Wealth Inequality in America Has Never Been Worse. The Middle Class Has Disappeared

What Wealth Inequality in America looks like. Special thanks to user politzane for the inspiration - their video will be linked down below. Another huge thanks to Rickie, Chris, Abdullah, and anyone else who helped on the video. Let me know in the comments what you thought.
2012 Video on Wealth Inequality: • Wealth Inequality in A...
NY Times Article: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...
OECD Study: one.oecd.org/document/SDD/DOC...
www.federalreserve.gov/releas...
Timestamps:
0:00 - Start Here
0:15 - How is Wealth Distributed in the US?
0:55 - Perceptions Haven't Changed
1:44 - The ACTUAL Distribution
2:45 - The 2012 Visualization, Updated.
4:13 - 2023 Data on Wealth
5:59 - 1989 to 2012 to Present
7:32 - Global Wealth Inequality
8:18 - Billionaires
10:00 - CRAZY Wealth Visualizations
RESOURCES:
💵 Free Guides / Templates: beacons.ai/humphreytalks/free...
🐪 Hump Days Newsletter ➭ humpdays.substack.com
~~
Rickie (Editor) ➭ / coldgamerick
/ humphreytalks
/ humphreytalks
/ humphreytalks
Other sources:
www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication Files/Norton_Michael_Building a better America One wealth quintile at a time_4c575dff-fe1d-4002-b61a-1227d08b71be.pdf
www.statista.com/statistics/2...
www.statista.com/statistics/2...
www.statista.com/statistics/2...
www.statista.com/statistics/2...
www.federalreserve.gov/releas...
www.nber.org/system/files/wor...
Income data from census:
census.gov/library/publicatio...
UAW

[@humphrey]

Share this video with a friend and let us know what you thought about the video below. Thank you for watching -- Humphrey, Rickie & Team

[@johnhorchler667]

anyone else keep doing these and to me you are doing good do more like this and do a up date 📅 like this every year and keep us on are feet I said more but I'm not good at redoing so the ones with the charts keep doing those thanks and do one on how much you owe on a stock for $60.00 that you need to pay every tax season and how often to but more money 💰 in every month and so on .❤ And add this one to the one's when you do our start do go and show the kids at the schools do a survey on how the schools are for the rest of the year and then next year.

[@jameslim3850]

Should do a Wealth Inequality in Singapore too!

[@jasn010]

Don’t hate on the rich. 66% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. It ain’t hard to not have much wealth total if bottom 200 million of people own almost nothing

[@joshuaslinski9997]

Stop consuming

[@TonyWilliams27]

@humphrey I wish you can make a documentary on wealth inequality in America! Like talk to famous celebrities, politicians and ordinary families on the income gaps?

[@vancouversworstdrivers]

Remember when people were donating money to Kylie Jenner so she could be the world's youngest billionaire........

[@sofiatrivinom]

I didn’t know that

[@plbeckman]

​@@sofiatrivinomI didn't either.

[@CaptainFrandy]

Like a kickstarter?

[@sarahuber8567]

Unbelievable

[@plbeckman]

@@sarahuber8567 I thought this post was nonsense. Nope. It's true.

[@AlZ-oy4si]

Wealth has a quality to it that's akin to escape velocity. Once you got enough of it, building more just becomes easy and natural. Before that point it requires struggle and sacrifice ranging from moderate to enormous.

[@dennisp8520]

Yes it’s easier to make money when you have money to start with. Something that is very very important to point out and I feel gets ignored a lot in these videos is that the Uber wealthy are not as wealthy as depicted. What I mean by this is that a lot of their wealth is held in the form of stocks and equity not raw spendable cash. That’s not to say they’re not still just as rich but it’s something to keep in mind. The way to correct this problem in my opinion is a high estate tax that hits those assets that wouldn’t apply to those with net worths below say 5million USD

[@Playingwithproxies]

@@dennisp8520doesn’t matter when there profits off there investment more than cover any expense they could ever have. Yeah there assets aren’t entirely liquid but they are still wealth.

[@Playingwithproxies]

@@dennisp8520doesn’t matter when there profits off there investment more than cover any expense they could ever have. Yeah there assets aren’t entirely liquid but they are still wealth.

