How Rich Are the Richest? Here’s How
The Occupy Wall Street movement has been proven correct about the wealthiest 1 percent getting vastly richer while the rest of us 99 percent-ers are falling further behind.
Now, United for a Fair Economy parses out just what that wealth really means. The nonprofit economic justice organization notes that the 400 wealthiest families in the United States collectively own $1.37 trillion dollars—a figure that’s nearly incomprehensible. So United for a Fair Economy made that figure real with a list of showing 11 things that $1.37 trillion can buy.
- The richest 400 could pay the mortgages of every house in the whole country for 14 full months.
- The richest 400 can pay off all credit card debt for every single person in the entire United States. Imagine that! No more credit card debt looming over your shoulders!
- The richest 400 can pay for three and a half years worth of gas for every driver in the country.
- The richest 400 households can afford to triple the number of teachers in the United States, then give every single one a $30,000 raise. Teachers are being laid off everywhere, their salaries are being cut, and they are suffering. Teacher-to-student ratios in schools are abysmal. But what can we do about it when so much wealth is in the pockets of so few families?
For the full list, click here.
Corporate Greed Behind Opposition to Employee Free Choice
Pundits, journalists and even economists have strained to find the reasons for our nation’s economic meltdown, stumbling over tortured concepts like “structured investment vehicles” and “collateralized debt.”
The underlying problem is much simpler. In fact, it can be described in six words: The corporate search for cheap labor.
While some people may have overextended themselves by taking out loans on their homes or piling up credit card debt for non-essentials, millions of Americans had no choice but to survive through debt. They needed to pay for health care, college tuition and car repairs. Why? Because even working two or three jobs, they aren’t paid sufficiently to support their families. Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren repeatedly has discussed how the majority of personal bankruptcies happen after a medical crisis or job loss, rather than because of too many 124-inch flat screen TV sets.
