Documenting the wealthy getting wealthier in the 21st Century — at the expense of the poor
“It’s becoming possible to see a genuine path … (that) will marry the fight for economic fairness with a deep analysis of how racism and misogyny are used as potent tools to enforce a system that further enriches the already obscenely wealthy on the backs of both people and planet.”
— Naomi Klein, NO is not enough
______________________
Pop singer Taylor Swift has become a billionaire — worth $1.1 billion, according to Forbes.com on April 2, 2024. She joins 13 other celebrity billionaires, including the likes of George Lucas, and the only other living musicians, Rhihanna and Jay-Z.
In addition, the richest person in the world is no longer American. According to Bloomberg.com on April 1, 2024, Bernard Arnault ($230 billion), of France, now tops the entire list.
Elon Musk ($189 billion) has fallen from first to third place, and Jeff Bezos ($204 billion) holds the second spot.
Except for Arnault, the top 10 are all Americans. Mark Zuckerberg ($175 billion) is fourth; Bill Gates ($154 billion), fifth; Steve Ballmer ($147 billion), sixth; Larry Page ($140 billion), seventh; Warren Buffet ($139 billion), eighth; Larry Ellison ($139 billion also), ninth; and Sergey Brin ($133 billion), 10th.
—
The richest 1 percent of Americans have more wealth than the entire middle class of the United States, according to LZ Granderson in a Seattle Times column Feb. 24, 2024.
Granderson also noted that the 2017 tax cut pushed for by then-President Trump enabled corporate tax revenue to fall to its lowest point in almost 75 years and by the end of his presidency resulted in increasing the national debt by $2 trillion (about $23,500 for every American).
—
Five of the richest men in the world — Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, and Bernard Arnault — have more than doubled their fortunes since 2020 — to $869 billion, up from $405 billion, according to NPR.org on Jan. 14, 2024, and theGuardian.com, citing a report from the global charity, Oxfam International.
During the same time period, five billion people in the world have become poorer, the report said.
TheGuardian.com noted that Oxfam predicts the rate of increase will likely produce the world’s first trillionaire within a decade. The Oxfam report also said that seven of 10 of the world’s largest corporations have a billionaire as principle shareholder or CEO.
Currently, the five richest humans are Musk ($206 billion), Bezos ($179 billion), Arnault ($1`62 billion), Bill Gates ($140 bllion) and Mark Zuckerberg ($135 billion), according to Bloomberg.com on Jan. 14, 2024. Ellison and Buffet are eighth and 10th respectively on the current list.
TheGuardian.com reported that the Oxfam report said the wealth of these five have gone up by $464 billion in the same period, an increase of 114 percent, while the poorest 4.77 billion people (about 60 percent of the world population) have declined by 0.2 percent.
—
In late October 2023, Elon Musk remained the world’s richest person, with a worth of $207 billion, but his worth had declined by $28 billion from its $235 billion in September and its $247 billion in early July, according to Bloomberg.com on Oct. 24, 2023.
Bernard Arnault ($157 billion) and Jeff Bezos ($152 billion) retainted the second and third spot even though the suffered similar declines. Larry Ellison ($117 billion and tied with Sergey Brin, also of the U.S.) dropped to seventh place from fourth. Larry Page, another U.S. billionaire worth $124 billion, replaced him in the fourth spot.
Bill Gates remained in fifth place with $122 billion, down from $129 in August, the Bloomberg site said.
—
Elon Musk’s wealth decreased in July and August, yet he remained the world’s richest person as of August 30, 2023, according to Bloomberg.com on Aug. 31,2023.
Musk is worth $235 billion, far ahead of Bernard Arnault, of France, who has a worth of $190 billion. Jeff Bezos is third richest at $159 billion, Larry Ellison, fourth, with $135 billion and Bill Gates, fifth, with $129 billion.
Larry Page, Warren Buffett, Sergey Brin, Steve Ballmer and Mark Zuckerberg round out the top 10, with Zuckerberg holding the 10th spot with $107 billion. All but Buffett and Arnault have wealth derived from technology, Bloomberg.com said.
—
Elon Musk increased his wealth in the first half of 2023 by $110 billion and reclaimed his spot as the world’s richest person (at $247 billion), according the Bloomberg.com Billionaires Index on July 3, 2023.
Musk and eight other Americans take up nine of the top 10 spots, with Bernard Arnault of France, who topped the list after the first quarter of 2023, falling to second place, with a worth only $199 billion.
All nine American billionaires, except Warren Buffet, who is diversified, have wealth deriving from technology. The top 10 each have a worth of at least $100 billion, the index shows.
Jeff Bezos is third on the list, now worth $155 billion, having gained $47.6 billion this year. Bill Gates is fourth, at a worth of $134 billion, up $24.7 billion for the year. Larry Ellison, Steve Ballmer, Warren Buffett, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg and Sergy Brin take up spots five through 10.
Americans take up 13 of the top 20 spots and 18 of the top 30 spots.
Three Waltons, Jim, Rob and Alice, the Wal-mart retail family, represent the richest family wealth, with a total a worth of $210.7 billion. They are 15, 16 and 17 on the list.
According to the index, which is updated at the close of every trading day in New York, the top 500 billionaires each have a wealth of more than $5 billion.
—
The world’s billionaires are worth a total of $12.2 trillion in 2023, according to Forbes, as reported April 8, 2023 by the Seattle Times.
The world’s richest person is no longer Elon Musk, who topped the list in 2022 but fell to second place in 2023 as his worth fell to $180 billion from last year’s $219 billion.
Bernard Arnault, of France, CEO of the corporation that owns such brands as Dior and Sephora, tops this year’s list, with a worth of $211 billion.
Sluggish stocks and an economic slowdown brought down wealth. Jeff Bezos, the third richest person, saw his wealth drop to $114 billion from its 2022 level of $171 billion.
Bill Gates holds the fourth position, but his wealth fell to $104 billion, down from the $129 billion he was worth in 2022.
The top 13 billionaires are worth a total of $350 billion, Forbes said in the Times report said.
—
President Joe Biden signed into law late in 2022 a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in a bipartisan action Dec. 8, 2022 — compromise legislation giving the nation’s military a record budget of $858 billion, $45 billion more than Biden asked for, according to Reuters.com.
[The U.S. military budget is usually three-to-four times greater than the next biggest spender, China, which in 2020 spent $252 billion and the U.S. spent $778 billion. The U.S. budget is typically higher than 17 of next highest nations’ spending combined.]
—
The median home price value in the Sun Valley, Idaho area is now $1.2 million, thus meaning rents there have skyrocketed as well. The result is short staffing as workers cannot afford to live in the area, according to the Seattle Times, Aug. 2, 2022.
Nearby in Hailey, 10 miles away, it it is illegal but unenforced for RVs to be parked in driveways or on the streets, resulting in a plethora of them parked throughout the city and giving a temporary relief to some people unable to afford the rent.
The Times reported two days later that in Seattle, a minimum-wage worker must work 72 hours per week to afford housing in the city.
—
About one-tenth of one percent of American households — that’s about 130,000 — have the same amount of wealth as the bottom 90 percent, — 114,831,000 — according to Rachel Poser, New York Times Sunday Review editor on July 13, 2022.
Two-thirds of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and an estimated 41 percent of Americans are considered to be poor or low-low income, 18 percent of households earning less than $25,000 a year. One in four Black families, even before the pandemic, had a net worth of zero.
—
After making huge gains during pandemic and stimulus years (see entry just below), the world’s richest 500 individuals lost a combined $1.4 trillion in the first half of 2022, according to Josephine Walker, of Blumberg, in the Seattle Times, July 2, 2022.
Jef Bezos lost $63 billion in that period, Elon Musk, about $62 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg, $60 billion — about half his wealth.
Musk is now the richest person, worth $208.5 billion, Bezos, now second, with $129.6 billion, Bernard Arnault, of France, third, with $128.7 billion and Bill Gates, fourth with $114.8 billion — and they are the only four worth more than $100 billion.
—
In 2021, the 400 richest Americans increased their fortune 40% — to $4.5 trillion, according to Forbes’ Kerry A. Dolan on the Forbes.com website, April 15, 2022.
Jeff Bezos of Amazon was the richest person with a net worth of $201 billion. The total would be much higher if Bezoz was still married to MacKenzie Scott, who is #29 with a worth of $45.4 billion.
Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX guru now trying to buy Twitter, is the second richest [the ranking changes often].
—
U.S. military spending has increased 5 percent since the withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to the April 2022 Harper’s Index.
—
The CEO of Kroger (parent corporation of Fred Meyer, QFC, etc.), Rodney McMullen, has a compensation ($22.4 million in 2020) that is 909 times higher than the median Kroger employee ($24,617).
The S&P 500 average for a corporation CEO is 299 times higher, with some corporations being as low as Costco at 53 to 1, according to a New York Times story printed in the Seattle Times on Feb. 4, 2022.
—
Rich Americans will escape any tax hike in the Democrats’ economic package, if passed, which will save them billions of dollars, according to a Dec. 21, 2021, Seattle Times article by Bloomberg’s Ben Steverman.
He wrote that the wealthiest Americans pay little tax at present, citing a ProPublica report. For example, Jeff Bezos paid no income tax in 2007 and 2011 and had a tax rate of less than 1 percent between 2014 and 2018.
