-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Who gots the action?
Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 00:19:01 -0400
From: Nurev Ind Research <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Organization: Nurev Independent Research
Facts on the Concentration of Wealth
September 1999
compiled by George Draffan
Public Information Network
PO Box 95316, Seattle WA 98145-2316
footnoted version with references available by e-mail request
Wealth in the U.S.: Individuals and Families
Median U.S. family income grew by 37 percent from 1949 to 1959, by 41
percent in the 1960s, but only by 6.8 percent in the 1970s and 1980s, with
97 percetn going to the top 20 percent of the families. in the late 1970s,
the top one percent held 13 percent of the wealth; in 1995 it held 38
percent.
Ten percent of the U.S. population owns 81.8 percent of the real estate,
81.2 percent of the stock, and 88 percent of the bonds.
One percent of the U.S. population owns sixty percent of the stock and forty
percent of the total wealth.
Two percent of U.S. income recipients owned 50 percent of all stocks and 39
percent of all bonds.
Two percent of U.S. wealth holders own 54 percent of all net financial
assets; more than half of families had no financial assets, or owe more than
they own.
Ten percent of American households own 72 percent of the total wealth.
19 percent of all U.S. families own stock; 3 percent of all families own
bonds.
Pension funds own almost a third of the total stock.
Distribution of U.S. wealth by percentages of the population:
top 5 percent holds 20 percent of the wealth
top 20 percent holds 45 percent
4th 20 percent holds 22 percent
3rd 20 percent holds 16 percent
2nd 20 percent holds 11 percent
bottom 20 percent holds 5 percent
Ten percent of the U.S. population owns 83 percent of all stock.
One half of one percent of the U.S. population owns 37 percent of all stock.
In 1992 the average salary of the CEOs of the largest 1,000 corporations was
$3.8 million.
In 1960 CEOs received 40 times the average worker's salary. In 1992 they
received 157 times.
The top one percent of Americans receive more income than the bottom 40
percent.
Between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s, the average income of
lowest-income families with children fell by more than 20 percent. The
avergae income of high-income families rose by nearly 30 percent; the
incomes of the middle-fifth families fell by more than 2 percent.
Wealth in the World
In 1988, per capita GNP in the 20 richest industrial countries was $12,960;
in the poorest 33 countries it was $270.
One percent of all TNCs own fifty percent of all FDI.
A third was transactions within a single corporation.
70 percent was controlled by 500 corporations.
In 1995, 358 billionaires were worth $760 billion, the same as the poorest
20 percent of the world's people.
When he was worth $40 billion, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was worth more
than the bottom 110 million Americans (40 percent of the population). By
1998, Gates was worth $59 billion; a year later, he was worth $85 billion.
Gates is twice as wealthy as the second richest American, Microsoft
co-founder Paul Allen (worth $40 billion). Number three in 1999 was Warren
Buffett (chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and worth $31 billion). Number four
is Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's president (worth $23 billion). Number 5 is
Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell (worth a mere $20 billion in 1999).
The world's three richest individuals have more wealth than the combined GDP
of the 48 poorest countries.
Worldwide, the top incomes were 30 times greater than the bottom incomes; by
1989 it was 60 times, unless you calculate individuals rather than nations,
in which case it was 150 times.
UNDP data on income distribution:
Top 20 percent receives 83 percent of all income.
Second 20 percent receives 12 percent
Third 20 percent receives 2 percent
Fourth 20 percent receives 2 percent
Bottom 20 percent receives 1 percent
Corporations: the Institution for Concentrating Wealth
The Global 500 has 25 percent of gross world output, and the Fortune 500 has
42 percent of U.S. gross national product. The world economy grows by two to
three percent per year; transnational corporations grow by 8 to 10 percent.
The ten largest corporations revenues are $801 billion, more than the
hundred smallest countries.
"Ninety-eight percent of all companies in the United States account for only
about 25 percent of the business on this country; the remaining 2 percent
account for nearly 75 percent. The top 500 industrial corporations, which
represent only one-tenth of one percent of this elite 2 percent, control
over two-thirds of the business resources, employ two-thirds of the
industrial workers, account for 60 percent of the sales, and collect over 70
percent of the profits."
The importance of transnational corporations in the world economy is
demonstrated by the fact that about one half of the $700 billion in direct
foreign investment by 20,000 companies in 1986 came from some 50
corporations. Sales by foreign affiliates of transnationals accounted for
more than 40 per cent of total sales in the 1980s (up from 30 per cent in
the early 1970s), and about one third of world trade was intra-firm trade.
Where the Wealth Goes: the Military
Two thirds of American foreign aid is military.
Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes:
The 1997 federal budget according to the U.S. Government:
35 percent social security, medicare, other retirement
18 percent social programs
2 percent law enforcement & general government
9 percent physical, human, community development
22 percent military
14 percent interest payments
The 1997 federal budget according to the War Resisters League:
22 percent $286 billion current military
30 percent $377 billion past military
30 percent $381 billion human resources
12 percent $156 billion general government
6 percent $ 74 billion physical resources
Bibliography on Concentration of Wealth
AFL-CIO, Executive Paywatch Database
http://www.aflcio.org/paywatch/index.htm
http://www.aflcio.org/cgi-bin/aflcio.pl
Center for Popular Economics. A Field Guide to the U.S. Economy. New York:
Pantheon Books, 1987. Rev. ed. 199?
Center for Popular Economics. Economic Report of the President People: An
Alternative to the Economic Report of the President. Boston: South End
Press, 1986.
Collins, Chuck, Betsy Leondar-Wright, and Holly Sklar. Shifting Fortunes:
The Perils of the Growing American Wealth Gap. Boston: United for a Fair
Economy, 1999.
Crystal, Graef. In Search of Excess: The Overcompensation of American
Executives. 1991.
Federal Reserve Bank http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/
Federal Reserve Bank Survey of Consumer Finances
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/oss/oss2/scfindex.html
Hacker, Andrew. Money: Who Has How Much and Why. New York: Touchstone, 1997.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Income Distribution
in OECD Countries.
Share the Wealth. United for a Fair Economy, 37 Temple Pl, 3rd floor, Boston
MA 02111 http://www.stw.org
The Rich List: a Directory of America's Wealthiest People. Austin, TX: The
Rich List; 1992. (Includes 1,600 people worth more than $25 million; brief
biographies include source of wealth).
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment and Earnings.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Household Wealth and Asset Ownership
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/wealth.html
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Money Income in the United States.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Income and Poverty.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Social and Economic Characteristics.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Studies in the Distribution of Income.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Money Income of Families, Households, and Persons
in the United States. (Annual; CPR series P-60).
U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Government Operations. Disclosure of
Corporate Ownership. Staff Report of the Subcommittee on Budgeting,
Management and Expenditure, 93rd Cong., 2d Sess., May 4, 1974.
World Bank. World Development Report (annual).
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