Richest two percent own half of world's wealth

Class Marketing

By: Jon Britton

The University UNU-WIDER report is "the most comprehensive study of personal wealth ever undertaken," according to the Dec. 5 press release announcing its publication. Its findings are dramatic.

The study reveals that the richest two percent of adults owned half of the world’s wealth in the year 2000..........

Domhoff states, "In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers)."

CEOs in the United States make more than 400 times what the average worker makes.

Domhoff writes in the same article that the top 10 percent own 85 to 90 percent of stock, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and over 75 percent of non-home real estate. He concludes: "Since financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing assets [is concerned], we can say that just 10% of the people own the United States of America."