This entry deals with statistics from the late 20th Century, but the trend can only be worse over the past four years. Think about this when W. talks about the "Ownership Society" at the convention:
"For all the talk of mutual funds and 401(k)'s for the masses, the stock market has remained the privilege of a relatively elite group" observed the Wall Street Journal in 1999. "Nearly 90% of all shares were held by the wealthiest 10% of households. The bottom line: that top 10% held 73.2% of the country's net worth in 1997, up from 68.2% in 1983. Stock options have pushed the ratio of executive pay to factory worker pay to 419 to 1 in 1998, from 42 to 1 in 1980.
...
Given the stagnation of median family net worth, talk about the United States becoming a Republic of Shareholders hardly applied to a family whose miniscule stock "portfolio" or pension fund interest had grown by $2,600 or even $6,100 while its debt load for college, health insurance, day care and credit cards had jumped by $12,000.
Page 142.
Posted by The Goatherder
at 4:16 PM EDT
