds that U.S. wealth inequalities along racial lines have dramatically worsened since the Great Recession, with the gap between white and black people at its highest in 25 years.
According to that study, which also looks at Federal Reserve data, in 2013 white household wealth was 13 times that of black households and 10 times that of Hispanic households.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/18/wealth-gap-between-rich-and-poor-americans-highest-record
UglyGreed
(7,661 posts)no end in sight.
Man from Pickens
(1,713 posts)what is a surprise is that connections to Wall Street are somehow not politically radioactive even though it's plain as day what's going on
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)for a good reason.
Warpy
(111,277 posts)Bankers have already got the willies, which is why they got that sweetheart bill enacted that allows them to count the accounts of small depositors as part of their assets.
There is nothing anyone can do right now to prepare for it outside of learning the skills that will help them survive.
Oh, and get those head lamps. They'll come in handy.
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)Yeah, LED's are quite efficient light.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)who engineer exactly these conditions over and over throughout history. They will get theirs, and I hope I live to see then strung up by their heels from the lampposts. It was good enough for Mussolini, it's good enough for them. Though the Ceaucescu treatment would be nearly as satisfying.
Warpy
(111,277 posts)that led to the Great Depression. More than one bankster and Captain of the World did a swan dive out of a top floor window. They don't all make it.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)mstinamotorcity2
(1,451 posts)always must have a study that tells us what we are already feeling out here in real America. But you want to know whats going to happen, some wealthy folks are getting ready to become poor folks. See most of us don't have much of anything left from the first economic recession that everyone swears started in 2008. But those of us know it started in 2001. Dubya/Shooter Administration took the average everyday folk to the cleaners. So if we got nothing, they must move up the Food Chain. Which means they are going to piss the wrong set of folks off. And it won't be long. These new repugs coming to the Hill are green as grass. This is going to be interesting. Mitch McConnell has his work cut out for him.
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)mstinamotorcity2
(1,451 posts)Bad
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Response to adirondacker (Original post)
woo me with science This message was self-deleted by its author.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)it is GOING to be. When it gets too high, TPTB will make sure this statistic stops being reported.