The Top 10% Controls 78% Of All Wealth In The U.S.

The chart above is from The Atlantic magazine (using figures compiled by UC Berkley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman). It shows the wealth distribution in the United States.

The top 0.1% controls about 22% of this nation's wealth, and the next 9.9% controls another 56%. That means the top 10% of the richest Americans controls about 78% of the nation's wealth (or nearly four out of every five dollars). That leaves 22% of the nation's wealth for the bottom 90% of the country's population.

And it's getting worse, not better. While the wealth continues to grow for the top 10% (and especially the top 0.1%), about 14% of the bottom 90% live in poverty and the other 76% are watching inflation eat away at their tiny share of wealth.

The Republicans could have fixed this. They didn't. In fact, they made it worse. Their tax reform lowered taxes for the rich (allowing them to gather even more wealth), while doing nothing for the bottom 90%. The redistribution of wealth from the 90% to the 10% was already growing, but that tax plan will accelerate that growth.

The Republications, through their "trickle-down" policies, are turning the United States into a nation of "haves" and "have-nots" -- a nation with a more unequal division of wealth than most third world countries.

How long are we going to put up with this? Isn't it time to vote the Republicans out of power and return to a saner and fairer economic policy?