[@markwalker3499]

Almost right, you have to get into the top 15% or so before further wealth accumulation becomes automatic, but, MOST attempts to get there blow up on the pad. Here is a shocking number for you, the top 10% owned just under 70% of the assets in this nation in 2021, that number is now just about at 80% and the reason why this is crucial is that it is productive assets that generate income, if they own 80% of the assets then they will get at minimum 80% of the new wealth generated so we are going to be in a position within 10 years when literally half the nation is homeless. You will eat in feeding stations, you will walk to where you need to go, any contact with the healthcare system will bankrupt you, and those lucky enough to get housing assistance will envy those without it as the government paying your rent will dictate your every move.

[@AshAshAshAshAshAshAshAshAshAsh]

I literally can make $10k in one month by flipping something I was researching earlier. Issue is, I’d need $30k in capital upfront to sell for $40k. I don’t, and I will not for some time. So it’s an opportunity I’ll watch pass away. I downloaded a few of those stock market game apps that mirror the real stock market. I’ve had amazing return on investments in that, sometimes outperforming others, it’s not real money though but if I had that money laying around then I could have actually invested instead of playing pretend. I make less than $40k/year so I just don’t have the disposable income. If I did, I’d be wealthy. I was really into bitcoin in 2014 and would have invested back then. I had stocks in GameStop and amc prior to the whole WSB fiasco but only made $800. (Later had a life emergency that completely depleted my emergency fund; causing me to sell stocks for extra aid. Couldn’t get a loan with stocks as collateral at the time.) If you was to gift a child $250k in stocks when they are born, they would be a millionaire by the time they graduate college (using 6% at that). They can then take $300k of that and buy a house, leaving the rest in stocks then work part time to cover the essentials. Have the best retirement savings while also having a relaxing life.

[@KC-Shinobi]

I still have this specific video saved from a decade ago, and always wondered how much worse it could be today. The visual breakdowns were terrifying. Really good work resurrecting this reality for people to see and truly comprehend.

[@xiphoid2011]

last the poorest is also getting richer. But like always, the middle class suffers, can't evade taxes like the rich nor getting free handouts from the government.

[@alejmc]

@@xiphoid2011 and as such, erasing the middle working class. There have been some videos lately reviving the concept of “there’s no middle class” and I can believe it… just answering a few simple questions would paint the reality: can you buy a home (properly, 20% down payment)? Can you maintain it for you and your family? On one salary only? What if you lost all the income tomorrow, can you survive 6 months to one year without a wage? For almost all of the “middle class” all of that is not at all, sounds like rich enough instead, but it wasn’t the case before. Plus the fact that “middle class” was to design a wealthy group of people but that didn’t have nobility titles in the yesteryears.

[@itsoktobehappy461]

Why is it terrifying?

[@scholaroftheworldalternatehist]

Message is clear - they want poor folks to stop having families

[@userofsharingan]

Not really, the bottom 80% can take all that wealth away if they wanted to. A lot of these videos fail to accurately explain how the wealth was distributed and how it can be taken away

[@esotericcommonsense6366]

John Steinbeck once said that socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

[@AmberAwen]

Yeah as the majority of these comments clearly show

[@alejmc]

@@AmberAwen😂, true that, in the internet at large, people don’t have that “I’m broke” shame anymore. But devil’s advocate, for most “I’m poor” doesn’t mean not being able to eat and sleep like it used to be… most of them are even overweight or obese (75% of North America is) which is, in human history, quite a rich thing to do: the luxury to eat vastly more than what your body needs. Maybe that’s why socialism is now here to stay for real… government taxation and expenditure being ~40% of GDP (not my calculation) while in the 1910s being less than 10% definitely shows the trend. “BUT WE ARENT COMMUNIST!”, alright fine, maybe not 100%, but already 40% there.

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

Redistributionist attitudes don't correlate with anything good unfortunately for hacks like him. They're mostly motivated by malicious envy. Mass redistribution of wealth would also not be helpful for advancing any nation. The question is not of equality but of who is best equipped to have that money.

