please. Thanks

link:

http://mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality/

Who created it?
Who is the speaker?

eom

Please watch this video if you haven't.

Americans own a significant % of stocks and bonds through their pension funds. I think the video is wrong on that 5:23. It says less than 1%. It's at least 25%.

Half of a percent, that is.

I haven't bothered to dig into how they determined it, just thought I'd post as-is FWIW.


Source of Graphic: Institute For Policy Studies

Gotten from:
http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4?op=1

Swiped from:
post #2

See link at Table 9 (2007 data). See footnote. The data specifically omits defined benefit pension plans. That is why the number is skewed so low. The video is amazing, surely the issue of our generation, but I think the presentation of stock ownership is flawed.
http://www.epi.org/page/-/BriefingPaper292.pdf

have pension funds? I would say the vast majority of US workers have no pension but Social Security.

My boyfriend (a construction worker) also adds, "After seven years in my union my 401k has about $1300." So that doesn't sound like a large slice of the investment pie.

•In 2011, the percentage of workers participating in an employment-based retirement plan was essentially unchanged from a year earlier. Specifically, the percentage of all workers (including part-time and self-employed) participating in an employment-based retirement plan moved from 39.6 percent in 2009, to 39.8 percent in 2010, to 39.7 in 2011. http://www.ebri.org/publications/ib/index.cfm?fa=ibDisp&content_id=5128

So again, what planet are you living on that you think a large percentage of Americans have pensions?

See my link above citing what is likely the original source. The data ignores defined benefit pension funds. That is why the numbers are so low. Check the Federal Reserve Flow of Funds as to pension fund ownership of stock holdings - if you want to see what planet I live on.

I believe that the perception that the average person owns a greater share of the wealth than they actually do, is the whole point of the video. That includes the stock market. I remember a poll a few years back in which concluded that something like 50% of the population actually thought that they were in the top 1%. The wealthy laugh at us. With contempt. This is not just about who has the money, but who has the power as well. We are no longer a nation of the people.The only ones who are represented now, are the rich. Money buys politicians, who pass laws that funnel more money to the wealthy. In the not so distant future, Americans will be living in a feudal society of their own making.

So 40% of workers have either a defined contribution (401k account) or a defined benefit (traditional pension plan) (yes/no?). What do they consider an "employment-based retirement plan". Or maybe that 40% number includes ONLY 401k ?

My understanding is that far more workers are in 401k than in defined benefit (pension) plans these days. That pension plans have gone the way of the do-do pretty much, outside of perhaps the government sector.

You say elsewhere that the statistic that the lower 50% of the population owns only 0.5% of stocks and bonds is skewed because it doesn't include defined Benefit plans. I don't think that is all that much. Does that 50% owns 0.5% statistic include defined Contribution plans (which almost certainly is more than the number in defined Benefit plans)?

Just wondering. I'm very interested in tracking this down because I've been hearing statistics for eons like the top X% own Y% of stocks or get Z% of dividends and capital gains blah blah, and I'm always wondering whether those statistics are leaving out anything (like pension plans, or even mutual fund ownership -- calling the latter "institutional investors" even though some lowly bozo like me has some mutual fund holdings)

Another tricky problem, is when talking about the bottom 50%, is how many bottom 50% workers are going to see a pension, i.e. stay around long enough in one company to collect? And how many bottom 50% workers are in jobs with pension (defined benefit) plans? In other words, if there are statistics out there somewhere, maybe at the PGBC Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, that there is $1 trillion invested or obligated in pension plans, how much of that will ever find its way to bottom 50% workers?

Thanks for any insights / info !

1st edit fixed the first sentence (I had it backwards)

2nd edit: I found this FAQ that shows the different retirement plans - pie chart, defined contribution,k defined benefit, state & local etc. http://www.ebri.org/publications/benfaq/index.cfm?fa=retfaq4

But you ask all the right questions. In the public sector, the plans are still primarily db plans. They own a lot of stock. That's why Corporations want to eliminate them - eliminate shareholder accountability. See chart, p. 12 https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4004/c/798/images/CWA_Pension_Manual.pdf

I have seen the charts. I have read the articles.

This video is so well done that a Republican could understand it.

eom

It amazes me how little they comprehend of English.

My republican grandmother didn't understand a word out of my mouth. But then, you don't see many republicans speaking two languages. Even a fake one.

There were 144,000 views when I watched yesterday, Today it is at 724,000.

any day now....

I hope many of them get a chance to see this video, they need it.

It's easier to prove the Earth is flat, than it is to prove the GOP's faith based economic mythology has any validity that is based in reality

Period.

i did, and it is raising eyebrows all around.
political parties aside, you can't argue with these crystal clear visuals....

I wish Obama could have a "fireside chat" and push this out to all Americans. Maybe it would grab hold, and we would realize who we are dealing with.

I'd be happy never getting more than I already have if I knew it meant that everyone else could at least have the same (and I'm definitely below the poverty line). This place is broken.

It's laughable. I guess there is a middle class, but they're within the top 10%, if not top 5% of the wealthiest people. Functionally, they do not matter. The vast majority of Americans are working class - a term that has been shamed out of use, and a people who have been shamed so far as to deny their own existence.