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Key Points
- The wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter.
- All of the gains came from stock holdings thanks to an end-of-year rally.
- Economists say the rising stock market is giving an added boost to consumer spending through what is known as the “wealth effect.”
The wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter, as an end-of-year stock rally lifted their portfolios, according to new data from the Federal Reserve.
The total net worth of the top 1%, defined by the Fed as those with wealth over $11 million, increased by $2 trillion in the fourth quarter. All of the gains came from their stock holdings. The value of corporate equities and mutual fund shares held by the top 1% surged to $19.7 trillion from $17.65 trillion the previous quarter.
While their real estate values went up slightly, the value of their privately held businesses declined, essentially canceling out all other gains outside of stocks.
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And here I am terrified to spend a penny.
Maybe the billionaires will buy each other’s shit and we can all just die already and let them play with resources without us.
I don’t know what I’m trying to say. Going to bed for my back to back 16 hour shifts over the next two days.
Good night fellow poors.
“I could hire half the poor to kill the other half.”
And in the end, even those jobs were automated.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2023/08/07/flying-sniper-drone-takes-aim/?sh=77de157153fd
You know what’s wild…
Very much just a modern version of Samson and some foxes with burning branches tied to their tails.
The whole episteme of ownership we operate under would be a brilliant farce if it wasnt floating on an ocean of blood. Disrespect ownership. That doesn’t just mean taking shit (but it absolutely also means taking shit)
Thanks Reagan, still waiting for it to trickle down you fucking liar.
If I ever get a time machine, I’ve got a baby to go delete real quick.
The 1% would have hired some other actor…
Milton Freidman is the one who convinced that POS it would work
This POS also taught Milton.
Think we should end all Economists
Nuke Chicago?
No they have really good food and also real people live there too.
Disproportionately well armed real people, which sounds like a solution to me.
So just a tactical one on the campus?
Ask a meteorologist, but that’s my only objection. If they didn’t want fallout in their backyards, I guess they would’ve fixed it themselves at some point in the last century.
Wealth tax when?
Taxes are just taking money by force for the common good.
We don’t need to wait for Congress to do anything.
We have to take back that wealth. Right this is the reason why we have not the lifes we deserve. That are the funds that were siphoned off from our society. The people created this worth. Not some guys at the top.
Correct. This is the stolen education of our future generations. This is the stolen lunch’s of our children. When does America wake up? I guess it takes physically seeing it happen. We are gonna be so down trodden before someone steps up it seems.
No, don’t you see the real issues are trans people and some other random social problem Fox News tells conservatives to get in an uproar about.
Why we can’t have nice things.
Inflation is how you get fucked. Get off the train, buy deflationary assets
OFF. WITH. THEIR. HEADS.
Out-of-control. The USA should return to the 1960’s tax brackets.
1960’s
1960s. Unless it’s one year.
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It’s too late. We need to be even more aggressive now to correct the egregious imbalance.
Sadly that wouldn’t have an impact on this. This is just unrealized stock wealth until it’s actually sold afaik. I think we shouldn’t allow people to take out loans on their stock holdings though. Or however it is people like Elon and such get their low risk loans to play with while keeping their money in the market.
The market adjusts.
When Elon was forced to buy Twitter, all those loans came due as Elon Musk had to sell TSLA stock to pay for capital gains, then sell TSLA stock to bring down his margin and stay good, then finally sell TSLA stock to pay for Twitter.
There’s no free lunch anywhere. Elon Musk is the kind of guy who takes insane risks (and honestly, its beginning to look like its all collapsing). Yes, USA has a lot of opporunity and we provide a lot of loans for dumbasses to hurt themselves, but that’s a good thing in the great scheme of things. Eventually, it always collapses. It does take 10 to 20 years sometimes for the bad effects to build up though.
Or however it is people like Elon and such get their low risk loans to play with while keeping their money in the market.
That was interest-rate policy. Today loans are 10%+ for such effects. Our mistake was keeping rates too low for so long. But that’s different than our tax policy.
Thank you so much for the insight. 🙌🙏
Oxfam released an analysis saying the top 1% got 63% of all new wealth generated from 2020-2022. According to UN analysis the top 10% own 85% of all the wealth.
According to Oxfam, “an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, fully fund the shortfalls on existing humanitarian appeals, deliver a 10-year plan to end hunger, support poorer countries being ravaged by climate impacts, and deliver universal healthcare and social protection for everyone living in low- and lower middle-income countries.”
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That’s over 5k per human currently alive.
Eat the rich
So I’m not against eating (or better yet taxing) the rich, but if this article talks about the 1% global/worldwide, you’re likely in that 1%. The cutoff is like anyone with a job that makes 60k$ a year and no kids.
According to the 2018 Global Wealth Report from Credit Suisse Research Institute, you need a net worth of $871,320 U.S. Credit Suisse defines net worth, or “wealth,” as “the value of financial assets plus real assets (principally housing) owned by households, minus their debts.” Source
So, yeah, but only if you’ve been saving your entire wage and paying no tax for the past 15 years.
I was going off this article; https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/9/15/23874111/charity-philanthropy-americans-global-rich
Plenty of meat on those bones.
