The Forbes 400 vs. Everyone Else

This is interesting:

According to the most recent information, the Forbes 400 now have a greater net worth than the bottom 50% of U.S. households combined.

In 2009, the total net worth of the Forbes 400 was $1.27 trillion.

The best information now available shows that in 2009 the bottom 60% (not 50%) of U.S. households owned only 2.3% of total U.S. wealth. U.S. household net worth at the time the Forbes list came out was $53.15 trillion. So the bottom 60% of households possessed $1.22 Trillion, less than the Forbes 400.

Thus the Forbes 400 unquestionably have more wealth than the bottom 50%.

By contrast, in 2007 the bottom 50% of U.S. households owned slightly more wealth than the Forbes 400; the economic meltdown has hurt the bottom far more than the top. (And in fact, in 2010 the net worth of the Forbes 400 jumped to $1.37 trillion.)

SOURCES:

1. Total net worth of Forbes 400, 2009: Forbes

2. Total net worth of United States, third quarter of 2009: Federal Reserve, p. 1

3. Total net worth of bottom 60% of U.S. households, 2009: Edward Wolff, p. 33

Wolff is the top academic expert on economic inequality in the U.S. He writes:

"Trends in inequality [from 2007 to mid-2009] ... show a fairly steep rise in wealth inequality ... The share of the top 1 percent advanced from 34.6 to 37.1 percent, that of the top 5 percent from 61.8 to 65 percent, and that of the top quintile from 85 to 87.7 percent, while that of the second quintile fell from 10.9 to 10 percent, that of the middle quintile from 4 to 3.1 percent, and that of the bottom two quintiles from 0.2 to -0.8 percent."

4. Total net worth of bottom 50% of U.S. households, 2007: Federal Reserve, p. 35

5. Total net worth of Forbes 400, 2007: Forbes

6. Total net worth of Forbes 400, 2010: Forbes

Posted at March 7, 2011 05:57 PM

