According to the Study of Consumer Finances, a report released every 3 years by the Fed, the super rich are continuing to get richer, while the gap between the rich and poor continues to widen. The report found that the wealthiest 3% of American households controlled 54.4% of the nation’s wealth in 2013, a slight increase from the last survey in 2010. At the same time, the wealth shared by the bottom 90% fell to 24.7% in 2013.
These statistics are slightly higher than those in 2010, but significantly larger than those from the past decade. The wealthiest 3% of American households only controlled 44.8% of the nation’s wealth in 1989, so the income divide has grown at a very quick pace. The sharp dichotomy between the rich and the poor is even further highlighted in the report’s findings about American income. The data showed that the mean income of all Americans has increased by 4%. And although this number sounds promising of economic growth for consumers, all of the income gains came from the wealthy. The bottom of the scale only continued to see their incomes get smaller. The report confirmed that “... the shares of income and wealth held by affluent families are at modern historically high levels.”
Source: CNN Money