[@tuberific454]

​@alejmc You are correct that Marxist ie "communist /socialist" policies created the greatest period of prosperity in US history ie the 1950s US middle class by following the Keynesian proposals of using government spending to generate growth. It is after all the basis for the developed world economies since all developed nations have Keynesian economies, and Keynes was a Marxist. The irony is that self-described "Marxist" nations weren't actually Marxist. They were just dictatorships, and Marx's theories never called for a dictatorship.

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

@@tuberific454 Keynesianism doesn't do shit for the nation though it is the wet dream of rent-seeking elites like Paul Krugman.

[@Real_Grogg]

Dude, I've been watching your videos for a long time and yes, I'm here for the financial advice and insight. But let's give a shoutout to the HUGE improvement in production quality! From the camera position and framing to the subtle use of color and lighting. Incredible. Go on viewer, go back and watch some older videos (which are still super informative and helpful) and you will see such a jump in the quality this channel that it deserves some attention. Great job as always, Humphrey! Oh, and this one was depressing as hell. Renting forever, I guess.

[@TonyWilliams27]

@Real_Grogg very drunken depression that we’ve too many billionaires!

[@grimbles39]

[convincing story about how I got rich] [use a different account to stage a conversation] [namedrop a fake advisor]

[@grimbles39]

yeah his name is john smith look him up on google

[@the-fantabulous-g]

[fake praises from people of different nationalities and ethnicities]

[@Dymondslayr]

*cracks up* I was just noticing those hadn't hit the comment section yet.

[@humphrey]

lol thank god the spammers arent here yet.

[@infamousgamer]

Top tier reply

[@ianpobanz12]

finally someone updated this video. It’s an amazing video but yeah it’s 10 years old. I’m glad someone put the effort in and updated it for current times.!! Thank you!

[@TeamRespawn]

It’s sad how hard it is to climb out of poverty these days. Great video.

[@Playingwithproxies]

Did you watch the video cause it had nothing to do with difficulty of getting out of poverty.

[@Aubatron]

Today? Yes. Before 2019? No. Maybe in the next 5 years things will normalize, but maybe not. It is not hard to get out of poverty if you finished high school, didn't have kids out of wedlock, gained job experience and are making the median salary. If you don't finish high school and/or you have kids out of wedlock, statistically speaking, you're much more likely to be living in poverty. Of course people are going to be mad at this, people don't like taking responsibility for their own lives when they're at a place they're not happy with.

[@traybern]

Getting ONLY a 5th grade education….is NOT the way to do it!!!

[@TheJordanjones3]

Thought experiment: name one country in the world where you can climb out of poverty easier then the United States

[@scholaroftheworldalternatehist]

​@TheJordanjones3 look it up yourself. Many countries have more social mobility than US

[@usptact]

Why people donate money to politicians always blown my mind. They have no right to speak about wealth inequality.

[@Marsalien100]

Congressmen have insider knowledge on the stock market and nothing stopping them from making those investments. The corruption is DEEP.

[@kirkwoodbharris5110]

Long story short, there is plenty of pie (wealth) for everybody to have their fill. It's no secret that, the 1-Percenters accumulate a greater share of wealth through corporate equity. The solution I've always imagined is having companies have more employee owned stock. Maybe even to the point where companies of a certain size are required to have up to 49 percent of shares owned by employees. Also having a min number of board members be representative of employees would also help with pulling back executive compensation while raising wages of the lower ranks.

[@grantrmoore]

It makes sense.

[@obanking4181]

Thats the best solution Iv heard to date on solving wealth inequality if we absolutely have to have mega giant monoply corporations.

[@trevnti]

As somebody who wants to own a business, I wouldn’t do that (more risk falls on owner) but as an employee I would want that. That’s the hard part.

[@kirkwoodbharris5110]

@@trevnti I've also thought of having my own business and I quickly realize that no business is built solely by yourself. You need the employees to run it and make it successful. So would you rather make your dreams come true by sharing some equity (while still maintaining the majority control), or preserving sole ownership of a dream?

[@donaldspaulding6973]

How about fair taxation? For every dollar a corporation lobbies, it saves $200 on average! When you look at where they get those lobbying dollars (taxes), it becomes even more furious.

