There’s any number of figures out there that paint a grotesque picture of wealth inequality: The top 5% owns some 62% of all the wealth (maybe you’ve seen it higher), the top 1% holds four-fifths of all stock market capitalization… the list goes on.
Our current stock and economic bubble doesn’t help the situation. When we’re in a “fall†economic season like we’re in today — and like we saw peak in 1929 — the top 1% can hold over 50% of the net worth for all financial assets.
That can fall to as low as 26% in the late spring and summer seasons, such as in 1965 to 1978. When new technologies become mainstream, the middle class sees a rise in wages and net worth. Of course, none of that will happen until this damn bubble bursts.
Our current demographic and technology trends peaked in late 2007. But in today’s unprecedented boom, the Fed and central banks around the world have pulled out all the stops to keep this bubble going. The end result? The rich keep getting richer.
We’re undoubtedly an unequal society, but it’s a lot more complicated than that.
It’s not just the ongoing bubble boom that is driving inequality across society, where the top 1% has over 20% of the income and the top 20% over 50%. There’s another unique factor in today’s extremely unequal situation…
Education.
Consider this…
The average income of a high school dropout is $40,000. For someone with a professional degree, like a doctor or lawyer, it’s $193,000! That’s almost five times more.
To just be in the top 20% — not 10% or 1%, but 20% — you have to make around $120,000. That’s primarily the people with the top three degrees, from masters to professional.
The top 1%? They make about $450,000. Those are the upper professionals, who include top executives, medical surgeons, entrepreneurs, and specialists.
