Wealth in America
August 2009
When you hear people saying the top 5% of Americans have the majority of the wealth,
do you wonder what they are talking about? I did, so I did some research on the subject.
This is what I found out about America's wealth, there are about 300 million people in America
probably more but this makes the numbers easier to deal with, 5% equals 15 million people
leaving 285 million people, 20% equals 60 million people leaving 240 million people.
Now let's say we have 100 people and $100.00 and we divide it up the way wealth is divided
in America. The 100 people represents the people in America, the $100.00 represents the wealth in America.
One person (1%) out of the 100 has about $35.00 of the $100.00, the next four people (4%) have
about $25.00 of the $100.00, the next five people (5%) have about $13.00 of the $100.00 and the
next ten people (10%) have about $12.00 of the $100.00, this adds up to 20 people (20%) out of the
100 people and totals $85.00 of the $100.00 to be divided among the top 20% of Americans. This
leaves $15.00 from the $100.00 to be divided amongst the 80 people (80%) left from the 100 people.
This is not exact but close and gives you a general idea of how money is divided up in America.
| Total number of people = 100 |
Total amount of money = $100.00 |
Money divided by people equals what each person's share is |
Percent of the American people |
Percent of the money in America |
Rolling total by percent |
| 1 person |
$35.00 |
$35/ 1 = $35.00 each |
1% |
35% |
35% |
| 4 people |
$25.00 |
$25/4 = $6.25 each |
4% |
25% |
60% |
| 5 people |
$13.00 |
$13/5 = $2.60 each |
5% |
13% |
73% |
| 10 people |
$12.00 |
$12/10 = $1.20 each |
10% |
12% |
85% |
| Total of 20 people with the majority of the money |
20 people have $85.00 of the $100.00 |
Above is what each person gets when divided. |
20% of the 100 people have 85% of the $100.00 |
85% of the $100.00 is controlled by 20% of the 100 people |
20% of Americans have 85% of the money in America |
| 80 people only have $15.00 to divide and live on in America |
$15.00 needs to be divided between 80 people to live on |
$15/80 = $0.19 cents 80% of Americans get $0.19 cents per person
or 80 people get $0.19 cents each, the lowest paid American of the top 20% makes $1.20 per person |
80% of the people in America only have 15% of the money |
15% of the money in America is all that 80% of the people in America have to live on |
15% is all that's left for 80% of the people in America compared to the 85% that 20% of
Americans have to live on. |
I find it hard to believe that 20% of the American people have 85% of America's money.
The 20% of Americans with the majority of the money keep telling the 80% of Americans they need the
money to invest which will create jobs. My question is this, how many cars can the wealthy 20% of Americans
buy, how many homes can they buy, how many bedroom sets can they buy, how many washing machines and
dryers can they buy, etc…etc…etc. Can they buy enough to keep all the companies in America successful?
Because the bottom line is, companies must sell the products companies produce to be successful and
hire employees. The more products companies sell the more successful the companies will become which
means the more employees the companies will need to hire to make the products, right? It also
means the more money the 80% of Americans have, the more products they will be able to buy from
companies. Henry Ford (Ford Car Company) understood this basic business concept. When Henry Ford
started producing the Model-T car he increased the companies' employee salaries from $1.00/$2.00 per
hour to $5.00 per hour. He understood his employees were his customers and needed money to buy the
Model-T car. It doesn't matter how much money the wealthy 20% of Americans invest in companies,
if the companies don't sell the products they produce they won't be successful, this is a
business fact. So it's OK for one person who's a CEO or some other executive to make
$100 million dollars per year but the workers on the assembly line at G.M. made too much money and
destroyed the company. It wasn't bad management of the company, today the company is fine and
tomorrow the company fails, literally just like that is what they want you to believe. It's almost
always bad management when a company fails.
You hear it all the time, wealthy Americans pay the most taxes well if you have the majority of the
money common sense dictates you would pay the most taxes. Warren Buffet in 2008 was ranked as the richest
man in the world but even Warren Buffet says what happen with taxes during the Bush administration was
unfair to Americans. He said during a CNBC interview that he paid less in taxes because of business tax
loopholes than his Administrative Assistant and he didn't think this was fair. But most of the
wealthy 20% of Americans feel just the opposite and want more tax breaks even if it destroys America
because the money is hoarded in too few hands to buy the products all the companies in America produce.
The wealthy few (20%) continues to run the same old scam saying if it wasn't for them investing in
business there wouldn't be any jobs for Americans. Again I ask the question, how many products does
the wealthy few (20%) buy? Do they buy enough products to make all the companies in America
successful? Do the wealthy few (20%) buy enough products to keep all the companies in America in
business year after year? The wealthy (20%) of Americans make their money on the productivity and
buying power of the other 80% of Americans.
What do you think will bring us out of this recession, the wealthy (20%) of Americans investing in
businesses or the 80% of Americans buying the products American companies produce? Right now
companies are trying to sell the products they produced and couldn't sell when the stock market
crashed. Companies are over stocked with products and need to sell the products before they can produce
more and hire employees. So if the wealthy (20%) could pull America out of this recession just by
investing money into businesses we would have been out of the recession along time ago. So don't
always believe the hype when you are told that the wealthy are over taxed and businesses can't
afford to pay good salaries to their employees.
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