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August 2008 
Extreme affluence
Posted on Aug 4th, 2007
by 
Jon
Jon
Extreme affluence
The wide income discrepancies within the top 1.5% of households.
The wide income discrepancies within the top 1.5% of households.
Today there are approximately 146,000 (0.1%) households with incomes
exceeding $1,500,000, while the top 0.01% or 11,000 households had incomes
exceeding $5,500,000. The 400 highest tax payers in the nation had gross
annual household incomes exceeding $87,000,000. Household incomes for this
group have risen more dramatically than for any other. As a result the gap
between those who make less than one and half million dollars annually
(99.9% of households) and those who make more (0.1%) has been steadily
increasing, prompting The New York Times to proclaim that the "Richest Are
Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind." Indeed the income disparities within the
top 1.5% are quite drastic. While households in the top 1.5% of households
had incomes exceeding $250,000, 443% above the national median, their
incomes were still 2200% lower than those of the top .01% of houseolds. One
can therefore conclude that any household, even those with incomes of
$250,000 annually are relatively poor when compared to the top .1%, who in
turn are relatively poor compared to the top 0.000267%, the top 400
taxpaying households.[37]
" "When F. Scott Fitzgerald pronounced that the very rich "are different
from you and me", Ernest Hemingway's famously dismissive response was:
"Yes, they have more money." Today he might well add: much, much, much
more money. The people at the top of America's money pyramid have so
prospered in recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of
the population, an analysis of tax records and other government data by
The New York Times shows. They have even left behind people making
hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Call them the hyper-rich."-
David Cay Johnston, The New York Times.[37]
The wide income discrepancies within the top 1.5% of households.
The wide income discrepancies within the top 1.5% of households.
Today there are approximately 146,000 (0.1%) households with incomes
exceeding $1,500,000, while the top 0.01% or 11,000 households had incomes
exceeding $5,500,000. The 400 highest tax payers in the nation had gross
annual household incomes exceeding $87,000,000. Household incomes for this
group have risen more dramatically than for any other. As a result the gap
between those who make less than one and half million dollars annually
(99.9% of households) and those who make more (0.1%) has been steadily
increasing, prompting The New York Times to proclaim that the "Richest Are
Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind." Indeed the income disparities within the
top 1.5% are quite drastic. While households in the top 1.5% of households
had incomes exceeding $250,000, 443% above the national median, their
incomes were still 2200% lower than those of the top .01% of houseolds. One
can therefore conclude that any household, even those with incomes of
$250,000 annually are relatively poor when compared to the top .1%, who in
turn are relatively poor compared to the top 0.000267%, the top 400
taxpaying households.[37]
" "When F. Scott Fitzgerald pronounced that the very rich "are different
from you and me", Ernest Hemingway's famously dismissive response was:
"Yes, they have more money." Today he might well add: much, much, much
more money. The people at the top of America's money pyramid have so
prospered in recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of
the population, an analysis of tax records and other government data by
The New York Times shows. They have even left behind people making
hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Call them the hyper-rich."-
David Cay Johnston, The New York Times.[37]
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