The problem is really the 9.9 percent...

A lengthy but compelling assessment about how the real measure of inequality in the U.S. is not at the level of the superrich 0.1 percent, but the self-selected, self-anointed, self-perpetuating "meritocracy" of the next 9.9 percent on the economic scale that holds more economic power and social influence than the 90 percent beneath them.

Quote:

Every piece of the pie picked up by the 0.1 percent, in relative terms, had to come from the people below. But not everyone in the 99.9 percent gave up a slice. Only those in the bottom 90 percent did. At their peak, in the mid-1980s, people in this group held 35 percent of the nation’s wealth. Three decades later that had fallen 12 points—exactly as much as the wealth of the 0.1 percent rose. In between the top 0.1 percent and the bottom 90 percent is a group that has been doing just fine. It has held on to its share of a growing pie decade after decade. And as a group, it owns substantially more wealth than do the other two combined. In the tale of three classes (see Figure 1), it is represented by the gold line floating high and steady while the other two duke it out. You’ll find the new aristocracy there. We are the 9.9 percent.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ocracy/559130/

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2IRwnPK