Steverman noted that the top 1 percent of the rich now control more than 32 perent of U.S. wealth, up 24 percent since the pandemic began in 2020.
Bloomberg rankings show the world’s richest 500 people’s wealth has increased 45 percent since January 2020, and the 169 richest U.S. billionaires are worth over $3.5 trillion, which is more than the total wealth held by 50 percent of the poorest Americans.
—
The amount of the world’s wealth controlled by 2,750 billionaires has risen during the pandemic to 3.5%, up from only 1% in 1995, according to a Seattle Times Dec. 8, 2021, article citing a report by Paris-based Global Inequity Lab.
The report said billionaires accumulated $4.1 trillion in wealth so far during the crisis, while 100 million people worldwide have fallen into extreme poverty.
—
The net worth of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk increased in late October 2021, making their combined worth nearly $500 billion, according to the Oct. 28 Seattle Times, citing the NASdaq index. The two fortunes were more than the worth of Johnson & Johnson and equal to that of the huge bank, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Together, the 10 richest Americans, including the likes of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, are worth $1.4 trillion.
—
The 1% wealthiest Americans fail to pay as much as $163 billion they owe in taxes each year according to a report released by the U.S. Treasury Department on Sept. 9, 2021.
—
While Jeff Bezos was the richest person on Earth in 2020, briefly in early January 2021 Elon Musk, the Tesla founder, overtook Bezos after improving his wealth by $165 billion, the greatest increase is history, in 2020, according to the Evening Standard and finance.Yahoo.com.
Musk’s share worth in Tesla (he also owns SpaceX) rocketed up 734% to $194 billion shortly after the pandemic year ended. (If Tesla stock declines, Bezos is likely to reclaim the top spot.)
—-
While millions of Americans lost jobs because of Covid-19, billionaires’ wealth hit $10.2 trillion for the first time, according to UBS, the Swiss banking institution and accounting firm PwC, as reported in USA Today.
There are now 2,189 billionaires, and the previous peak in their wealth was $8.9 trillion in 2017.
—-
The wealthiest Americans have seen their after-tax incomes increase 420% since 1980, while the poorest have seen only a rise of 20% and those in the middle, an increase of 50%, according to David Leonhardt and Yarvna Serkez in an April 10, 2020, New York Times article.
“In effect, each household in this bottom 90 percent is sending a check for $12,000 to every household in the top 1 percent, year after year after year,” they wrote.
They also noted that the median wealth of white households has increased to be 10 times higher than the median wealth of black households — in 1992, the multiple was 7 to 1.
—-
President Trump’s proposed $4.8 trillion budget for 2021 would have deep cuts to food stamps, Medicaid, affordable housing and student loan assistance — and a 26% decrease in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency — but would increase spending for the military, according to a New York Times story in the Seattle Times on Feb. 11, 2020.
The military would increase to $740.5 billion, up from $738, and include a 3% pay increase along with funding for hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, autonomous weaponry, modernization of the nuclear arsenal and a space force, according to the Washington Post.
—
The top 1% of Americans own 39% of all the wealth, but the bottom 50% of Americans own less than nothing of the wealth — -0.1%, in fact, according to Danny Westneat, a Seattle Times columnist citing a study by the Washington Post on Feb. 16, 2020.
Westneat said this means the poor and working classes in America own nothing and are even a bit in debt.
—-
Amazon disclosed in February its federal income tax for 2019 — $162 million, on $13.3 billion pretax income, an effective tax rate of 1.2%, according to the Seattle Times.
The company describes itself as the second largest private employer in the U.S.
In 2017 and 2018, Amazon reported a combined $266 million in current tax refunds.
—
The very rich are politically different from most people, who shouldn’t be fooled by the handful of prominent liberal billionaires, according to Nobel Prize winner, Paul Krugman in the Seattle Times Dec. 30, 2019.
Studies have found the ultra-wealthy to be “very conservative, obsessed with tax cuts, opposed to environmental and financial regulation, [and] eager to cut social programs,” Krugman noted.
Also, he pointed out that the rich often get what they want, even if the public wants the opposite (for example, huge tax cuts obtained by corporations even though voters think they should pay more in taxes).
Krugman said the reasons for this are campaign contributions, billionaire-financed think tanks and lobbying groups, but he noted that former officials from both Democrats and Republicans routinely take jobs with big banks, corporations and consulting firms after leaving office — and are influenced in what they do in office because they know such jobs await them.
Krugman [echoing the longtime stance of Noam Chomsky] also said that the media echo these priorities in spite of the ideal of being neutral: “And when it comes to treatment of differing policy views, the media often treats some Americans [billionaires] as more equal than others.”
—-
Congress approved on Dec. 17 and sent to the president a $738 billion defense bill for 2020, an increase of $22 billion over 2019, which had been increased $24 billion over 2018, according to a New York Times article printed in the Seattle Times Dec. 18, 2019.
The funding is part of a $1.4 trillion spending deal reached Dec. 16 by Congressional leaders. The $738 billion does not include another $146 billion provided to procure new weapons systems, including $1.9 billion for 98 new F-35 fighters, 20 more than requested, and $24 billion for 14 new battle ships. It does not include another $81 billion for Veterans Affairs medical care.
The total of the three is $965 billion, abut 68.8% of the total spending in the deal, which covers all federal spending.
—-
The ranks of billionaires increased by 40% between 2013 and 2018, according to a Washington Post article printed in the Seattle Times Nov. 9, 2019.
According to the article the world’s 2,100 billionaires also saw their fortunes swell 34.5% (up $8.5 trillion), and the number of tech billionaires doubled in the five years — growing from 76 in 2013 to 148 in 2018.
The number of female billionaires increased 46%, up to 233, and their collective wealth grew to $871 billion during the period, according to UBS’ 2019 Billionaire Insights report released in early November.
—-
Just exactly how do the rich get so rich? According to Forbes.com, in 2019 the industries with the most billionaires on the Forbes 400 richest people list are 1. Finance & Investments (94 billionaires, like Warren Buffet, 23.5% of the list); 2. Technology (69 billionaires like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, 17.25% of the list); 3. Food & Beverage (41 billionaires Howard Schultz, 10.25% of the list); 4. Real Estate (34 billionaires like Donald Trump, 8.5% of the list); 5. Fashion & Retail (33 billionaires, 8.25% of the list); 6. Media & Entertainment (27 billionaires, 6.75% of the list); 7. Energy (24 billionaires, 6% of the list); 8. Service (16 billionaires, 4% of the list); 9. Sports (14 billionaires, 3.5% of the list); and 10. Manufacturing (12 billionaires, 3% of the list).
—
The 2017 tax cut caused a dramatic rise in the U.S. budget deficit, which is expected to hit $1 trillion this year, compared to $600 billion when President Obama left office, according to Paul Krugman in the Seattle Times July 21, 2019.
Krugman noted that lower corporate tax rates have not lead to huge business investments — corporations are keeping much more of their profits, and worker wages are not increasing at a high rate.
In fact, pay for CEOs at S&P 500 companies rose 7% to a median of $12 million last year (including salary, stock and other compensation), while typical workers at those companies had an increase of only 3% during the same period, according to Stan Choe on July 21, 2019 in the Seattle Times.
Choe cited a survey which shows it would take the typical worker at most big companies 158 years to make what their CEO did in 2018.
—-
The top 20 U.S. hedge fund managers make an average of $850 million each a year, according to Paul Krugman, citing on April 22, 2019, a New York Times colleague, Janet Gornick.
Krugman also noted that on average, most Americans think CEOs are paid 30 times as much as an ordinary worker, but that ratio has not been true since the 1970s — now the ratio is closer to 300 times as much.
Further, Krugman, a Nobel Prize winning economist, noted, billionaires wield political power that favors tax cuts for the wealthy, weaker safety regulations and deregulation — and financially support extreme right-wing politics that tend to dominate the Republican Party.
—-
A New York Times survey show that only 40% of Americans believe they got a tax cut in 2018 under the Republican tax cut signed by President Trump in December 2017. The tax savings were small for many families — $780 for the middle fifth of earners, but the top 20% of earners garnered more than 60% of the total tax savings, according to the Tax Policy Center.
The top 1% got nearly 17% of the savings, an average tax cut of more than $30,000, and the law’s tax cut for corporations meant 6,500 or so corporations paid no taxes, and some got tax refunds. Chevron, Halliburton, Molson Coors and others were able to zero out their federal earnings, according to amazingnewsus.com.
Tech giants such as Amazon and Netflix were among the 60 profitable companies that paid no federal tax on $79 billion in profit for the year, according to CBS.com on April 12, 2019.
—-
In 2018, 10.23 U.S. households had a net worth of between $1 and $5 million — an increase of 250,000 from 2017. The households worth between $5 and 25 million totaled 1.4 million — and 173,000 U.S. households made more than $25 million, according to Bret Stephans, a syndicated columnist, April 14, 2019.
—-
The Pentagon plans to give $1 billion in leftover funds to help pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall — this coming after Trump’s declaration of a National emergency to whisk away another $3.6 billion from military construction projects for the wall, according to the Associated Press on March 8, 2019.
Two days later, Trump indicated his next budget will include $750 billion for the military, an increase of $34 billion over the $716 billion he signed into law in December — which was an increase of $24 billion from fiscal year 2018.
—-
Amazon’s financial statements for 2018 show that the company paid NO U.S. federal taxes, according to Matthew Gardner of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and as reported by Danny Westneat in the Seattle Times on Feb. 17, 2019.
Amazon, the nation’s third largest company, made record profits ($11 billion, double its 2017 profit) but paid no taxes to state and foreign governments either, meaning it paid less to support for upkeep of the national government that tens of millions of U.S. citizens, Westneat wrote.
The corporate giant was actually able to go below a zero dollar payment and qualified for $129 million refund, due in large part to the tax-cut law pushed through Congress and signed by President Trump late in 2017, Gardner said.
—–
About $21 trillion (or $21,000 billion) of Department of Defense (DoD) transactions since 1999 cannot be accounted for, and the DoD has submitted only one annual audit in the 28 years it has been required to do so, according to David Lindorff in the Jan. 7, 2019 Nation magazine.
The other 23 federal agencies required to submit audits have done so successfully, but the DoD, which receives 54 cents of every dollar in federal appropriations and which was given a record $716 billion for 2019 by Congress, failed the one audit it did submit.
For example, Lindorff cited research by Michigan State University, which showed that the U.S. Army in 2015 received cash deposits from the U.S. Treasury of $794.8 billion, a sum that was more than six times larger than the $122 billion Congress authorized — and it owed bills totaling $929.3 billion.
“We never expected to pass [the audit], Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said.
—-
The biggest U.S. banks made $111 billion profit in 2018, the first time ever in history profits topped $100 billion — thanks to the Republican-provided tax cut provided at the end of 2017, according to Bloomberg News as reported by the Seattle Times.
And, this will increase when Morgan Stanley announces its profit for 2018.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. ($32.5 billion profit), Bank of America ($28.1 billion profit), Wells Fargo ($22.4 billion profit), Citigroup ($18 billion profit) and Goldman Sachs Group ($10.5 billion) topped the list. The profits were the biggest since financial crisis at the end of George W. Bush’s presidency.
—-
Tax cuts for all American workers amounted to $200 billion in 2018, while the cut of the tax rate from 35% to 21% allowed publicly traded corporations to save over $1 trillion on taxes, according to a New York Times report printed in the Seattle Times Jan. 17, 2019.
The tax break saw after-tax corporate profits rise nearly 20% in the third quarter of 2018 from that quarter in 2017. Apple alone saved about $4.5 billion, in taxes for the first three quarters of 2018 compared to what it paid in 2017.
Bank of America saved at least $2.4 billion, AT&T saved $2.2 billion, Verizon saved $1.75 billion and Walmart saved $1.6 billion over the same period.
Popularity of the tax cut peaked at 51% approval in February, but has receded and was at 45% in December.
—-
Since 2000, the number of millionaires has increased by 170% even as the world’s 3.5 billion poorest adults each ave assets of less than $10,000, according to Project Censored, citing a Credit Suisse global wealth report printed in Cascadia Weekly.
The number of millionaires now stands at 36 million, with 2.3 million new millionaires being added in 2017 alone.
—-
Jeff Bezos with a net worth of $112 billion is still the richest man in the world, while Bill Gates ($90 billion) and Warren Buffet ($84 billion) are second and third on the richest billionaires, according the Forbes.com on Dec. 17, 2018.
Mark Zuckerberg ($71 billion), “Charles Koch ($60 billion), his brother David ($60 billion) and Larry Ellison ($58.5 billion) are the other Americans on the top 10 list, which also has one billionaire each from France, Spain and Mexico.
—
Seventy percent of employees in the U.S. did not receive pay raises in 2018, even though many economists predicted that low unemployment would lead bumps in pay, according to a survey by the GoBankingRates website, as reported Dec. 16, 2018 by the Seattle Times.
The survey found that 40% of people age 35 to 44 got raises, while just 13% of those 65 and older were given raises.
—
With support of both Republicans and Democrats, President Trump has signed into law the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides $716 billion for the military, an increase of $24 billion from fiscal year 2018, according to The Nation in its Dec. 3/10, 2018 issue.
—-
The 2017 tax cut legislation ( Act to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Titles II and V of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018) will bring a 50% increase in the budget deficit, and almost two-thirds of the tax cuts go to the wealthy top 20% of Americans, according to the November-December Mother Jones magazine.
In addition, the tax cut triggered stock buybacks totaling $437 billion in the second quarter of 2018, which benefit shareholders and CEOs. The magazine noted that between 2016 and 2017, pay for CEOs grew 18%, while the average worker saw an increase of two-tenths of 1%.
—-
The “shareholder revolution” now means the amount of corporate profits taken by shareholders is twice the 33% profit taken from the 1950s to 70s — now 4.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), far above the 1.7% GDP taken then, according to the September 10/17, 2018 The Nation magazine.
This increase represents $567 billion a year — “a staggering number” that in a single year is enough to give a $3,500 bonus to all working adults, or in three years could wipe out all student debt (two-thirds of the the amount per year could provide free public college, universal paid family and sick leave, universal pre-school and fast expansion of Social Security and Medicare), Bryce Covert and Mike Konczal wrote.
One reason for the surge was the 1982 Securities and Exchange Commission’s action making it legal for firms to buy back company shares, thus giving more money to shareholders and letting corporate boards prop up stock prices, they noted.
—-
Three American families, the Waltons (Walmart), the Kochs (Koch Industries, owned by Charles and David) and the Mars (chocolates and pet care), are the three most wealthy non-first-generation families (which excludes the Bezos, Zuckerberg and Gates families, etc.) in the world, according to Bloomberg.com on June 27, 2018.
The 25 richest families control $1.1 trillion of wealth, with the Waltons worth $151.5 billion, the Kochs worth $98.7 billion and the Mars worth $89.7 billion. Seven other American based families (Cargill/Macmillan, Cox, Pritzker, Duncah, Hearst, Johnson, Lauder) are in the top 25, Bloomberg noted.
—-
Billionaires and millionaires now hold nearly half of global personal, and those in North America with more than $5 million in assets hold $86.1 trillion of total wealth, about 42.6% of the total personal wealth in the world, which increased 12% and now totals $201.9 trillion, according to Bloomberg News, citing a Boston Consulting Group report released June 14, 2018.
—-
The annual United States budget for the military is now almost $1 trillion, according to oneminuteforpeace.org, citing the National Priorities Project, on March 5, 2018. Every minute, the U.S. government spends $1.2 million only on the military — and there are nearly 526,000 minutes in each year. Of the entire U.S. discretionary budget, 57% goes toward military spending, 43% to everything else.
The U.S. military accounts for more than half of all federal government discretionary funding and 20% of the entire federal budget, according to Mother Jones magazine, adding that the Pentagon also controls 70% of the federal government’s property, land (it would take 93 cities the size of LA would fill the land) and equipment — worth about $1.8 trillion. (The Pentagon also operates more than 170 golf courses around the world.)
The current Department of Defense budget exceeds $800 billion. In 2015, U.S. military spending accounted for 37% of worldwide military spending (more than $1.6 trillion) — U.S. spending was the same size as the seven next largest military budgets around the world, combined — including China and Russia. according to the National Priorities Project and Phil Hanson in the Cascadia Weekly.
Hanson argues that now U.S. spending exceed that of 16 of the next largest-spending countries and by 2024, Department of Defense spending on personnel alone, including health, salaries, retirement, etc., will exceed its budget for everything else. (Currently, the Pentagon employs 3 million people, 800,000 more than Walmart, according to Mother Jones.)
Mother Jones also said the top 0.1 percent of American households average about $27 million while the bottom 90 percent average around $31.000 and that since 1979, the richest 0.1 percent’s share of income after taxes has risen by more than 120% while most other households have seen a decrease in their share.
—-
President Donald Trump signed on Dec. 22, 2017, sweeping tax legislation that Congressional Republicans pushed through earlier in the week, according to a New York Times report in the Seattle Times Dec. 23, 2017.
Called the Act to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Titles II and V of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018 (although Republicans wanted to call it the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017), the legislation is revision of the U.S. tax code. According to the Associated Press, the revision will add at least $1.46 trillion to the federal deficit, now at $20 trillion. The debt will increase $1 trillion in the next decade.
The bill gives corporations a 40% tax cut (to 21% from the current 35%) and lowers the tax paid by wealthy Americans to 37% from the current 39.6%. The top 1% of earners ($733,000 or more per year) will get an average tax cut of 3.4% (around $50,000), the top 0.1% an average cut of 2.7% (about $190,000) and taxpayers earning less than $25,000 will see a 0.4% cut (about $60), according to Carolyn Lockhead of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The corporate tax cut is permanent, but the individual cuts will expire by 2026, AP noted.
The president would have delayed signing the bill if Congress had not also passed a bill which included delaying automatic spending cuts to programs such as Medicare, which the huge tax cuts would have triggered. He signed that bill too — it included $4 billion for missile defense.
In addition, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska will now be allowed, which is a “sham,” Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell said, according to Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times environmental reporter.
The penalty for not purchasing health care coverage, as required by the Affordable Healthcare Act, will end, AP said.
The Alternative Minimum Tax, which is aimed at making the wealthy and corporations pay at least some tax, is repealed for corporations, and the wealthy see a higher amount of their income exempted before the tax kicks in. Corporations are also given a one-time opportunity to bring back profits kept overseas. (The Federal Reserve estimates corporations, including the likes of Facebook, Apple and Google, have $2.3 trillion stashed abroad). Under the revision, businesses are able to immediately write off the full cost of new equipment, and from 2018 through 2025, the estate tax will not kick in until after the first $10-million. The tax previously excluded only $5 million.
A Quinnipiac University poll of American voters found 55% are convinced the benefits of the new tax structure will flow mainly to corporations and the wealthy, and 26% of voters do not hold such a belief, the AP said.
—-
President Trump also ordered dramatic changes to the presidential challenge coin, which traditionally has been handed out as keepsakes. Trump has replaced the presidential seal with an eagle bearing Trump’s own signature, erased the 13 arrows representing the 13 original states, and changed the national motto, “E pluribus unum”(which means “Out of many, one”) to his campaign slogan, “Make American Great Again,” and put it on both sides of the coin, according to the Washington Post as reported in the Seattle Times.
Trump’s name appears three times on the coin, it is thicker and it is “very gold,” not the traditional silver and copper.
—-
Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate and House reached agreement Dec. 13, 2017, on a compromise tax reform bill that would cut the corporate tax rate to 21% from the current 35% and cut the individual tax rate for the rich to 37% — down from the current 39.6%, according to a New York Times report in the Dec. 14 Seattle Times.
The compromise bill, which still needs another vote before it would signed by President Trump, has many features of the Senate version passed earlier, some of which would become effective for the 2017 tax year.
In the compromise, oil drilling will be allowed in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and and the penalty for not buying healthcare coverage, as requried by the Affordable Healthcare Act, would be removed.
The alternative minimum tax would apply to fewer wealthy taxpayers, as it kicks in for persons earning $500,000 and for couples earning $1 million — or more. Democrats still oppose the $1.5 trillion bill, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the finance committee, saying at the only public hearing on the compromise bill, “Let’s understand what’s happening today is a sham.”
“This is the ultimate betrayal of the middle class,” he said, according to WashintonPost.com in the afternoon of Dec. 13, 2017.
The bill is the biggest rewrite of the tax code in three decades. Republicans have said the bill is a tax cut for the middle class, especially in the next few years, but multiple independent analyses say its benefits skew toward the wealthy and corporations, according to the WashingtonPost.com report.
—-
The U.S. Senate on Dec. 2 passed along party lines, 51-49, its version of a 500-page tax proposal.
The bill passed included hand-scrawled changes written in the margins, which Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she struggled to make sense of. Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said senators would have “plenty of time” to read the bill they passed before it goes to a conference committee with the House, according to New York Times reporters.
According to the Washington Post, the bill provides a $1.5 trillion tax cut, with substantial benefits for the rich and lowering the tax rate for corporations to 20% from its current 35% (see more specifics in entries below), although it would not eliminate the alternative minimum tax for corporations and people earning $70,600 and couples earning $109,400 in taxable income.
The bill would eliminate current deductions for state and local income tax payments and now allow taxpayers to write off only $10,000 of their property taxes.
The bill also would allow oil drilling in the 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
—-
Jeff Bezoz, who surpassed Bill Gates as the world’s richest person earlier in 2017, topped the $100 billion mark by early December (Gates attained a 12-digit fortune in 1999 but is worth less now), according to Bloomberg.com.
Bezos’s net worth has increased almost $33 billion during 2017. Bezoz originally passed Gates in October and has continued to grow in wealth. Bloomberg noted that Gates and Warren Buffett, the world’s third richest person, give hugely to charity but Bezos has not done so.
The final House of Representatives tax plan proposed Nov. 2, 2017 [and later passed by the House], would permanently cut the corporate tax rate to 20% (from the current 35%), which would reduce federal revenue by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation and reported Nov. 3 in the Seattle Times.
The plan would also double the estate-tax exemption, allowing about the first $11 million to go untaxed, instead of the current $5.49 million. [The plan passed the House, and a similar plan was being pushed by Senate Republicans in December. If the Senate plan passes, a conference committee would determine the final plan.]
Although the top tax rate for those earning more than $1 million a year would remain at 39.6%, the plan ultimately eliminates the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which, as noted below in an April 2017 listing, makes it harder for the rich to manipulate the tax system to pay less tax. President Trump had to pay an additional $31 million in 2005 as required by the AMT, according to his only tax record that has been obtained.
—-
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, has surpassed Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, as the world’s richest person. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Nov. 1, Bezos is worth $94.1 billion while Gates is worth $88.3 billion. Seven of the top 10, nine of the top 15 and 12 of the top 20 richest persons are American.
Warren Buffet ($80.4 billion), Amancio Ortega, of Spain ($79.3 billion), Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook ($76.3 billion), Carlos Slim, of Mexico ($61.5 billion), Bernard Arnault, of France ($59.2 billion), Larry Ellison ($55.9 billion), Larry Page ($51.1 billion) and Sergey Brin ($49.9 billion) round out the top ten.
—-
In a story about the late-2017 tax code proposal being crafted by Congress. the corporate tax rate for corporations would be cut to 20 percent (from the current 35%), according to a Nov. 1 Seattle Times story.
As noted below, the tax-code overhaul first presented in April by the president would cut the tax rate for rich Americans, himself included, to 35%, down from the current rate of over 39%.
The earlier plan would also cut the rate paid by businesses — small, and large, including corporations –to 15% (from the current 35%) and allow them to pay no tax on overseas profits or money parked overseas. Plus it would lower the capital-gains tax by 3.8% and repeal the inheritance tax, which, critics say helps the president’s family and rich friends.
The final version of the latest plan being polished by Republicans was due to be released later in November (of 2017).
—-
The number of people in the top 1 percent in the world — those with at least 30 million to invest — grew by 8.3 percent in 2017, according to World Wealth Report 2017 from Capgemini and reported by Suzanne Woolley of Bloomberg News in October 2017.
The report also found that the millionaires in North America grew by 7.8 percent — an acceleration from 2 percent in 2015 — and the wealth of the ultra-rich grew by 9.2 percent.
The U.S. president, Donald Trump, has lied about whether the latest tax proposal would benefit the rich and his own family, according to syndicated columnist, Timothy Egan (in October 2017). Egan said the plan will eliminate the estate tax and ensure that the top 1 percent will get 50 percent of the windfall.
—-
The July 2017 Republican health plan proposal would by 2026 give the top 1 percent (people earning $875,000 or more) an average tax cut of about $40,000, while those earning from $50,000 to $90,000 would get a $300 cut, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington, D.C. nonpartisan think tank, and reported in the Seattle Times on July 6, 2017.
The GOP plan would provide the cut mostly from a repeal of taxes high-income pay because of the Affordable Care Act, the report said.
The U.S. military leads America’s rich at being rich. According to oneminuteforpeace.org, the military currently receives 57% of America’s discretionary budget while the spending on all other areas together (such as Education, Science, Labor, International Affairs, Health, Veteran’s Benefits) accounts for 43%. Every minute the U.S. spends $1.2 million on its military.
The military would get even richer (by 10% according to Peter Baker of the New York Times) under the 2018 discretionary budget of President Donald Trump — receiving 59% of discretionary funds ($679 billion), with everything else together getting 41%, according to Lindsay Koshgarian, of nationalpriorities.org.
—-
There are more billionaires in 2017 than ever before. The number of the world’s richest people worth more than $1 billion jumped by 13% from the 1,810 who were that wealthy in 2016. Now, there are 2,043 — with total net worth up 18% — $7.67 trillion, according to Forbes.com, which used stock prices on Feb. 17 to obtain the ranking.
Bill Gates is still the richest of the lot (for the fourth year in a row) with a fortune of $86 billion, $11 billion higher than last year. Warren Buffett is the second richest, worth $75.6 billion, and Jeff Bezos is third ($72.8 billion — his wealth has increased $27.6 billion from last year).
Rounding out the top 10 (eight of them are Americans) are Amancio Ortega, of Spain, ($71.3 billion); Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook ($56 billion); Carlos Slim Helu, of Mexico ($54.5 billion); Larry Ellison ($52.2 billion); Charles Koch ($48.3 billion); David Kock (also $48.3 billion); and Michael Bloomberg ($47.5 billion).
—-
President Trump’s proposed tax-code overhaul presented on April 26 would cut the tax rate for rich Americans, himself included, to 35%, down from the current rate of 39.5%, and eliminate the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which makes it harder for the rich to manipulate the tax system to pay less tax. Trump had to pay an additional $31 million in 2005 as required by the AMT, according to his only tax record that has been obtained.
Trump’s plan would also cut the rate paid by businesses — small, and large, including corporations –to 15% (from the current 35%) and allow them to pay no tax on overseas profits or money parked overseas. Plus it would lower the capital-gains tax by 3.8% and repeal the inheritance tax, which, critics say helps his family and rich friends.
Democrats said the plan masquerades as a tax-overhaul but is really a giveaway to the rich, Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, calling it “an unprincipled tax plan that will result in cuts for the 1 percent … and (provide only) crumbs for the working people.”
—-
The Trump administration is the most wealthy in U.S. history, according to reporters of the New York Times, citing a tally by Bloomberg News. Members of Trump’s senior staff and Cabinet are worth an estimated $12 billion.
The Trump administration is the most wealthy in U.S. history, according to reporters of the New York Times, citing a tally by Bloomberg News. Members of Trump’s senior staff and Cabinet are worth an estimated $12 billion.
Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who advise Trump, are worth as much as $741 million.
