INCOME:

 Let us take a look at who is who.  Where do you fit?  Where does your family fit?

             Annual Income                            Ranking

          $000,000 - $ 25,616                      Bottom 20%

          $  25,616 - $ 45,021                      Next 20%

          $  45,021 - $ 68,304                      Middle 20%

          $  68,304 - $103,100                     Next 20%

          $103,100 and up                           Top 20%

As a matter of reference; the top 5% has income over $185,000.  Most are well beyond $250,000.00

First, let us take a look at the change in real income from 1979 to 2005.

Take a quick look in (Charts & Graphs)  Look at:

   Change in Real Family Income from 1979 - 2005

Look at each group including whichever group you are in.  Interesting how the people, in the top 5%, are 81% better off in 2005 than they were in 1979.  The people in the top 20% are 53% better off.  The people at the bottom 20% are 1% worse off!  The people who need it the most, are the worse off, over this entire time period!!!  Nice job guys! 

The real point being made here is the trend!  This is the same trend you saw in Part 3 with the corporate executives!  The income and wealth of the people at the top is accelerating while everyone else is going in the other direction!

Now we will take a look at the same groups but this time we will look at the "After Tax" numbers. 

Take another quick look in (Charts & Graphs)  Look at:

 Change in After-Tax Income by Income Group 1979 - 2005

Now you have seen what special tax breaks are all about.  How about that...  The top 5% are not only 81% better off on income (from the previous chart); they are 106% better off on an After-Tax basis.  Look at our friends in the top 1%, they are 176% better off on an After-Tax basis!!!    

NOW YOU KNOW WHAT SPECIAL TAX BREAKS MEAN WHEN YOU HEAR THIS FROM BARAK OBAMA.  YOU ALSO NOW KNOW WHY REPUBLICANS SCREAM BLOODY MURDER AND LIE TO YOU ABOUT OBAMA RAISING TAXES.  YOU BET OBAMA IS GOING TO RAISE SOME TAXES BUT THEY WON'T BE YOURS!!!!

What you just looked at are the results of the "Bush Tax Cuts".  I will have more to say about this when I discuss our national debt in Part 5.

This is where the rich will say we pay the most taxes; one study says the top 1% pays 37% of the taxes; the top 10% pays 68% of the taxes.  This may be true, but now is the time to stop with the percentages and look at real numbers.  If you are rich and earn $15,000,000 a year and you pay tax at a rate of 35%, you pay $5,250,000 in taxes leaving you $9,750,000 to live on.  Gee, can you make and pay the rent?  Now, if you are not rich and earn $40,000 a year and pay tax at a 5% rate, you pay $2,000 in taxes leaving you $38,000 to live on.  That $2,000 in taxes, in real numbers, has a much larger impact on you than the $5,250,000 would ever have on the rich person I mentioned earlier.  Any rich person who has an issue with this, I invite you to live on $38,000.  That would not even pay your country club dues! 

Now we will take a different look at Income.  Where has the income gone?

Look at the the third chart.

                  Top 1% Share of Total Income 

This is an interesting bit of information.  Of all the income earned in this country, the top 1% of the people, in 2005, took 21.8% of all income!  You really need to ponder this for just a minute.  Imagine if there was a total population in this country of 100 people.  Also imagine those 100 people had a total income of $1,000 combined.  One of those people would take $218.00 and the remaining $782 would go to the remaining 99 people.  By the time the other top 4% of the people took their share, we would be left holding a pretty small bag!!! 

You have heard of the middle class disappearing.  I wonder why?  With income distribution, as it is done now, there will simply be rich people and poor people.  We absolutely must stop this trend!  We must keep Democrats in the government for several years to reverse these trends.  Given the wealth and the power of the Republican Party, this will be a tough challenge.  The only thing we have is the ballot box!

This ends the discussion on income.  Seems to me you should now have some idea of what is and has been going on in this country.  You need to decide if this is what you want for yourself, your family, and your grandchildren.  Next, I will discuss wealth.

WEALTH:

Once again, let me get your attention!  A recent documentary titled The Top 1% by Jamie Johnson (one of the heirs to the Johnson & Johnson fortune) indicated the net worth of the top 1% of the richest people in the USA, is worth more than the net worth of the bottom 90% of Americans combined!!! 

