Friday 30 August 2013

400 Richest Get Richer Over The Last Year

By Cornelius Nunev


According to Forbes latest list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, the wealth of the super-rich has grown during the last year. Meanwhile, as the rich get richer, the middle class continues to shrink, widening yet more the gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Where have the prosperous been?

About 12.5 percent of the economic climate is made up by the 400 wealthiest citizens in our country, according to NBC News. These 400 individuals, according to Forbes, saw a $1.7 trillion increase in total net worth, or a 13 percent boost, in the last year.

The typical net worth of the elite 400 was $4.2 billion, the highest it has ever been.

Forbes discovered that 261 of the richest 400 all saw their income go up. The increases in wealth were attributed to stock growth and a rebounding real estate market.

Wealthy not anything new

The list contained familiar and anticipated names. The rankings of the top five remained the same from 2011, although their net worth had risen: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Larry Ellison, Charles and Koch (tied for fourth) and Christie Walton.

Gates, chairman of Microsoft, has headed the list for the last 19 years. He saw his worth grow by $7 billion to $66 billion. Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, saw his worth rise by $7 billion. Larry Ellison, head of Oracle Corp, got the largest raise, however, with an increase of $8 billion.

Minority report

A notable exception to the trend of increasing net worth was social network mogul Mark Zuckerberg, who lost almost half of his net worth after his cash cow Facebook went public. This year, he is scraping by on $9.4 billion.

Gap twice as wide in 50 years

In 1961, the top one percent of earners in the country made 125 times more than the average middle-income household. In 2010, that number jumped to 288 percent compared to the typical middle-income earner. In the last century, the gap between the wealthy and the poor has more than doubled, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

In the last few decades, there have been decreases in payment for most of Americans while the wealthy are making more than ever.

While the trend has been active for decades, the Economic Policy Institute report noted that the gap has widened at a more rapid pace since the Good Recession.




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