The rich are much richer than you and me (richest 1%-225 X Greater Than Average American)

[kpete]

The rich are much richer than you and me
By Chris Isidore, senior writerDecember 23, 2010: 3:39 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The gap between the rich and the middle class is larger than it has ever been due to the bursting of the housing bubble.

The richest 1% of U.S. households had a net worth 225 times greater than that of the average American household in 2009, according to analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. That's up from the previous record of 190 times greater, which was set in 2004.

The widening gap came even as wealthy households' average net worth tumbled 27% -- to about $14 million -- between 2007 to 2009. That's the first time that they suffered a decline since the three-year period of 1992 to 1995.

Meanwhile, the average family's net worth plunged 41% -- to just $62,200 -- from 2007 to 2009, according to EPI's calculations.


http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/23/pf/rich_wealth_gap/index.htm

[Hannah Bell]

1. kr.

[dkf]

2. It's all about housing...

"The typical person lost more because a bigger percentage of their wealth in 2007 had been the value of their home," said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with EPI.

[rhett o rick]

3. k & r.

[Land Shark]

4. Here's a pointed question for the Christian evangelical Wealthy folk....

This question assesses the internal consistency of belief with certain subsets of Christian evangelicals who consider themselves successful financially, or otherwise to have "made it." It certainly isn't intended to apply even to all Christians:

Question: You say you are a "self-made" man six days a week, and then on the seventh day (when God rested) you pause to "remember" your "creator." So, just WHO do you think made you rich or successful? Was it God's act of creation, or are you self-made? And, if you believe you are both created and thereafter "self-made," precisely how did you improve upon God's creation?

[geckosfeet]

5. My guess is that factor of 225 is far to low - by an order of magnitude at least.

[LIBERterryAN]

6. The Monarchy has soooo many weapons

Free trade. China's weak curency policy. The de-industrialization that results.

Changes in who pays taxes: corperations used to pay 75% of federal taxes. Now just 25%.

Banking: when we borrowmoney from a bank, the bank just prints the money. Then as we
pay the bank back, they take the portion (or percentage) of your loan payments which
are dedicated towards principal --- remember the money they printed? --- and they
destroy that money. But they keep the interest. ...An extremely profitable bidness!

Wealthy stockholders own the shares of stock in the bank. And the GOP always raises
interest rates.

The GOP supports ANYTHING that redistributes money upwards no matter what.

GOP = Graft On Parade

And soooo many weapons for The Monarchy!

[Initech]

7. We are turning into a third world country.

All so these greedy motherfuckers can have it all to themselves, while we get to fight it out Mad Max style. :argh: :nuke: :grr: