Thanks to a reader for providing the above graphic to PNG--you know who you are!
Giggles aside, the next chart is perhaps superficially unrelated to the one above. But think about it. Most of the new wealth created in this country is directly related to technology and computers. (Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Ellison, Gates, Ballmer et al)
What this chart means is that the average wealth (assets-debts) of the top 1% is $11,700,814. The average wealth of the bottom 50% is $15,065! Most of that wealth for the bottom 50% is in depreciating assets like cars and other durable consumer goods, not financial assets that generally appreciate in value and produce income. Which brings US to the stock market and the private national bank known as the Federal Reserve. It has been restlessly pursuing a policy of asset inflation to stave off depression. That policy explains why the market and the economy are going in opposite directions. Here is the kicker: the top 10% own $29.6 trillion in stocks and equity funds, about $10 million per person. The bottom 50% hardly own any stocks, about $190 billion, or just $1,150 per person.
When the Fed sets monetary policy and expands its balance sheet to create the largest asset bubble in history, it knows who will benefit from that policy--the already rich. Life is not getting less expensive at the bottom. This gross inequity must be corrected, and one way to do that is with a wealth tax. Mr. Manchin, of the top 10%, are you listening? Or do you care?