Facts on Wealth and Power in America

The majority of these figures are based on 2007 results. The information was retrieved on 2/11/2011 from http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html, a website by Professor G. William Domhoff, Sociology Dept., University of California at Santa Cruz. The entire document is worth a read. Here's a summary of the high/low points...

Percent of income from work for those making over $10 million: 19%

Percent of drop in wealth (marketable assets) for average households since 2007: 36.1%

Percent of drop in wealth (marketable assets) for the top 1% of households since 2007: 11.1%

Percent of all privately held wealth owned by the top 1%: 34.6

Percent of all privately held wealth owned by the top 20%: 85%

Percent of all privately held wealth owned by the bottom 80%: 15%

Percent of Americans who inherited $100,000 or more: 1.6%

Percent of American who inherited nothing: 91.9%

Percent of adults worldwide who control 85% of global household wealth: 10%

As an indicator of power, percent of all stock owned by the top 20% of world stock owners: 91.1%

As an indicator of power, percent of all stock owned by the bottom 80% of world stock owners: 8.9%

Percent of federal, state, and local taxes paid by the lowest 20% of income earners: 16%

Percent of federal, state, and local taxes paid by the top 1% of income earners: 30.8%

Ratio of CEO pay to factory worker pay in the U.S.: 344 to 1

Ratio of CEO pay to factory worker pay in Europe: 25 to 1

Average CEO salary increase between 1990 to 2005 compared to average workers increase for the same period: 300% v. 4.3%