Economists say the rising stock market is giving an added boost to consumer spending through what is known as the "wealth effect."
Key Points
The wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter.
All of the gains came from stock holdings thanks to an end-of-year rally.
Economists say the rising stock market is giving an added boost to consumer spending through what is known as the “wealth effect.”
The wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter, as an end-of-year stock rally lifted their portfolios, according to new data from the Federal Reserve.
The total net worth of the top 1%, defined by the Fed as those with wealth over $11 million, increased by $2 trillion in the fourth quarter. All of the gains came from their stock holdings. The value of corporate equities and mutual fund shares held by the top 1% surged to $19.7 trillion from $17.65 trillion the previous quarter.
While their real estate values went up slightly, the value of their privately held businesses declined, essentially canceling out all other gains outside of stocks.
We have to take back that wealth. Right this is the reason why we have not the lifes we deserve. That are the funds that were siphoned off from our society. The people created this worth. Not some guys at the top.
Economists say the rising stock market is giving an added boost to consumer spending through what is known as the “wealth effect.” When consumers and investors see their stock holdings soar, they feel more confident spending and taking more risk.
I somehow suspect that this thing about the wealth effect is total and utter bullshit.
No, the stock market is doing great at making the rich richer. The economy is fucking broken. On purpose. The crushing of the working class to enrich the 1% is capitalism working exactly as intended.
We just shouldn't allow individuals to have over a billion dollars, just 100% tax on anything over a billion when combined assets exceed that number. Both because there's no good reason for any one person to have that much money and because as pathetic as American campaign finance laws are it's a legit national security risk for someone to have that kind of money to throw at their pet causes.
Nice! Good job all. It sucks that our wealth is being harvested by a few psychos but dam we are working our asses off and generating vasts amounts of it. For someone else but still damn, super impressed.
... But it's the poor mother pulling herself up by the bootstraps, making the perilous journey north to work comparatively-shit jobs to help give her kids a brighter future that is apparently the problem to righties — who, by the way — we all benefit from their cheap labor in the first place...
$20 spent to a person making 100,000/year...
... Is the same as a single-billionaire spending $200,000.
Ok hear me out. I just want to do quick maths. The world population is according to worldometer just over 8,1 billion people. So 81 million people make up the top 1%. So this article says they have now 44,6 trillion dollars. So $44600000000000/81000000 is equal to $550617.28 per person in the one percent. So that means if you have more than $550 000 in wealth, you are a one percenter.
I am curious if the wealth of the top % as a value has grown or outpaced the rate of inflation and population growth added together.
According to Oxfam, "an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, fully fund the shortfalls on existing humanitarian appeals, deliver a 10-year plan to end hunger, support poorer countries being ravaged by climate impacts, and deliver universal healthcare and social protection for everyone living in low- and lower middle-income countries."
Economists say the rising stock market is giving an added boost to consumer spending through what is known as the “wealth effect.”
Read: the economy is re-adjusting to cater to the luxuries of the ultra-rich, not to more efficiently fulfill the needs of the vast majority. So we can't even have that little relief now.