Amerika's obscene kloof tussen arm en rijk in 9 beelden

Door Dave Johnson, Blog for Our Future, 14 februari 2011

Many people don’t understand our country’s problem of concentration of income and wealth because they don’t see it, but a picture is worth 1,000 words.

(...) the concentration is increasing. The top 1% took in 23.5% of all of the country’s income in 2007. In 1979 they only took in 8.9%. (...) In fact our country's concentration of wealth is worse than Egypt.
It is concentrating at the expense of the rest of us. Between 1979 and 2008, the top 5% of American families saw their real incomes increase 73%, according to Census data. Over the same period, the lowest-income fifth (20% of us) saw a decrease in real income of 4.1%. The rest were just stagnant or saw very little increase. This is why people are borrowing more and more, falling further and further behind. (From the Working Group on Extreme Inequality)
There are a few people who make hundreds of millions of income in a single year. Some people make more than $1 billion in a year But that is in a single year. If you make vast sums every year, after a while it starts to add up. (And then there is the story of inherited wealth, passed down and growing for generation after generation...)

Top 1% owns more than 90% of us combined. "In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available from the Federal Reserve Board, the richest 1% of U.S. households owned 33.8% of the nation’s private wealth. That’s more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent." (Also from the Working Group on Extreme Inequality)

400 people have as much wealth as half of our population. The combined net worth of the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans in 2007: $1.5 trillion. The combined net worth of the poorest 50% of American households: $1.6 trillion.

Updates:

Joseph Stiglitz Sees Terrifying Future for America If We Don't Reverse Inequality
Door Lynn Parramore, Alternet, 24 juni 2012

What will life look like down the road if we don't reverse economic inequality? We must see through the myths of capitalism and build a mass movement if we are to save ourselves.  

Moore to Rachel Maddow: “400 Americans Have Amassed More Wealth Than 50 Percent of American Households Combined”
The Rachel Maddow Show / Alternet, 10 maart 2010

5 Facts You Should Know About the Wealthiest One Percent of Americans
Door Zaid Jilani, ThinkProgress / Alternet, 4 oktober 2011

We are the 99 percent, and here's why we need a voice.

1. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Owns 40 Percent of the Nation’s Wealth

2. 2. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Take Home 24 Percent of National Income

3. The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Own Half of the Country’s Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds

4. The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Have Only 5 Percent of the Nation’s Personal Debt

5. The Top 1 Percent are Taking In More of the Nation’s Income Than at Any Other Time Since the 1920s