Increases in Wealth in the Last 30 Years have been in the Top 20%

There have been trillions of dollars of wealth created in recent decades, but most of it went to a relatively small share of the population. In fact, economist Ed Wolff found that over 100% of all the wealth increase in America between 1983 and 2009 accrued to the top 20% of households. The other four-fifths of the population saw a net decrease in wealth over nearly 30 years. In turn, the top 5% accounted for over 80% of the net increase in wealth and the top 1% for over 40%. With almost a fractal-like quality, each successively finer slice at the top of the distribution accounted for a disproportionately large share of the total wealth gains. We have certainly not increased our GDP in the way that Franklin D. Roosevelt hoped for when he said during his second inaugural address in 1937, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

The wealthier you are, the more wealthy you got.