[@JWEATHERSBY]

U.S. Wealth Inequality videos are always mind-boggling -- also, dude!? You were the rice video creator!! I loved that video and was thinking of it the entire time up until you mentioned you made that one! Sorry I forgot you did it. My mind was locked in on the visualization in that video and everything else just sort of fell to the background. Kudos on another great video on the issue.

[@janicetone2313]

Please, what rice video??? Connection please.

[@thedimm9866]

Just stumbled on your videos, and they're great. I'm a huge visual learner, and I appreciate your concise explanations of all the topics i've seen so far! Keep it up!

[@Anngrl69]

Dont know why this took 9 days to be recommended to me, these videos and conversations are why I love your channel

[@cam-mulvey]

Love this video. The visualizations are awesome - would love seeing more stuff like this!

[@artisticspirit779]

I’m 2023, I finally made it to middle class (or at least the 1950s-1990s version of middle class) just to live the same type of life as someone who makes $7 an hour. If I choose to live where rent is less, I literally compromise safety and sanity. And that’s the biggest problem with my finances. If I go to areas where I can save money, and grow my savings pretty fast, I literally have to choose areas where I could be robbed, r*ped, killed, harassed, etc all in the name of saving money. I think a lot of us have this problem… it’s either downsize and risk your safety and sanity, or pay to live in safety and peace, which eats up about 60%~ 90% of your income. Second huge problem is the “you must make 3x’s the rent” requirement now. I’m order to get into a house or apartment, if they ask for $1700 monthly (for example), they want me to rank in about $60k a year. That’s housing discrimination disguised as a leasing requirement. I’m depressed. On the upside there are various ways to make extra money to supplement your main income…. If you’re not exhausted from stress and overworked from your job, you could create a secondary income.

[@kevinbruno5902]

I showed the old video that inspired you to my seniors that I teach. This update is what I've been waiting for. Thank you for this.

[@erinbeavers6062]

Thank you so much for creating this video! I have been showing Polizane's video in my Senior English class for about ten years now and I have searched and searched for a more modern video with similar information and not found anything as good. I in fact just showed it today and I cannot wait to show this updated version later this week!! Thank you!

[@SpartaCraft22965]

What's the purpose of you showing this video in class? Personally the way he describes the distribution is as if it's magically unfair and should be "fixed" despite not putting forward any attempt to understand why wealth accumulates that way. Consumers vs producers.

[@johnnynick6179]

@@SpartaCraft22965 You are trying to "reason" with an irrational person, which is irrational. I am guilty of doing the same thing in the hope that there is a way to get through to these people. I doubt it is possible, but good luck.

[@lprccac220]

“The American dream is still alive”!? You have to be ASLEEP to believe it (RIP George Carlin)

[@Brigh578]

Managing money is different from accumulating wealth, and the lack of investment education in schools may explain why people struggle to maintain their financial gains. The examples you provided are relevant, and I personally benefited from the market crisis, as I embrace challenging times while others tend to avoid them. Well, at least my advisor does too, jokingly😊

[@user-im7qe6ve4t]

This is superb! Information, as a noob it gets quite difficult to handle all of this and staying informed is a major cause, how do you go about this, are you a pro investor?

[@Brigh578]

Through closely monitoring the performance of my portfolio, I have witnessed a remarkable growth of $508k in just the past two quarters. This experience has shed light on why experienced traders are able to generate substantial returns even in lesser-known markets. It is safe to say that this bold decision has been one of the most impactful choi

[@user-im7qe6ve4t]

I've actually been thinking of reaching a portfolio-adviser, my 401k and stocks been losing everything it's gained since 2019, mind if I looked-up this one coach you use?

[@Brigh578]

The adviser I'm in touch with is *CAROLINA MELINA PHERSON* she works with Merrill, Pierce, Smith incorporated and interviewed on CNBC Television. You can use something else, for me she strategy works hence my result. She provides entry and exit point for the securities I focus on.

[@user-im7qe6ve4t]

Thanks, I just googled more about her, I'm really impressed with her credentials. I reached out to her since I need all the assistance I can get.

[@markusschulze6517]

Its hard if you think about how unrealistic a billionaire actually is. We in Germany have what 137 of them out of over 80 million people live here.... that is insane and cant be good for a society

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

It's just how resources are economized. It has nothing to do with it being bad or good for society though the mechanisms that cause it can be good or bad, but most of the people who complain about muh billionaires actually support the policies that cause such inequality.

