The story of income inequality and wage stagnation is now a core element of the Democratic candidates’ policy platforms, but a new report from the Federal Reserve paints and even more damning description.
In this article from The People’s Policy Project, author Matt Bruenig found that “between 1989 and 2018, the top 1 percent increased its total net worth by $21 trillion. The bottom 50 percent actually saw its net worth decrease by $900 billion over the same period.” And it gets worse from there.
How bad is it?
Bruenig writes that in”2018 where the top 1 percent owns nearly $30 trillion of assets while the bottom half owns less than nothing, meaning they have more debts than they have assets. This follows from 30 years in which the top 1 percent massively grew their net worth while the bottom half saw a slight decline in its net worth.”
That is correct: the bottom half of Americans have more debts than assets, based on his analysis of Fed data.
So as many of the corporate Dems debate how to pay for Medicare-for-All, consider that half of Americans really have no interest in the system, unless their debt collectors are chasing them on the treadmill to nowhere.
See the full report at this site.