Feds: America’s Elite Now Hold More Wealth than Entire Middle Class

The top one percent of richest Americans now hold more wealth than the entire American middle class, data from the Federal Reserve reveal.

The data, published in Bloomberg, show that the middle class — defined as 60 percent of United States households in the middle of all income brackets — has seen its share of national wealth plummet to just 26.6 percent.

This represents the smallest share of wealth held by the middle class since the Federal Reserve started tracking the data. The middle class includes 77.5 million U.S. households with an annual income of $27,000 to $141,000.

Meanwhile, the top one percent of U.S. income earners saw their share of national wealth grow to 27 percent, surpassing the middle class for the first time ever. The richest Americans include about 1.3 million U.S. households who earn more than half a million dollars annually.

Since 1991, the data show, the top 20 percent of U.S. income earners have seen their share of national wealth grow by about 10 percentage points. At the same time, the middle class has seen its share of real estate, private businesses, and corporate equities all declined in the past three decades. – READ MORE