[@tuberific454]

And I guess the irony is that the trickle-down economics that makes the existence of billionaires possible is no longer supported by economists as the NYT recently reported. Instead it is kept in place by money in politics and, as we've recently learned, in the scotus. As Mike Pence recently said on video when addressing donors, he doesn't actually believe in the idea of "the wealthy paying their fair share." So it isn't about creating jobs, which has now been debunked, but instead protecting political campaign coffers.

[@Topgamer357]

You can’t eliminate billionaires. There will always be people who are extremely valuable to others and will be compensated more than the next person. The main issue is instead of the letting the free market decide the government will fund and protect certain businesses with tax dollars artificially increasing the value of companies and bailing them out. Politicians doing favors for financial support and insider trading can be problematic as well.

[@joefer5360]

Sounds like "state capitalism". @@Topgamer357

[@starspaceschool587]

Agreed you want way more of them. Only way to get that kind of money is to provide a lot of value to a lot of people.

[@teresapribilski1493]

Mexico practically taxed their middle class out of existence & we see how that turned out. We're working towards that, then who's going to pay the bills.

[@mikezerker6925]

I'm already taxed to death! I'm single and make around 150-160k per year gross, but after taxes (state, federal, Medicare, etc.) and typical health care deductions (dental, vision, health) my take home is around 75-80k!! It's sickening!

[@HoLeeFoc]

@@mikezerker6925 Because the tax burden has been shifted from the uber wealthy to the middle class. Everytime tax breaks are passed, the real beneficiares are the very wealthy while the middle class gets mostly crumbs to keep them in place.

[@ilenastarbreeze4978]

@@mikezerker6925 and funny enough you are already in a better position then roughly 50% of America,

[@soberanisfam1323]

​@@ilenastarbreeze4978greed knows no bound

[@HoLeeFoc]

Rising prices are a form of taxation which the super wealthy can simply use as a tax deductions, while the low and middle class cannot.

[@porkbelly1144]

Stranger: what’s your net worth? Me: 10 toblerone triangles

[@davidcarney1533]

10? 9 now

[@penitent2401]

The median net worth of American household as said here is $121k. But the average net worth of a household is 746k, you need to be in the top 15% of household to reach that net worth, the top richest households owns so much they skews the average to more than 6 times the median. Meanwhile the bottom 15% net worth is almost nothing.

[@bruhager]

The reality is that the bottom 15% net worth is more than likely negative as they usually owe borrowed money back to another entity. It takes years of paying in to gain enough equity to tip that scale to positive if you are paying a mortgage, have two car payments, and other credit cards/loans which is the reality for most people.

[@Josh-ge1cr]

Wealth inequality will only get worse as time goes on. Why? Because it's the super rich that can throw around cash and influence politicians and thus the law. I'll be lucky if by the time I retire, I can have at least 3 million in my retirement, which may really not even be that much given the rate of inflation.

[@alexasanchez5414]

Yep bribery is legal. Why would the politicians listen to the public interests when private interests are paying them!!

[@HoLeeFoc]

As well as controlling most of the real estate which eventually will turn this republic into a kingdom of dukes and we their serfs who will have nothing.

[@user-zt6bt8dp2c]

Exactly politicians are bought and paid for

[@trontr]

@@alexasanchez5414 it's not bribery, it's "lobby"

[@Jay_in_Japan]

You're neglecting the political power of many smaller donors coming together. Can you think of an example of such a lobbying group?

[@gummosparks]

I like the format. Can you make a video on the housing market? Specifically, I would like to know the number of unoccupied properties. I have heard that a lot of the properties have been purchased by cooperate companies. Some of these places are empty. It seems to me that-that is on purpose. I owners don't have to worry about it because they can make up for losses whenever they want to. Nevermind that a lot of the properties were acquired during the financial crisis and the pandemic.

[@MiddleAgedMillenial]

Agreed that video would be fascinating. There are at least 5 home acquiring companies I can think of that he could mention. Blackrock, Invitational Homes, VesterHomes, American Homes 4 Rent (JP Morgan), Monarch Homes, Residential Homes. And I agree there are many sitting vacant because they have so much excess money and wealth they can absorb any losses from it sitting vacant, until someone can afford it at the price they’ve deemed it to be at. They have enough power to manipulate the prices of homes, and then let them sit empty until someone meets the cost they want it to be at. It defies supply and demand really. And then that’s not even talking about airbnbs too.

