Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Walmart, for Victory! [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)39. If everybody knows it, how come no one talks about it?
Here's more Old News:
Billionaire Bonanza: The Forbes 400 and the Rest of Us
Wealthiest 20 people own more wealth than half the American population
BY CHUCK COLLINS AND JOSH HOXIE
Institute for Policy Studies-IPS, DECEMBER 1, 2015.
This report exposes the extreme wealth concentrated within the fortunes of the 400 wealthiest Americans and compares this wealth to the much more meager assets of several different segments of American society.
The report proposes several solutions to close the growing gap between the ultra wealthy and the rest of the country. These policies include closing offshore tax havens and billionaire loopholes in the tax code that the wealthy exploit to hide their wealth.
The report also proposes a direct tax on wealth to break up the concentration of wealth and generate trillions of dollars in new revenue to invest in wealth building opportunities for working families.
SNIP...
KEY FINDINGS:
* Americas 20 wealthiest people a group that could fit comfortably in one single Gulfstream G650 luxury jet now own more wealth than the bottom half of the American population combined, a total of 152 million people in 57 million households.
* The Forbes 400 now own about as much wealth as the nations entire African-American population plus more than a third of the Latino population combined.
* The wealthiest 100 households now own about as much wealth as the entire African American population in the United States. Among the Forbes 400, just 2 individuals are African American Oprah Winfrey and Robert Smith.
* The wealthiest 186 members of the Forbes 400 own as much wealth as the entire Latino population. Just five members of the Forbes 400 are Latino including Jorge Perez, Arturo Moreno, and three members of the Santo Domingo family.
* With a combined worth of $2.34 trillion, the Forbes 400 own more wealth than the bottom 61 percent of the country combined, a staggering 194 million people.
* The median American family has a net worth of $81,000. The Forbes 400 own more wealth than 36 million of these typical American families. Thats as many households in the United States that own cats.
We believe that these statistics actually underestimate our current national levels of wealth concentration. The growing use of offshore tax havens and legal trusts has made the concealing of assets much more widespread than ever before.
CONTINUED...
http://www.ips-dc.org/billionaire-bonanza/
Honestly, how many people know the Waltons were enriched by the policies of the first Bush, the first Clinton, the second Bush and now the Obama administrations? Not many, from what I can tell.
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
62 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
What is destroying this country is people looking the other way when they are confronted with the
insta8er
Jun 2016
#42
It's not walmarts job to raise the minimum wage, it's Congress. Congress knows underpaid americans
Sunlei
Jun 2016
#19
Time form e to leave this cesspool, where progressives have become an endangered species.
zonkers
Jun 2016
#60
That is an interesting question. I wonder if those on their Board of Directors knows the answer?
Octafish
Jun 2016
#6
K&R-lay down and take a snooze then MM, here's a tune for everyone that's "tired"
bobthedrummer
Jun 2016
#14
Actually that stupid Henry Ford quote is bullshit- He paid $5 a day so the didn't quit
snooper2
Jun 2016
#27
Don't forget, it costs the local community about a million dollars a year for each
pdsimdars
Jun 2016
#48