Wealth Gap Grows

New data show that the gap in income and wealth between the rich and poor has continued to increase. According to New York University economist Edward Wolff, in 1977, 43.2% of the households owned stock, but 90% of the shares were owned by the top 10% of the shareholders. That 10% held 73.2% of the country's net worth in 1997, up from 68.2% in 1983. Meanwhile, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the top 1% of the population has as many after-tax dollars to spend as the bottom 100 million people. The share of national income going to the bottom 20% of the population has dropped from 5.7% in 1997 to 4.2% in 1999, while the share for the highest fifth grew from 44.2% to 50.4%. The middle quintiles all dropped in their share from 1997 as well.