[@tedroszerihin5903]

How does this happen? How does a nation justify this? This is absolutely insane!

[@aboucard93]

Thanks for making this video.

[@kaarlimakela3413]

Updated! Yes! Thanks! Found one.

[@LazzarrusLong]

01:47 OMG. I knew it was extreme, but… wow.

[@AhujaEnt]

Great graphics man. Nice to see some changes there!

[@Jstemp18]

Great video and data

[@marlonmonton]

Mind blowing. Good to know. Thanks

[@Victor-tl4dk]

The "median income" in the US is only 31,000. Pair that with the average and that's all there is to know. It's really "unequal" here in the US. But yet the average person goes around thinking they are not enough or are doing worse.

[@nappa3550]

27k (without taxes) is the actual poverty line, not 13k. So yes, they are barely making it. I have no idea where this guy gets the 13k from, the latest government statistics say it is 27k

[@user-qv7px4kt8r]

Yes, it is worse now than during the so-called "Gilded Age" of the 1880s and 1890s, with its company towns and railroad robber barons. Think about that.

[@robbinarp1193]

Much needed video. Let me make sure I understand. My husband and I file jointly. If our wages, Social security, teacher retirement, 401k draws, and dividends should be under $89,250 to pay 0 in taxes. If our wages and dividends are between 89, 251 and 555, 850 we pay 15%??? I would love a video on how to handle dividends that are not qualified. Currently I am holding most unqualified dividends in my Roth, but not all. Thanks again for such good content.

[@kennycarter5682]

Eventually corporations will take over like in movies, tv shows, and video games!!! Mark my words

[@user-yv4mm6bx3c]

Changing wealth inequality is going to take a lot of people to change how they spend their money and who they vote for, which has remained consistent for 30 years. Good luck with that.

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

Wealth inequality is not bad per se. Even if many of the people with money are those you would rather not have it, what mechanism insures the method of redistributing that wealth is correct?

[@gcon7251]

Taking spending to zero doesn’t create wealth. Money makes money. If you don’t have it, you most likely won’t get it. That’s why the trend is going in the direction it is.

[@user-yv4mm6bx3c]

@@gcon7251 While true you have to save the money you're making to reinvest it. If you're spending on frivolity, you're never going to get get out of the starting gate.

[@user-yv4mm6bx3c]

@@TheThreatenedSwan There is no method except that of people freely deciding value of products and services with every choice they make.

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

@@user-yv4mm6bx3c I guess, but that's either a tautology and a truism, people value what they value, or it's a way of smuggling in your morality. Like technically people freely choose to do street drugs and get addicted to Sackler opiates, but it's a moral judgement whether or not it's valuable to society to put drug paddlers away for ruining people's lives. The same goes for gambling or the skinners box activities online where businesses admit they're engaging in moral hazard like Netflix saying their biggest competitor is sleep

[@megan9825]

Your vids are full of great info. Thank you for making interesting content!

[@leapnlarry]

Very interesting but, i think a great video would be interview a person from each group, their wealth, and how they got it. But subtract the billionaires from the equation. Maybe wealth groups, zero or negative wealth, 1000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000, 10,000,000 dollars wealth. Then a video series on how to jump groups, like go from negative wealth to 1000, or go from 10,000 to 100,000. Create groups and ask viewers where they fall on the scale. I will bet most people have never calculated their wealth. I did it for the first time in my 50s. Eye opening. I watch videos like this to help my kids who are in their 20s jump groups as quickly and easily as possible as they are both in the negative group. I subbed to see what you come up with, thanks Larry.

[@ferrari2k]

Thanks for visualizing an update! :)

[@janicetone2313]

Graphics really helps with visualization of wealth distribution. And I struggled with Statistics class.

[@Azillia]

College debt is just a way of entrapping you into working for years of your life that by the time that you retire you finally climb out of it

[@valen5188]

yeah and sadly the age of retirement keeps increasing and its becoming harder and harder to escape the trap

[@newhampshirelifestyle4233]

Wealth is not "distributed". It is earned and managed.