And the marbling!
It’s to
diekill for
We just shouldn’t allow individuals to have over a billion dollars, just 100% tax on anything over a billion when combined assets exceed that number. Both because there’s no good reason for any one person to have that much money and because as pathetic as American campaign finance laws are it’s a legit national security risk for someone to have that kind of money to throw at their pet causes.
Make it a million, with an M. Adjusted for inflation after inception, and including stock income. I’ve been saying it for years. Good luck convincing those in power who it would actually effect to enact it though.
It is possible to become a millionaire without exploiting others in the same way the 1% do. I would find a limit somewhere in the tens of millions more reasonable
I would lower that to $100 million. I don’t think there’s even a good reason for anyone to be that rich, but if we’re going for a crazy upper limit…
Considering the price of certain goods, this is extremely low.
I would love to hear which “certain goods” are so expensive that one hundred million dollars is insufficient for a lifetime.
You gotta protect your fortune from inflation…
Let’s say cars such as McLaren F1 and Ferrari 250 GTO.
You mean cars built specifically for rich people that absolutely no one needs to own? Because you probably can’t own an indoors swimming pool coated in 24 carat gold and the entire pool filled with water with gold flakes suspended in it for under $100 million either. Who gives a fuck?
Rich people can drive Toyotas and Chevys like everyone else. They could even afford a Porsche.
You’re not making a very good argument.
So are you going to limit how plush or high tech cars can be OR limit the MSRP ?
Yes.
Also, if you are worth $100 million, you can literally afford the most expensive cars ever made and still be a multimillionaire.
Now, please explain why anyone in this world needs a $30 million car and why it would be a hardship for someone who would still have $70 million after buying it.
That would be a very much communist way of doing things. Do I need to explain why communism didn’t work, doesn’t work and won’t work?
That isn’t even remotely the same as communism. That is capitalism with an upper income limit.
You don’t have some people earning $100 million a year and others making $25,000 a year under communism. That’s only possible in a capitalist economic structure.
Your understanding of communism is on par with that of Joseph McCarthy.
Please stop commenting on politics if this is your level of education on the matter. Communism is absolutely not relevant here, because communism is
a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange that allocates products to everyone in the society based on need. A communist society would entail the absence of private property and social classes, and ultimately money and the state (or nation state).
You haven’t even begun to understand if you think communism is related to this discussion.
Even accepting the absurdity of suggesting those as “good reasons” to need more than $100 million dollars in a lifetime, fine. You buy both of those and “only” have 30 million dollars to live on for the rest of your life. That’s still very comfortable and more than most people’s lifetime earnings by an order of magnitude.
If your name is Rowan Atkinson you are going to need several of those McLarens…
But why should the person be limited? If they are capable of achieving that amount of wealth, why should we limit them to 100 million and give the rest to the government. I am not necessarily convinced the government would spend the money wiser…
Edit: Better approach would be to sanction certain useless activities they practice such as using a plane for 100 kilometers, etc.
I doubt the billionaire will spend that $100 Mil on altruistic endeavors.
Tax shelters, itemizable donations, kickbacks into campaign funds, etc i believe.
Actual large scale altruism? Nope.
If you had a billion dollars and never earned a penny more, you would actually find it hard to spend it all before you die. It could probably fully support several generations of your family. I’m totally fine with saying, “Congratulations! You maxed out the money counter in the game of Life!”
We could give them a trophy and everything
I’d be quite content with 999 million dollars.
Buy your lottery tickets…
Aren’t there some billion dollar super yachts out there? There’s always a reason for the stupidity rich to claim they need more.
Ahh, boo hoo. I guess they’ll need to take out a loan like the rest of us plebians.
Of course, repayment of loans for billionaires is entirely optional. Just raise the overdraft fees of the normies to compensate.
That would be so communistic. I agree their taxes should be higher but definitely not 100%.
Fine, I’m willing to compromise, just so that you don’t think I’m a radical or anything. Let’s make it 99,99%.
That also won’t work. Imagine someone has now 40 billion and this law comes into effect. Pretty much they would have to get rid of 39 billion. What would they do? Move it to their company and problem fixed. Instead of people having luxuries, you would end up with huge companies owning these.
“Raises just aren’t in the budget”. Yeah, because the guys at the top took it all.
There’s an argument that any one person controlling that much money is harmful to everyone else. Above $1 billion what can you even spend the money on?
Private planes don’t cost that much. Even a super yacht or the most expensive house in the world cost less. You can buy islands for less.
Once you have a billion dollars you can live off of 4% without touching the principal. You can just blow $40 million every year. No wonder billionaires think they can do anything. They can as long as they don’t spend too much.
Edit: I calculated wrong. They can live off 6% to 9% every year, since they will have to spend all their extra money so it’s not taxed 100% at the end of the year.
That’s $60 - $90 million. Just wasting it every year and replenished by growth the next year. It’s essentially risk-free, unless they pull an Elon and lose billions for no reason.
That spending would actually be really good for the economy. I like this idea better now.
I don’t necessarily see Elon’s billions harm me. I see that limit can be limiting when the individual wants to buy, let’s say, a company.
