Read

Error message

Notice: Undefined index: base_url in include_once() (line 125 of /home3/occupyco/public_html/dev/sites/default/settings.php).

User menu

Search form

$30 Trillion Has Gone to the Richest White Americans Since 2008

$30 Trillion Has Gone to the Richest White Americans Since 2008
Fri, 9/28/2018 - by Paul Buchheit
This article originally appeared on Nation of Change

That’s nearly a third of all our current wealth, newly created and distributed to the richest 10%, who are mostly white millionaires. These fortunate takers profited mainly from the stock market, which has more than tripled in value since the end of 2008.
 

The Stunning Numbers

Wealth statistics since the recession are provided in the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook.

Post-recession data shows that about $33 trillion went to the richest 10%, who are overwhelmingly millionaires (13 million millionaires, 12.6 million U.S. households!). That nearly doubled the wealth of each member of the richest 10%. Average net worth is now $14 million for each 1% household, and the greater part of a million for even the ‘poorest’ household in the top 10%.

In comparison, average net worth for the poorest half of America decreased from $11,000 to $8,000 since the recession.
 

A Gift to Rich White (and Asian) Households

The conclusion that $30 trillion went to white households is based on various reliable sources. The Washington Post references Federal Reserve data that estimates combined Black/Hispanic households as about 7% of all millionaire households (about 2% of 40 million Hispanic and Black households), and thus accruing about $2.5 trillion of that total $33 trillion decade-long gain.

Statista, on the other hand, estimates that Black/Hispanic households make up 15% of all millionaires, which would represent a $5 trillion gain since the recession. Asian-Americans, with just 7 million households, are millionaires at about the same rate as white Americans. By the best estimates, the ten-year gains by White/Asian households is close to $30 trillion.
 

Instead of Reparations, an Economic Lynching

About halfway through the post-recession decade, in 2013, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers estimated that African-Americans had lost over HALF their wealth because of the sub-prime mortgage scandal and the loss of jobs. Although a Federal Reserve survey found that Black and Hispanic households had regained up to half their losses by 2016, Pew Research concluded that the median net worth in 2016 for middle-income Blacks and Hispanics and lower-income whites was still only half as much as in 2007. Other sources make it clear that the wealth gap between whites and the two main minority groups have grown significantly since 2008.

There’s no question that Blacks and Hispanics have lost more than white families since the recession. And it’s getting worse. A shocking recent report from Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy studies calculates that based on current trends median wealth for black Americans will HIT ZERO in the next 35 years – Latino Americans two decades later.

USA Today story says it best: “A century and a half of progress wiped out.”
 

How Did it Happen?

At least since Ronald Reagan the emphasis has been on individual gains, and on blaming poor people for being poor. Rich white Americans have continued to redistribute wealth to themselves through the stock market. People who relied on middle-income home ownership and savings accounts went backwards.

There is considerable evidence for the correlation between increasing wealth and decreasing empathy for less fortunate people. Privileged white Americans generally believe they deserve everything they have, because they feel they’ve worked harder than others; thus they’ve steadily lost the ability to see the great disparity in opportunity that has drained wealth from the bottom half of America.
 

What Do We Do?

Elect progressive candidates in November. Get Sanders and/or Warren in the White House in 2020. Help non-white and poor white Americans to understand that this is the only path to opportunity, and eventually to greater equality.

 

 

3 WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

ONE-TIME DONATION

Just use the simple form below to make a single direct donation.

DONATE NOW

MONTHLY DONATION

Be a sustaining sponsor. Give a reacurring monthly donation at any level.

GET SOME MERCH!

Now you can wear your support too! From T-Shirts to tote bags.

SHOP TODAY

Sign Up

Article Tabs

prison reform, incarceration rates, private prisons, for-profit prisons, white supremacy, enslavement, climate justice, racial justice, Green New Deal

The year 2020 has caused many white people to realize we live in a racist system. The Green New Deal is about systemic change for all, and deconstructing racism must be front and central in this agenda.

coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro, COVID-19 deaths, downplaying coronavirus

By infecting three of the world’s most right-wing leaders, the coronavirus underscored not only the incompetence and irresponsibility of their governments – but the truth that their brand of populism doesn't keep people safe.

COVID-19, corporate bailouts, corporate welfare, corporate destruction

Corporations are not "too big to fail" and, when they commit crimes, they are not "too big to jail." As David Whyte writes in his new book, "Ecocide: Kill the Corporation Before It Kills Us," the moment is now to rein in out-of-control corporate power.

The world has lost an incredible thinker and doer. I have lost an amazing friend. A void exists where before it was filled with David's optimism, humour and joy.

Kevin Zeese speaks at a rally for Chelsea Manning. By Ellen Davidson.

Kevin fought to bring truth every day. We must not lose this struggle.

prison reform, incarceration rates, private prisons, for-profit prisons, white supremacy, enslavement, climate justice, racial justice, Green New Deal

The year 2020 has caused many white people to realize we live in a racist system. The Green New Deal is about systemic change for all, and deconstructing racism must be front and central in this agenda.

coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro, COVID-19 deaths, downplaying coronavirus

By infecting three of the world’s most right-wing leaders, the coronavirus underscored not only the incompetence and irresponsibility of their governments – but the truth that their brand of populism doesn't keep people safe.

COVID-19, corporate bailouts, corporate welfare, corporate destruction

Corporations are not "too big to fail" and, when they commit crimes, they are not "too big to jail." As David Whyte writes in his new book, "Ecocide: Kill the Corporation Before It Kills Us," the moment is now to rein in out-of-control corporate power.

The world has lost an incredible thinker and doer. I have lost an amazing friend. A void exists where before it was filled with David's optimism, humour and joy.

Kevin Zeese speaks at a rally for Chelsea Manning. By Ellen Davidson.

Kevin fought to bring truth every day. We must not lose this struggle.