WHICH part of the US wealth distribution saw its net worth rise the fastest over the past year, five years and decade? No, not the top 1%, according to the distributional financial accounts published last month by the Federal Reserve.
The rich had a great run, but they didn’t even come close to the percentage gains in real wealth seen by the bottom 50%. These amounted to 21.9% over the past year, 125.6% over five years and 526.2% over 10 years, compared with the one-percenters’ 10.3%, 33.8% and 83.9%.
This is partly a reflection of how awful the 2007-2009 recession and its aftermath were for the less-affluent half of Americans. Even after the gains of the past decade, the bottom 50% control only 2% of US household wealth, lower than at any time on record before 2007.
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