Read that two or three times and think of what it actually says... it is absolutely astounding!!!

When we speak of wealth, we are talking about your net worth.  Do you have $15,000 in net worth or $15,000,000,000 (yes that is billion)? 

I will again describe wealth based on our general population and where each of us might fit.  I have added one additional information source which is:

           Arthur Kennickell - Senior Economist Federal Reserve Board.

Let us take a look at who is who.  Where do you fit?  Where does your family fit?  Note: It is difficult finding information on actual wealth for obvious reasons.  This information is not available in tax records or virtually any public records.  These figures are from 2004.  Since four more years have elapsed, you can assume (based on income) the rich got richer.  Note: Anyone can argue about the numbers but the one thing that cannot be argued, is the clear disparity in wealth in the USA.

The table on the next page is based on Net Worth.  Net Worth is the total market value of all your assets, bank accounts, etc. minus all debt owed on those assets and any other debt; "other debt" is debt owed to hospitals, loan companies, etc. not associated with your assets.

                              America's Household Wealth          

                                                      % of Families            Accumulated

             Net Worth                           in each category                  %

        $ 0 or less - $5,000                         18.3%                        18.3

          $ 5,000 - $ 50,000                         21.0%                        39.3

          $ 50,000 - $100,000                      12.0%                         51.3

          $ 100,000 - $250,000                    18.6%                         69.9

          $250,000 -$ 500,000                     12.4%                         82.3

          $500,000 - $1,000,000                    9.6%                         91.9

          $1,000,000+                                  8.1%                       100.0

The table is just to give you some idea of the categories of wealth and how many of us fit where.  The following analysis of wealth was obtained from the authors in the references shown earlier.  As you can see, 82.3% of the people are under the $500,000 mark while the top 8.1% are over the million dollar mark.

In 1962, the wealth of the richest one percent (1%) of U.S. households was roughly 125 times greater than that of the typical household.  By 2004, this had escalated to 190 times.

The richest one percent of households now owns 34.3 percent of the nation's private wealth, more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90% which owns 28.7%.  The other 9% of the top richest households owns the remaining 36.9% of the nation's wealth.  FACT:  The top 10% of the richest households own 71.2% of the nation's private wealth!

The top one percent also owns 36.9% of all corporate stock.  The next 9% of the richest own 41.9% of the corporate stock leaving the bottom 90% owning 21.3% of corporate stock.  FACT: The top 10% of the richest households own 78.8% of all corporate stock. 

The total inflation-adjusted net worth of the "Forbes 400" (400 richest Americans) rose from $470 billion in 1995 to $1.25 trillion in 2008.  In 2008, you cannot even be admitted to the "Forbes 400" unless you net worth is $1.3 billion or more!!!

Is that enough for you??  Our rich are getting beyond rich!  Our middle class is disappearing and our poor are growing.  Many of us are joining the ranks of the poor every year!!

This will not stop!  Is this what you want for your children and your grandchildren?  I am not saying people should not be able to move upwards.  There is nothing wrong with that.  I am simply saying we must have a level playing field.  It is obvious the field has not been level for a long time.  (Decent paying jobs leaving the country everyday)  You have every right to think you will be an exception.  You are free to think you and your family can defy these odds but it probably will not happen!  It is tough enough when the field is level!

I just saw a notice in the latest Business Week Magazine (August 25 to September 1, 2008).  In 2007, the CEO's of the Standard & Poor's 500 earned more than $4,000 an hour.  They had to work 3 hours to earn what a minimum-wage worker earned for the full year!!!   And, on it goes!

Speaking of minimum-wage workers; you all realize the Democrats were able to pass an increase in the minimum wage in 2007.  This is the first increase since 1997!  The minimum wage went from $5.15 and hour to $5.58 on July 24^th.  This year, 2008, another increase went through on July 24 raising the minimum wage to $6.55 with another increase scheduled for next year on July 24^th to boost the wage to $7.25.  Fortunately, many of the more progressive states have their own minimum wage laws with wages higher than the federal rates.

Are you also aware John McCain voted against any minimum wage increases 19 times!  

The next part, Part 5 will focus on our National Debt.  We all hear these numbers in the news from time to time but the majority of us do not spend much time thinking about it.  I want to get you to think about it!!!