That’s why I see a hard limit like this wrong.
Far better approach would be to sanction shenanigans like private flights for 100 kilometers, uselessly huge yachts, etc. These luxuries actually make my life worse. They fuck up the air I breathe.
Where did that gap of the median 99%'s assets and the assets of the 1% come from? Could it have come from wages that could have been yours if excess profit was based on how much you contributed to the organization’s productivity?
I quit working for the establishment and corporations about 8 years ago. No more.
Society is harmed because these people can buy up news and TV companies, donate unlimited amounts to politicians, and generally fuck with the economy. No one can tell them what to do because they have so much money.
It seems like an aristocracy, which is very un-American. Once people run out of things to buy, how is their life affected by having more money? It essentially appoints them to a job they haven’t earned.
There’s no reason why Elon should run Twitter. He has no experience in Social Media. Imagine someone you work with just purchased their position and didn’t have to interview or know anything about the field. Would you respect that person? Do you think they would do the job well? It would affect you, the company, and your customers negatively.
I get your point but that would be genuinely impossible to implement it.
Imagine you would have to know how to bake before being able to buy a flour. Monitoring what can/cannot people buy based on their profession does not make a lot of sense.
Also, the person didn’t have to go through the interview process but he had to go through the process of earning that money.
Once you have over $100 million dollars, earning money is not a matter of skill. It’s an inevitability. Compound interest will make sure you and your family are wealthy for generations, unless you pull an Elon.
What I’m telling you is many of these people are bad stewards of capital. Gilded Age robber barons sucked for many other reasons, but they at least understood their industry. Carnegie or JP Morgan would have slapped most of these nepo-babies across the face.
Imagine a sports team composed based on the amount of money people have. It would suck because people are not chosen based on skill. That’s how we’re choosing executive leadership in America right now, and it’s honestly stupid.
Well yes, such a team would suck and they would loose all matches. Just like a company would collapse if a billionaire chose to run a business he has zero clue about.
But it’s his money. He would lose it and I think he should be free to lose his money. And that’s the beauty of free market. If you are cunning, you win and if you are an idiot, you loose.
Could you explain what communism is?
Basically a system where the society is classless there is common ownership of property.
We used to have a super high tax rate on the wealthy (91%) in the past, but it got repealed.
Let your house representative know you’d like that to return.
Ok hear me out. I just want to do quick maths. The world population is according to worldometer just over 8,1 billion people. So 81 million people make up the top 1%. So this article says they have now 44,6 trillion dollars. So $44600000000000/81000000 is equal to $550617.28 per person in the one percent. So that means if you have more than $550 000 in wealth, you are a one percenter.
I am curious if the wealth of the top % as a value has grown or outpaced the rate of inflation and population growth added together.
The article is talking about the US. (Because of course it is).
So, it’s only 3.3 million people, so it’s $13.5 million each on average.
So that means if you have more than $550 000 in wealth, you are a one percenter.
No, that’s not how distributions work.
If Elon Musk walks into a bar, it’s a Nazi bar now. Also, if he walks into a bar with 99 other people in it, the average wealth of everyone in the bar is $2 billion. But, that doesn’t mean that the typical person in that group has over $2b in wealth.
The top 1% contains Elon Musk plus about 3.3 million other people, but he skews the distribution considerably. That means the bottom of the distribution of the top 1% is around $6m, and it also includes people like Musk and Bezos who bring the average up to $13.5m per person.
Nit: The population of the US is 340 million, not 3.3 million, but your point stands
They are taking 1% of 330 Million. TIL its now 340.
3.3 million is the number of people in the 1%
3.3 is 1% of 330
I assume that includes house valuations and retirement savings and stuff which would include a bunch of upper middle class people over 40
Well it seems I made wrong assumptions in my initial calculations. But they are using wealth, so yes house valuations and retirements plus investment. But here is the caveat, you have to minus dept. So if you have houses and cars worth let’s make this figure up, $15mil, maybe $1mil in retirement, savings, investment and loose cash you might be worth $16mil to the common people. But if you have let’s say $20mil in dept, then according to wealth valuations a homeless person has more wealth than you. Remember wealth estimates like this does not include income and earning potential
Great math!
Global 1% and USA 1% are vastly different things. I wish which one was called out in headline. Based on first chart, this is USA 1%. Makes result of dividing by world population even more wild.
You’ll be in the top 1% on much less than that. It’s still heavily skewed towards the 0.0001%.
Ok so I am looking at America specifically, they have since the 1928 till now had an inflation rate of about 3,3%. Now the Fortune 400 companies had a growth of 9,9% during that same period. So if a kids parents invests in their name $1350 a month for 18 years, assuming semiannually compound, that would make the kid top 1% globally.
According to Washington Post, that places the kid at top 38.5% in USA
Was Reagan in Australia when he mentioned trickle-down economics?
There was a coalition of conservative governments during that time. Thatcher in the UK, Mulroney in Canada and Bon Hawke in Australia.
Even if Hawke was the labour party, he still made significant economic reforms to align with what was going on in the western world.
Wow, this is great news!! Imagine all the trickle down. 😂 😂 😂
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