Until January Kushner was CEO of a family-run real-estate investment firm, Kushner Cos., a business that has taken part in at least $7 billion worth of acquisitions during the past 10 years.
—-
For 258 of profitable Fortune 500 companies even though the top corporate tax rate is 35%, nearly 40% of the companies paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015, according to The New York Times’ Patricia Cohen, in March 2017, citing the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a leftish Washington, D.C. research group.
Eighteen of them, including Priceline.com GE and PG&E, had a federal tax bill of less than zero over the entire eight years — they got money back.
The companies with the largest tax subsidies during the period include AT&T ($38.1 billion), Wells Fargo ($34.1 billion), JPMorgan Chase ($22.2 billion), Verizon ($21.1 billion), IBM ($17.8 billion), GE ($15.4 billion), Exxon Mobile ($12.90 billion), Boeing ($11.9 billion) and Procter & Gamble ($8.5 billion).
The U.S. House of Representatives health-care bill would give to America’s rich huge cuts over the next decade in $600 billion of taxes, according to an Associated Press report in March 2017.
In one of the tax cuts of $158 billion on investment income for high-income individuals and families, those who make $700,000 a year or more would get 90% of the money, according to Stephen Ohlemacher, citing the nonpartisan Committee on Taxation.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee noted the proposal would repeal a tax on individuals making over $200,000 a year and called the GOP plan a “tax cut for the rich masquerading as health-care reform.”
—-
Eight super-rich men — six of them Americans — own as much of the world’s wealth as the poorest half of the global population — 3.6 billion people — according to Oxfam, a Swiss anti-poverty organization, in January 2017 and using Forbes’ billionaires list to make the assessment.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is the richest person ($75 billion), and Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, are the other Americans on the list. (Spain’s Amancio Orrega and Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helu are the remaining two.)
Oxfam’s policy adviser, Max Laweson, cited the “Panama Papers,” leaked in 2016, in saying billionaires mostly don’t pay their share of taxes (often paying less thas “than their cleaner or their secretary”), thus creating a global trust crisis.
Implications of the crisis are “deep and wide-ranging,” according to Oxfam CEO Richard Edelman, who said the consequence is virulent populism and nationalism, which along with the “emergence or a media echo chamber” shuts out opposing views and magnifies a “cycle of distrust.”
“The lack of trust in media has also given rise to the fake-news phenomenon and politicians speaking directly to the masses,” Edelman said.
—-
President-elect Trump’s cabinet, which includes seven prospective members worth a combined $11 billion, would be the richest cabinet in U.S. history, according to CBSnews.com. During the campaign, Trump proposed to cut taxes by $6 trillion over 10 years, with steep tax rate cuts for corporations and higher-income individuals, Latimes.com reported.
Trump’s tax plan would give each of the richest 0.1 percent of American households an average $1.1 million tax cut while giving each of the poorest 20 percent of households a tax cut of $110, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, as reported in the Seattle Times.
Trump, himself, acknowledged Oct. 9 that he used a $916 million loss reported on his 1995 tax return to avoid paying any personal income tax for up to 18 years, the New York Times reported Oct. 9, 2016.
—-
The number of billionaires in the U.S. has increased tenfold since 2000, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders noted in October 2016.
America’s 50 largest companies received $27 back in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts for each dollar they paid in taxes between 2008 and 2014, according to Nicholas Kristof, citing a study compiled by Oxfam America.
Kristof said another study found that major corporation tax dodging cost the U.S. Treasury up to $111 billion a year, and he cited a USA Today analysis showing that, among the Standard and Poor’s index 500 corporations, 27 were both profitable in 2015 and yet paid no net income tax globally.
Overall, he wrote, the corporate taxation share in federal revenue has declined from 32 percent in 1952 to 11 percent — while the share coming from payroll taxes has climbed.
—-
The total amount for all Fortune 500 companies held in offshore accounts has reached $2.4 trillion — which would result in a federal tax bill of more than $600 million, according to Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times, whop cited Citizens for Tax Justice, a tax-policy think tank.
The top tax-dodgers are Pfizer, Apple, Microsoft (all with over $100 billion each overseas), and Amazon and Expedia both have $1.5 billion in profits off shore as well (Costco, Starbucks and Paccar are on the list too), Westneat wrote. The 20 wealthiest Americans are worth more than the poorer half of the entire American population, Nicholas Kristof reported in February 2016, citing a report by the Institute for Policy Studies.
The report also said Forbes’ wealthiest 100 Americans together are worth as much as all African-Americans (over 42 million people or roughly 14% of the American population).
Kristof reported that the pharmaceutical industry used lobbying to get Congress to prohibit the government from bargaining for drug prices in Medicare. The ban amounts to a $50 billion annual gift to the industry.
—-
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the richest person in the world, is also the richest person (“479.6 billion net worth) in the tech world, according to the August 2015 Forbes World’s Richest in Tech listing. Oracle founder Larry Ellison ($50 billion) is second on the list and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($47.8 billion) is third. Others in the top 10 are Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jack Ma, Steve Ballmer, Laurene Powel Jobs and family and Michael Dell. American make up 51 of the top 100, and Asians, 33. Only eight are Europeans — and just seven, women. The average age is 53, a decade younger than the average of all billionaires. Fifteen of the top 100 are under 40.
—-
About 60 donations to 2016 presidential campaigns of $1 million or more (Hedge fund biggie Robert Mercer gave $11 million) accounted for a third of more than $380 million raised in the first six months of 2015, according to the Associated Press on Aug. 2, 2015.
Boeing Corporation is the biggest recipient of state and local tax incentives, with more that $13 billion of them, according to GoodJobsFirst.org as reported in the Seattle Times on March 17, 2015. The former Seattle-based corporation compiled enough subsidies from Washington state to make Washington the second biggest tax-incentive provider (behind New York). Boeing also was a winner of federal subsidies and loans, totaling more than $450 million in subsidies and $64 billion in loans.
—-
The wealthiest 10% of Americans owned about 80% of stock at the end of 2014, according to the Federal Reserve and as reported by the Seattle Times on March 13, 2015.
In March 2015, Forbes.com said the top 10 richest billionaires (see below) are Bill Gates ($79.2 billion), Carlos Slim Helu ($77.1 billion), Warren Buffet ($727 billion), Amanacio Ortega ($64.5 billion), Larry Ellison ($54.3 billion), the Koch brothers, Charles Koch ($42.9 billion) and David Koch ($42.9 billion) — together, the richest by far — and Christy and Jim Walton ($41.7 and 40.6 billion), and completing the list Liliane Bettencourt ($40.1 billion).
—-
On Jan. 15, 2015, counterpunch.org published a chart showing that in the last 40 years (since 1950), hourly compensation for American workers has increased only 113.1% while U.S. productivity has increased 254.3%.
The website’s article quoted economist Lawrence Mishel, who noted that between 1973 and 2011, the growth of “real hourly compensation of the median worker” increased by just 10.7%. (In the same period, productivity increased over 150%.)
—-
In 2014, Earth’s richest people added $92 billion to their collective wealth. Citing Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bloomberg News wrtiters Peter Newcomb and Alex Sazonov noted on Jan. 4, 2015, in the Bellingham Herald that the net worth of the top 400 billionaires on Dec. 29, 2014, stood at $4.1 trillion.
The biggest gain went to Jack Ma, co-founder of China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group — he added $25.1 billion to his fortune.
Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) added $13.7 billion to his wealth to become the world’s second richest person (passing Mexican telecommunications billionaire, Carlos Slim, to take over runner-up spot billionaire Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, who added $9.1 billion).
As of Dec. 31, 2014, Gates was worth $86.6 billion; Buffett, $73.8 billion; Slim, $72.6 billion.
The Bloomberg index listed conservative brothers, Charles and Paul Koch, whose biggest asset is Georgia-Pacific, at just over $50 billion each — number five and six on the richest billionaires list.
Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) saw his fortune gain $10.6 billion — he was 13th riches on the list and, as of Dec. 31, 2014, was worth $34.5 billion.
—-
A CEO in 2014 made about 257 times the average worker’s salary, an increase from 181 times in 2009 (in 2013, pay for U.S. workers as a whole increased 1.3 percent), according to Associated Press reporter Josh Boak in the May 29, 2014, Seattle Times.
The year 2013 was the fourth year in a row that CEO compensation increased — the average CEO of an S&P 500 company earned $10.5 million, up 8.8 percent from $9.6 in 2012, Boak wrote, citing an Associated Press/Equilar pay study.
—-
The richest people on the planet got even richer in 2013, adding $524 billion to their collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 300 wealthiest people. The aggregate net worth of the world’s top billionaires stood at $3.7 trillion at the market close on Dec. 31, 2013, according to Bloomberg.
Of the 300 people who appeared on the final ranking of 2013, only 70 registered a net loss for the 12-month period, the report said. Bill Gates, was the year’s biggest gainer, increasing his wealth by $15.8 billion to a total of $78.5 billion.
The richest 85 people in the world hold as much wealth as the bottom half of the global population, according to a January 2014 report by Oxfam International, a British humanitarian group, as reported in the Seattle Times.
About 3.5 billion people, the bottom half, account for about $1.7 trillion while the wealthy elite, a small part of the richest 1 percent, now hold about 46 percent of the world’s wealth — $110 trillion — the report said.
