Americans make up half of the world's richest 1%

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote:

Nobody that matters wrote:

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote: Didn't you learn anything from the Occupy Wall Street movement?

I learned that protests don't have to have a point in order to monopolize the media.

I'm well aware that I'm not going to get any help from the conservatives here... I was hoping some of the compassionate and enlightened progressives on 285 Bound would have some answers for this problem. You conservatives are the cause of the problem, why would I expect you to have any real solutions.

I'm afraid some of them are in a corner of the computer room, balled up in the fetal position muttering "We have met the enemy and they is us"

Didn't you learn anything from the Occupy Wall Street movement?

No - not really...... Perhaps a few occupiers learned that squatting doesn't accomplish much.

we can always bring back bartering as the new system and make toilet paper the commodity of choice? countries that still use their hands would still be considered poor (easy just a little tongue and cheek or hand and cheek)...be nice

znovkovic wrote: we can always bring back bartering as the new system and make toilet paper the commodity of choice? countries that still use their hands would still be considered poor (easy just a little tongue and cheek or hand and cheek)...be nice

We can always send more aid to these other poor people and countries.

I've noticed that our resident progressive won't touch this topic with a ten foot pole. It's easy to complain and rant about the 1 percent when YOUR not one of them, but now, as this article points out, globally 1/2 of all Americans are part of a 1 percent. I wonder how our progressive "friends" intend to correct this problem? Or is it sudden;y not a problem? Waiting... crickets... of course.

bailey bud wrote: The article has wellness measures mixed up.

The term "rich" usually is measured by wealth. However, the article seems to use income measures, rather than wealth measures.

It's not uncommon to be in an expensive location (say Abu Dhabi or Colorado) - and have what might appear to be "high income" - and not really have a dime to your name.

The USA spent a lot of time on the cutting edge of world economic development. We're the home of the industrial revolution, we invented the internet, and frankly, we remain (in spite of recent legislation) more free than most countries.

That said - I don't think this position (top in rich) is sustainable. China out-produces the USA, India out-innovates it.

Great point. Many European countries have a higher median income than Americans but when you look at how much they are taxed, how small their homes are, etc, it is really hard to compare apples and oranges. Personally I know I am very lucky to be an American where wealth and upward mobility is possible.
Just look at the Presidential candidates, Santorum's father was a poor immigrant. Obama's father came to America on a student visa. Rick Perry's dad was a poor sharecropper.

I was just coming to grips with being a 1%er here at home, now you dump this world thing on me.

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote: I wonder how our progressive "friends" intend to correct this problem? Or is it sudden;y not a problem? Waiting... crickets... of course.

My economic ideas are not exactly "progressive", but I will comment on your question.

It's not a "problem" that some people are richer than others, per se. What is a problem is when trends come into play that promote a smaller and smaller group controlling more and more of the nation and world's resources. Because what happens then is that social mobility, the ability to start at the bottom and through hard work move up in society becomes limited and eventually impossible. I wouldn't like to see America resemble India or Brazil, with a few families controlling unimaginable wealth while millions and millions live in squaor and semi-starvation with little to no hope of improving their lot.

I wouldn't suggest that it is any kind of answer to simply confiscate the wealth of the top 1%, whether that be of the nation or of the world, but I DO think there is ample evidence that supporting policy and institutions that tend to flatten out the wealth distribution curve a little leads to a culture where people who work hard can be assured of having a fairly decent existence and some measure of economic security, along with a chance for rising economic status for those with talent and ambition. That is increasingly untrue in this country. There are millions of working families today who through lack of affordability of healthcare, for example, risk being thrown into poverty and crushing debt from a single catastrophic illness. There are millions of working families in America today who are one paycheck from economic disaster or whose earnings are not enough to lift them out of actual povery. To me, that is the sign of a society that has gotten out of balance. Espeically when you consider that the productivity of American workers has gone up and up for decades, yet their share of the economic fruit of that labor has remained stagnant or actually increased.

I don't say the solution to that problem is to just raise taxes on the rich, but I do think if we don't pay more attention to systematic destruction of the working and middle classes by the wealthy, our children and grandchildren may think of us the greatest of all fools.

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote: but now, as this article points out, globally 1/2 of all Americans are part of a 1 percent..

I didn't read it that "half of all Americans" are in the top 1% globally, I read it that 1/2 of the top 1% globally are Americans. Big difference.

According to the article, about 29 million Americans, or less than 10%, make the top 1% globally. In other words, more than 90% of Americans ARE NOT in the top 1% globally.