Economy is creating millionaires at an astonishing pace. But what's it doing for everyone else?
By Christopher Ingraham
Washington Post
The U.S. economy is minting new millionaires at an astonishing rate, according to a paper by New York University economist Edward N. Wolff.
The number of households with a net worth of $1 million (measured in constant 1995 dollars, or about $1.6 million today) grew from 2.4 million households in 1983 to 9.1 million households in 2016, a growth rate of 279 percent.
For comparison, the total number of households grew by just 50 percent over that period, meaning that the population of millionaires grew at more than 5 times the rate of the general population. In 1983 fewer than 3 percent of households had a net worth greater than $1 million in 1995 dollars. By 2016, over 7 percent of households were worth that much.
Net worth is a measure of a household's assets, such as home value, stocks and retirement accounts, minus debts. From 2013 to 2016 alone, the economy added over 2 million households with a net worth of $1 million or more in constant 1995 dollars. That works out to roughly 1,845 new millionaire households each day during that period.
Rates of growth in the upper echelons of the wealth spectrum have been even more rapid. From 1983 to 2016, the number of households worth $5 million grew by 649 percent. The number of households worth $10 million or more grew by 856 percent over the same period.
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more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-economy-millioniares-20171208-story.html
Pretty grim reading, if you're not one of the lucky few.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)The tax shill will take US off of life support.
PatrickforO
(14,557 posts)And why we never really have had a true labor political party.
Everyone's a closet millionaire. The thinking goes something like this: Well, I don't mind if the rich people get a break because when I get rich, then I'll want those breaks, too!
The problem is, though, that getting rich is a) hard, and b) not really a goal for most people.
I concluded a long time ago that there is something abnormal about people who are driven to accumulate massive wealth. Beyond a certain amount, 'more' doesn't really have much effect. In fact, I've read numerous times that once you get to about $70K - $90K a year, you are happier than those who have less, because they aren't making ends meet, and that's miserable; and you are happier than those who have more, who end up worrying excessively about losing what they have amassed.
To my mind, this unhealthy quest to amass huge amounts of wealth is little more than a spiritual trap.
eppur_se_muova
(36,246 posts)Funny how that's taken to be a bad thing for the lower classes only.
disalitervisum
(470 posts)It is totally dependent on the lower classes being denied their own means of self-sufficiency.
PatrickforO
(14,557 posts)lower classes actually awakened?
PatrickforO
(14,557 posts)Aaaaargh! It's NOT liquid!
Oh that's funny.
OverBurn
(942 posts)Midnight Writer
(21,693 posts)This data looks cherry picked.