Three Ways the Super-Rich Suck Wealth Out of the Rest of Us
December 9, 2013 by Common Dreams
Three Ways the Super-Rich Suck Wealth Out of the Rest of Us
by Paul Buchheit http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/12/09-2
The facts are indisputable, the conclusion painful. The wealthiest people in the U.S. and around the world have used the stock market and the deregulated financial system to lay claim to the resources that should belong to all of us.
This is not a matter of productive people benefiting from their contributions to society. This is a relatively small number of people extracting massive amounts of money through the financial system for accomplishing almost nothing.
1. They've Taken $1.6 Million Per Family in New Wealth Since the Recession
The richest 5% of American families each gained at least that much in five years, mostly from the stock market. ..... the richest 5% (six million households) own about two-thirds of the wealth, or about $10 trillion of the $15 trillion in financial wealth gained since the recession. That's $1,667,000 per household. Calculations based on alternate sources resulted in a gain of over $2 million per household.
It is noteworthy that most of their windfall came from stock market gains rather than from job-creating business ventures. .........
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