It also said the percentage of income of the richest 1 percent in America has grown almost 150 percent from 1980 through 2012 — and has received 95 percent of wealth created after the financial crisis in 2008.
(A Gallup poll on Jan. 20, 2014 found that two-thirds of Americans are dissatisfied with the way income and wealth are distributed in the U.S.)
The top 7 percent of U.S. households (in 2011) owned 63 percent of the nation’s total household wealth, up from 56 percent in 2009 (according to the Pew Research Center), and the average net worth of the top 7 percent of the wealth distribution increased by 28 percent (to $3.2 million, up from $2.5 million) while the lower 93 percent dropped by 4 percent (to $134,000 from $140,000), according to an April 24, 2013, AP article in the Seattle Times.
—-
After presidential candidate Mitt Romney claimed 47% of Americans “pay no income tax” and are “dependent upon government,” media noted that because of tax loopholes, not near-poverty income, 1,400 millionaires paid no federal income taxes in 2009 (Robertson Williams, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center) and that in 2011 the corporate “person” Boeing had no net income-tax liability for the fourth year in a row, despite $5.1 billion in profits (Danny Westneat), according to the Seattle Times, Sept. 19, 2012.
In the summer of 2012, presidential candidate Mitt Romney proposed extending all the George W. Bush tax cuts to the rich (see below) — saving wealthy enough to pay for three more butlers — while President Obama proposed preserving only some of the Bush tax cuts — saving the rich enough to add only one butler — according to David Sirota in the July 21, 2012, Seattle Times. The richest people on Earth got even richer in 2012 — they added $241 billion to their collective net worth. That net worth stood at $1.9 trillion at the end of December, according to a Jan. 2, 2013, Seattle Times article (citing Bloomberg Billionaires Index).
—
The richest one tenth of 1 percent of Americans is only 13,000 households and earned more than 11 percent of the nation’s total 2007 income, according to columnist Bob Herbert in the Sept. 15, 2010, Seattle Times. The top 1 percent of earners has seen its share of America’s income increase from 9 percent in the 1970s to 10 percent in the 1980s, to 19 percent in the late 1990s — and to 23 percent in 2007, the most recent year complete data is available.
The super-rich get super-richer, according to the Aug. 23, 2010 New Yorker, which reported that between 2002 and 2007, the top one percent of rich Americans have seen their share of the national income double. And, within that group, the top 0.1 percent have seen their share of national income triple — by themselves, they earn as much as the bottom 120 million people in America.
The top 1% of Americans saw their real income rise 700% between 1980 and 2007 while the real income of the median family increased only 22% — a third of its growth the previous 27 years, according to an August 2009 New York Times column by Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner.
—
By 2006, income was more concentrated for the rich than at any time since the beginning of the great depression — but the current recession is beginning to make them a bit less rich, the New York Times reported in late August of 2009. But they were still rich. (According to the IRS, in the late 70s, each of the highest-earning households — the top 1/10,000 — earned over $2 million, adjusted for inflation, while in 2007 they each made over $11.5 million.)
By 2004, the top 1 percent of Americans took 16% of national income — whereas in Japan, it took a little over 8% and Sweden, it took just under 6%, according to TooMuchOnline.org.
One percent of the world’s adults own 40% of the world’s wealth — and most of the richest people live in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific nations, according to a U.N. University report. (The average adult wealth is $181,000 in Japan and $144,000 in the U.S. as compared, for example, to Indonesia with $1,400.)
The wealthiest 20% of households own 50% of U.S. wealth the Census Bureau showed in 2002 — that’s up from 44 percent in 1973.
For the bottom 20%, their share is now only 3.5%, down from 4.2% in 1973.
Now, 10% own 80% of the nation’s property — and 13,000 of its richest families have net worth equal to the 20 million poorest families.
By mid-2010, the pre-Bush budget surplus of $5.6 trillion had become a debt of $13 trillion, according to http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock (as of 3.25.10) — see the clock for the current debt total: National debt clock.
The richest 1% of Americans now own 37% of the wealth — more than the poorest 90%.
16 million Americans now live in deep poverty (annual income less than $9,903) — a grown of 26% from 2000 to 2005, according to a McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures.
The percent of American poor in extreme poverty has grown from 29.9% in 1975 to 43.1% in 2005.
Over the last 20 years, America has had the highest or nearly highest poverty rates for individual adults, families and children among 31 developed countries (Luxembourg Income Study).
—-
Over its course, the 2001 tax cut gave almost 40 percent of the cut to the richest 1%.
The added tax breaks of 2003 similarly benefited the rich (savings for those with income under $10,000 will be $5, with 8 million low-income taxpayers not receiving anything and another 6.5 million low-income taxpayers not receiving a $400 child-care tax credit — which excludes 12 million children).
The Seattle P-I reported that under the tax cuts, on their 2004 taxes, President Bush saved over $29,000 and Vice President Cheney, $81,336.
For those with incomes over $1 million, tax savings was $88,873
Prior to that, the tax burden for the richest 1% increased by 48% between 1979 and 1997 — but their income grew 157% (to an average of $677,900 — up from $263,700 in 1979).
—-
Congressional Budget Office statistics show that adjusted for inflation, income of American families in the middle rose from $41,900 in 1979 to $45,100 in 1997 (a 9% increase) while the income of families in the top 1% of income rose from $420,200 in 1979 to $1.016 million in 1997 (a 140% increase).
That means that in 1979, the richest 1% of families made 10 times that of the average family but by 1997 were making 23 times the amount — and the gap is still growing.
—-
Large-company CEOs, on average, earn 500 times more than the average worker, the Seattle P-I reported Feb. 1, 2007 — in 1980, CEO salaries were only 42 times greater.
Now, the nation’s 10 highest paid CEOs make $154 million a year as opposed to the $3.5 million made by the top 10 in 1981.
In 1974, the average CEO made 34 times as much as a production or non-supervisor worker.
In 1990, it was 96 times as much.
In 2000, it was 458 times as much.
The average CEO of a major corporation makes $13.1 million a year in compensation (about $36,000 a day).
An estimated 61 percent of U.S. corporations paid no federal taxes between 1996 and 2000.
—-
Worker pay in the year 2000 was lower, inflation-adjusted, than in 1980 while CEO pay was 10 times higher (workers averaged $28,900 in 1980 and $28,597 — inflation-adjusted in 2000)
CEOs averaged $1.3 million in 1980 (in year 2000 dollars) and $13.1 million in 2000.
The 2001 income tax booklet shows that half the federal income for Fiscal Year 2000 came from personal income tax. Corporations provided just 10%.
According to Harpers (July 2004) 61 percent of U.S. corporations paid no federal taxes between 1996 and 2000.
In October 2004, Congress passed and President Bush [later signed] a tax-cut bill of $136 billion for corporations, the Seattle P-I reported Oct. 12, 2004.
The same day, the P-I reported that one in five jobs in America earns poverty-level wages, meaning 39 million Americans earn barely enough to cover basic needs.
—-
Since 2001:
1.3 more million Americans are below the poverty line
1.4 million more people are without health insurance
2 million jobs have been lost in the private sector
The budget surplus of $5.6 trillion has become a deficit of $400 billion
Economic growth has been 1%, the lowest of any presidency in 50 years
Value of stocks held by Americans dropped $4.5 trillion, equal to a 30 percent drop in the value of IRAs and 401(k) plans.
—
Some Social Security truths
As of August 2012, according to a study by the Associated Press, Social Security trustees project a $2.7 trillion surplus will be gone in 2033 — but increasing the 12.4% Social Security tax on all wages, not just the first $110,000 would eliminate 72% of the shortfall.
The AP report said increasing the Social Security payroll tax by 0.1 a year until it reaches 14.4% in 20 years would eliminate 53% of the shortfall, and gradually raising full retirement age to 68 in 2033 would eliminate 15% of the shortfall (or to 69 in 2039 and 70 in 2063 would eliminate 37% of the shortfall). It listed cost-of-living and benefits changes that would eliminate the shortfall as well.
Regarding Social Security, since January 2001:
According to Harpers (April 2005), six-tenths of 1% of Social Security contributions go to the program’s administration — in Britain’s privatized system, 30% of contributions go to its administration.
$2 trillion has been transferred from Social Security taxes to the non-Social Security budget.
The amount by which total Social Security contributions since 1983 exceed total benefit payments since then: $999 billion — (Harpers said in July 2004, citing Social Security Administration in Baltimore)
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Social Security trust fund will not run out until 2052, but even after that Social Security revenues will cover 81% of the promised benefits.
The Congressional Budget Office found that extending SS into the 22nd Century with no change in benefits will require additional revenues that amount to only 0.54% of GDP — that’s less than 3% of federal spending.
According to columnist Paul Krugman (March 13, 2005 — Seattle P-I), Social Security officials have been partisan and deputy commissioner James Lockhard has been giving misinformation at pro-privatization rallies. Also, the Social Security Administration has begun to slant the information provided in the information it gives the public.
An example of the bias is the March 24, 2005, announcement by the trustees reported in the Seattle P-I that suddenly the system will now go broke in 2041 — prompting Nevada Sen. Harry Reid to say that the SS crisis exists only in the minds of the Republicans.
Krugman also says that the proposal would harm the middle class, with workers of average pay ($37,000) facing cuts of 10% when they retire in 2075, workers earning the equivalent of $58,000 today being cut by 13% but million income Americans would see cuts of only 1%.
The AARP Bulletin in April 2005 listed NINE ways [see similarity to AP 2012 solutions above] other than privatization to tune up Social Security: 1) Raise the cap to allow those making over $90,000 to be taxed; 2) Increase payroll tax rate slightly; 3) Raise the taxation on SS benefits; 4) Preserve some estate tax and dedicate it to SS; 5) Make SS universal (so that the 30% of state and local workers currently outside the system are inside; 6) Invest some of the SS trust in indexed funds; 7) Adjust the Cost of Living Adjustment 8) Raise retirement age; 9) Index benefits to prices, not wages.
————
Sources:
“Taylor Swift Officially Joins Fores’ Billionaire List As One of 14 Celebrity Billionaires,” Forbes.com, April 2, 2024; “Bloomberg Billionaires Index,” Bloomberg.com, April 2, 2024; “Would you return the keys to the U.S. economy to a sneaker huckster,” L.Z. Granderson, Seattle Times, Feb. 24, 2024, D1; “So far it’s a grand decade for billionaires, says new report. As for the masses …,” NPR.org, Jan. 14, 2024; “World’s five richest men double their money as poorest get poorer,” theGuardian.com, Jan. 14, 2024; “Bloomberg Billionaires Index,” Bloomberg.com, Jan. 14, 2024; “Bloomberg Billionaires Index,” Bloomberg.com, Oct, 24, 2023 ;”Bloomberg Billionaires Index,” Bloomberg.com, Aug. 31, 2023; “Bloomberg Billionaires Index,” Bloomberg.com, July 3, 2023; “Forbes unveils annual billionaire’s list,” by Renata Geraldo, Seattle Times, April 8, 2023, p. A12; “U.S House overwhelminghly approves bill backing record military spending,” by Patricia Zengerie, Reuters.com, Dec. 8, 2022; “Sun Valley’s housing crisis exposes wide chasm between the wealthy and the working,” Seattle Times, Aug. 2, 2022, pp. A1, 11; Opinion, Rachel Poser, Sunday Review Editor, July 13, 2022, and Stastica.com household statistics, July 22, 2022;”Bezos’ wealth plummets by $63 billion, and he’s not alone,” by Josephine Walker (Bloomberg), Seattle Times, July 2, 2022, p. A 12; “Forbes List of Richest People in America,” Kerry A. Dolan, Forbes.com, April 15, 2022; “Harper’s Index,” harpers.org/harpers-index, April 2022; “Kroger-owned grocery stores booming as workers left behind,” (republished from the New York Times), Feb. 34, 2022,A12, A15; “Superrich Americans feel relief as proposed tax hikes deflate,” by Ben Steverman (Bloomberg), Seattle Times, Dec. 21, 2021, pp. 12-13; “Report: Billionaires’ wealth has surged to record level during COVID pandemic,” by Alessandra Migliaccio and Augusta Saraiva of Forbes, Seattle Times, Dec. 8, 2021, pp. A11, 13; “Net worth of Bezos and Musk soars,” Seattle Times, Oct. 28,2021, p. A11; “Each year, America’s wealthiest 1% evades $163B in taxes, per Treasury,” Seattle Times, Sept. 9, 2021, pp. A11, A13; “$195 billion man: Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet – but for how long?” Simon Freeman of the Evening Standard, Finance.yahoo.com, Jan. 8, 2021; “Billionaire wealth hit record $10.T,” Daivin Brown, USA Today, Oct., 8, 2020, p. 5B; “America Will Struggle After Coronavirus. The Charts Show Why.” David Leonhardt and Yarvna Serkez, New York Times (NYtimes.com), April 10,2020; “What Trump proposed in his 2021 budget,” WashingtonPost.com, Feb. 10,2020; “Trump’s $4.8 trillion budget proposal would cut safety-net programs and boost defense,”: The New York Times in The Seattle Times, Feb. 11, 2020, p. A5; “Seattle is so far gone on inequality we’re beyond the movie ‘Parasite,'” Danny Westneat, Seattle Times, Feb. 16, 2020, Bi, B5; “How much is Amazon’s federal tax bill? That’s complicated,” Seattle Times, Feb. 1, 2019, p. A1, A10; “Big money and the lost decade,” Paul Krugman in Seattle Times Dec. 30, 2019; p. A13; “Senate OKs $738 billion defense bill, sends it to Trump,” Catie Edmondson, New York Times, in Seattle Times, Dec. 18, 2019, p. A3; “$1.4 trillion spending deal reached as deadline looms,” Andrew Taylor, Associated Press, in Seattle Times, Dec. 17, 2019, p. A6; “Billionaires’ ranks swell but fortunes contract,” Taylor Telford, Washington Post, in Seattle Times , Nov. 9, 2019, p. A11; “How America’s Rich Get So Rich,” Will Yakowicz, Forbes.com, Oct. 6, 2019; “Execs’ pay packets jump, not workers,'” Stan Choe in Seattle Times, July 21, 2019, p. D6; “Deficit man and the 2020 election,” Paul Krugman in Seattle Times, July 21, 2019, p. A18; “Bernie and the myth of the 1%,” Paul Krugman,” in Seattle Times, April 22, 2019, p. A13; “60 of America’s biggest companies paid no federal income tax in 2018″, Megan Cerullo, CBSnew.com, April 12, 2019;”Twice as many corporations to pay zero taxes for 2018 on account of Trump’s tax present to the wealthy and highly effective,” amazingnewsus.com(http://amazingnewsus.com/politics-news/twice-as-many-corporations-to-pay-zero-taxes-for-2018-on-account-of-trumps-tax-present-to-the-wealthy-and-highly-effective/ ); “Most Americans really did get a tax cut, but here’s why many just can’t believe it,” Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley in Seattle Times, April 15, 2019, pp. A1, A12;”Welcome to the millionaires club, Bernie Sanders,” Bret Stephens, in Seattle Times, April 14, 2019, p. A19; “Senator: Pentagon to dip into military pay for border wall,” Seattle Times, March 8, 2019, p. A2; “Trump expected to seek more funding to build border wall, launch Space Force,” Seattle Times, March 10, 2019, p. A4; “Tax Breaks Like Amazon’s Destabilize Democracy,” Danny Westneat, Seattle Times, Feb. 17, 2019, p. B1, B3; “Exposing the Pentagon’s massive accounting fraud,” Dave Lindorff, The Nation, Jan. 7, 2019, pp. 12-16; “A $100B year for 6 big banks,” Seattle Times, Jan 17, 2019, p. A8, A10; “What Trump tax cut means to firms and taxpayers now,” Jim Tankersley of The New York Times in Seattle Times, Dec. 28, 2019, pp. A12-13; “Project Censored, 2019,” Cascadia Weekly, Dec. 19, 2018, pp. 8-12; “The World’s Billionaires, “Forbes.com/billionaires/list/#versdion:static”; Dec. 7, 2018; “Survey: No raises in2018 for 70% of U.S. workers:,” Seattle Times, Dec. 16, 2018, p. F4; “Military Bloat: A Mugs’ Game,” The Nation, Dec. 3/10, 2018, p. 10; “The most important election of our lives,” David Corn, Mother Jones, Nov.-Dec. 2018, p. 8; “Economy in the Stocks,” Bryce Covert and Mikle Konczal, The Nation, Sept. 10/17, 2018, p. 5.; “Trillion Dollar Inheritance: The World’s Biggest Family Fortunes,” Bloomberg.com, June 37, 2018; “Richest hold almost half the world’s personal wealth,” Suzanne Woolley, Bloomberg News in Seattle Times, June 15, 2018, p. A10 & All;”One Minute for Peace,” oneminuteforpeace.org, March 1, 2018; “Our mind-bogglingly huge military” and “It’s the inequality, stupid,” Mother Jones magazine, subscription flier, Jan. 20, 2018, p. 9; “U.S. Military Spending vs. the World,” National Priorities Project, https://www.nationalpriorities.org, Jan. 20, 2018; “Big Numbers,” Phil Hanson, Cascadia Weekly, Jan. 17, 2017, p. 5; “Trump keeps promise, signs major tax bill,” Eileen Sullivan and Michael Tackett, New York Times in Seattle Times, Dec. 23, 2017, p. A1; “Trump treatment transforms presidential ‘challenge coin'” David Nakemura and Lisa Rein, The Washington Post in Seattle Times, Dec. 23, 2017, p. A5; “GOP nears victory as Congress votes on tax bill,” Carolyn Lockhead, San Francisco Chronicle, in Seattle Times, Dec. 20, 2017, p. A1, A4; Things to know about tax bill,” AP, in Seattle Times, Dec. 20, 2017, p. A4; “Cantwell labels plan to allow Alaska refuge drilling ‘a sham,'” Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times, Dec. 20, 2017, P. B1; “GOP puts risky bet on tax overhaul,” Paul Wiseman, Associated Press in Seattle Times, Dec. 18, 2017, p. A1, A4; “The GOP tax overhaul: How it will affect you,” Seattle Times, Dec. 16, 2017, p. A4; “In sprint, GOP deal reached on tax bill,” Jim Tankersley, Thomas Kaplan and Alan Rappeport, The New York Times in Seattle Times, Dec. 14, 2017, p. A1 & A6; “Republicans reach compromise tax plan, expanding tax cuts for the wealthy,” Damian Paletta and Erica Werner, WashingtonPost.com, Dec. 13, 2017; “The Senate tax bill would allow oil drilling in Alaska wildlife refuge” Jackie Wattles, money.cnn.com, Dec. 4, 2017; “Trump hints at changes in tax proposal,” David J. Lynch and Damian Paletta, The Washington Post in Seattle Times, Dec., 3, 2017, p. A1 & A4; “Hand-scribbled tax legislation sparks outrage,” Jim Tankersly and Alan Rappeport, The New York Times in Seattle Times, Dec. 3, 2017, p. A4; “Jeff Bezos’s Net Worth Just Broke $100 Billion,” Tom Metcalf, Bloomberg.com, Nov. 24, 2017; “GOP tax plan a boon for business,” Seattle Times (from the New York Times), Nov. 3, 2017, p. A1, A4; Who wins and who loses in Republicans’ tax-code rewrite,” (Alan Rappeport, of the New York Times) Seattle Times, Nov. 3, 2017, p. A3; “BloombergBillionairesIndex,” https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/; “House Republican leaders delay release of tax proposal, Ken Thomas and Catherine Lucey of the Associated Press, Seattle Times, Nov. 1, 2017, p. A2; “Rich became even more so, thanks to 2017 investments,” Suzanne Woolley, Bloomberg News in Seattle Times, Oct. 1, 2017, D4; “The Trump Fog Machine rolls on,” Timothy Egan, Seattle Times, Oct. 1, 2017, A16;”Tax breaks promised in GOP health plans go mostly to top 1 percent,” Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News in Seattle Times, July 6, 2017, p. A4; “Fighting for a U.S. federal budget that works for all Americans,” nationalpriorities.org, June 9, 2017; “Trump FY2018 Discretionary Budget Request, $1.15 Trillion,” Lindsay Koshgarian,” nationalpriorities.org, May 23, 20-17; “Trump complaint over NATO and how the alliance works,” Peter Baker, The New York Times in Seattle Times, May, 28,2017, p. A6; “Forbes 2017 Billionaires List: Meet The Richest People On The Planet,” Kerry A. Dolan, Forbes.com, March 20, 2017; “Trump offers a major tax-code overhaul,” Alan Rappeport and Julie Hirschfeld Davis Kushner, New York Times in Seattle Times, April 27, 2017, pp. A1, A9; “Ivanka Trump worth $741M,” Jesse Drucker, Eric Lipton and Maggie Haberman, New York Times in Seattle Times, April 1, 2017, p. A4;”How companies manage to pay so little in taxes,” Patricia Cohen, The New York Times in Seattle Times, March 12,2017, p. D4; “700K in state would be uninsured, Inslee says,” Bob Young, Seattle Times, March 16, 2017, B2; “Health bill adds up to big tax cut for rich,” Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press in Seattle Times, March 8, 2017, A5; “8 men own as much wealth as world’s poorest half,” Pan Pylas, Associated Press, Seattle Times, Jan. 17,2017, pp. A9-10; “Donald Trump’s Cabinet richest in U.S. history, historians say,” CBSnews.com, Dec. 20, 2016; Trump to preside over the richest Cabinet in U.S. history,” Latimes.com, Dec. 1, 2016; “Craigslist yanks Seattle group’s ad for activists to fight ‘Trump Agenda,'” Seattle Times, Nov. 12, 2016, p. B1; “Donald Trump Acknowledges Not Paying Federal Income Taxes for Years,” Steve Eder and Megan Twohey, New York Times (nytimes.com), Oct. 10, 2016; Bernie Sanders, “Three reasons to prefer Clinton over Trump,” Cascadia Weekly, Oct. 26,2016, p. 6; Nicholas Kristof, “The real welfare cheats,” Seattle Times, April 15, 2016, p. A17; Danny Westneat, “Microsoft excels at offshore tax dance,” Seattle Times, April 6, 2016, p. B1; Nicholas Kristof, “America’s stacked deck,” Seattle Times, Feb. 21, 2016, p. A16; Tim Redond, “Project Censored: Ten news items the media ignored,” Cascadia Weely, Nov. 25, 2015, p. 8-9;”Gates, Bezos on world’s richest list,” Seattle Times, Aug. 9, 15, p. D3; “Nearly 60 people gave a third of 2016 campaign cash,” Bellingham Herald, Aug. 2, 2015, p. A9; “Boeing is top dog for state, local tax breaks,” Seattle Times, March 17, 2015, A11; “Feeling richer?” Seattle Times, March 13, 2015, p. A6; “The World’s Billionaires,” Forbes.com, March 4, 2015; “40 years of economic policy in one chart,” counterpunch.org, Jan. 15, 2015; “World’s 400 richest add $92 billion in 2014,” Bellingham Herald, Jan. 4, 2015, C3; http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/ on Jan. 4, 2015; “Why pay is soaring for CEOs, but not for others,” Seattle Times, May 28, 2014, p. A1, 12; “Bloomberg Billionaires Index: The rich got $524 billion richer in 2013,” http://ww.washingtonpost.com/business/bloomberg-billionaires-index Jan. 10, 2014; “Wealth of a few equals that of billions of poor,” Seattle Times, Jan. 21, 2014, p. A3; “The Top 25 Most Censored Stories of 2012-2013,” Project Censored, www.projectcensored.org, Dec. 3, 2013; “Inside The 2013 Forbes 400: Facts and Figures on America’s Richest,” www.forbes.com, Sept. 17, 2013; “Top 1% take a record share of U.S. income,” Seattle Times, A1, 7, Sept. 11, 2013; “Economic recovery rewarding for wealthy,” Seattle Times, A8-9, April 24, 2013; “Rich get richer,” Seattle Times, A5, Jan. 2, 2013; “As crisis looms, a chance to end paralysis on debt,” Seattle Times, A3, Nov. 12, 2012; “The math on Romney’s tax claim doesn’t tell whole story,” Seattle Times, Sept. 19, 2011, A1, A3; Danny Westneat, “Let’s look at who’s not paying taxes,” Seattle Times, B1, Sept. 19, 2012; “Social Security fixes: better now than later,” Stephen Ohlemacher, the Associate Press, Seattle Tims, Aug. 20, 2012, A3; “More butlers for the 1 percent,” Seattle Times, July 21, 2012, A9; “Corporations, Taxes: Let the debate begin,” Seattle Times, Feb. 23, 2012, A3; “Superwealthy mobilize in effort to mute attacks on 1%,” Seattle Times, Dec. 21, 2011, A1, A8; “CEO pay takes a big jump in 2010,” Bellingham Herald, Dec. 16, 2011, B6; “Democracy and American oligarchs,” Paul Krugman, Seattle Times, Nov. 5, 2011, A section; “Income gap still widening in U.S.,” Seattle Times, Oct. 21, 2011, A2; “Wall Street protest draws critique by veteran activists,” Seattle Times, Oct. 10, 2011, A2; “Labor Day: This year we need protest marches more than parades,” Robert Reich, Cascadia Weekly, Aug. 31, 2011, p. 8; “Wartime Tax rate: Less than zero,” Seattle Times, July 3, 2011, pp. B1, 7; “Executive pay drives increasing wage gap,” The Seattle Times, June, 21, 2011, p. A3; “Economy fails working Americans,” Bob Herbert, Seattle Times, Sept. 15, 2010; “Soak the very, very rich,” James Surowieki, New Yorker, Aug. 16 & 23, 2010; “Recovery: Why our CEOs Don’t Give a Hoot,” TooMuchOnline.org, October. 14, 2010; “Night of the living Reaganites,” Paul Krugman (New York Times columnist), Seattle Times, Aug. 25, 2009, p. A11; “Reversal of fortunes as rich become poorer,” Seattle Times (using a New York Times story by David Leonhardt and Geraldine Fabrikant), Aug. 21, 2009, p. A1, A11; “Poverty at record high levels,” (Tony Pugh, McClatchy), Bellingham Herald, Feb. 25,2007, p. 1, 11; “Bush targets extravagant CEO salaries,” (Ben Feller, AP), Seattle P-I, Feb. 1, 2007, p. E1, 6; “1% own 40% of world wealth, U.N. says,” Seattle P-I, Dec. 6, 2006, p. C3; “They come to bury Social Security,” Paul Krugman, Seattle P-I, Dec. 8, 2004; Corporation and poverty stories, Seattle P-I, Oct. 12, 2004; “America’s income gap grows; rich get richer,” Seattle P-I, Aug. 17, 2004; Harpers Index, July 2004; AP story in Seattle P-I, April 14, 2004; Jack Z. Smith (Fort Worth Star-Telegram), June 7, 2003 in Bellingham Herald, p. A11; Lewis Lapham, Harpers, January 2003, p. 9; David Broder (syndicated columnist), Seattle P-I, Oct. 13, 2002; Paul Krugman (New York Times columnist), Seattle P-I, Jan. 13, 2001 p. D7; Geneva Overholser, columnist, Seattle P-I, June 1, 2001; Nation, Oct. 27, 1997; Interfaith Peace Makers of Edina brochure; Seattle PI (Curt Anderson, AP), April 9, 2002; 2001 1040 tax booklet. Ryan J. Donmeyer, Seattle P-I, Jan. 8, 2003; AP chart, Seattle P-I, Jan. 8, 2003, p. A7.
Updated as relevant news emerges — April 2024