[@kayygeee1120]

Thank you for making the content needed for who aren’t really well versed and might not know. 👏👏

[@yonishor7355]

Most importantly, the cash "cube" is not a cube but a cuboid/rectangular prism... Surely that changes everything

[@TheTurdballs420]

Nice touch with the sad dramatic music 🤣🤣🤣

[@Be_Kind7683]

While people want to judge me.... I persist to freely educate . This has been an issue for decades. America is the blind leading the blind.

[@jonyoon]

Love your videos! Any chance you can do a video on whether someone should or shouldn't buy their company's private or public stock options?

[@muse3223]

This is a convoluted way to justify buying cookies.

[@dorenestewart5084]

I just sold a property in Portland and I'm thinking of putting the cash in stocks, I know everyone is saying it's ripe enough, but Is this a good time to buy stocks? How long until a full recovery? How are other people in the same market raking in over $200k gains with months, I'm really just confused at this point.

[@MaryOlson7]

Yes, a good number of folks are raking in huge 6 figure gains in this downtrend, but such strategies are mostly successfully executed by folks with in-depth market knowledge.

[@dorenestewart5084]

@@MaryOlson7 It all depends on how long you're willing to hold for, stocks might likely tank further, but making serious gains in this downtrend wouldn't be a problem if you're a pro.

[@MaryOlson7]

@@dorenestewart5084 The reason I decided to work closely with a brokerage adviser ever since the market got really tense and the pressure became so much(I should be retiring in 17months) so I've had a brokerage adviser guide me through the chaos, its been 9months and counting and I've made approx. 650K net from all of my holdings.

[@dorenestewart5084]

@@MaryOlson7 Hi, please who is the expert assisting you and how do I reach out to them?

[@MaryOlson7]

@@dorenestewart5084 My financial advisor, Bridget Mary Turow, is a highly qualified and experienced professional in the financial market. She possesses a broad understanding of portfolio diversification and is recognized as an expert in this field.

[@RealGrandFail]

Can't wait to start my 3rd company and try to solve wireless electricity and drought. That will definitely get me in the top 0.1%

[@christianmusic12n]

This is a great video! What is not talked about much these days is the movement of individuals across the quantiles. It is not tracked so it would be difficult to represent. You should make a video sharing some info and your thoughts on it. God Bless

[@blakelee111]

So essentially unless money from the upper classes changes hands through spending or govt there will seemingly never be any sort of redistribution. I wonder if all economic systems require some people to be people taking losses taking credit to create debt

[@greensorrel6860]

Expecting the government to fix this is allowing foxes into hens' house and depressingly they are already there

[@blakelee111]

@@greensorrel6860 they got us into this mess otherwise what do people do you know?

[@jacobbrewer8640]

There is almost $1 trillion in The Giving Pledge right now. The worlds wealthiest are giving away their money at a remarkable rate and their kids won’t be inheriting much at all. When these billionaires, who tend to be pretty old, start dying there will be a massive boost for people across the world.

[@pioneer7777777]

I would be curious if you remove the top 500 individuals then rerun the inequality numbers how the US would compare to other developed nations. Also, homeownership is a huge portion of this (would be cool to have broken that out separately). As boomers die off and sell or hand down their real estate to the next generation this should get better.

[@omarolive]

Problem is that rich people die old (80's) and have less children. Their heirs are also old (60's) and have their own wealth, so money doesn't get dilluted like a century before, when couples had like 4+ children.

[@0xC47P1C3]

It will probably get worse as private institutions buy up all the housing supply and make it almost impossible for the average person to own a home

[@GMUTaylor6]

​@@omarolivegreat point

[@JhamEntertainment]

I’ve noticed more and more jobs requiring bachelors degrees are hardly paying better or the same as Highschool/GED level positions. We all in this together now.

[@PhatesDemise]

"3.25 inches, which is a pretty good size" Truly a man of the people

[@cahivx]

I remember growing up in the middle class having a 19” color TV. Now the poorest have a $250 55” plasma.

[@akc783]

IDK I have a tiny tv that doesn’t even have any service cause I can’t afford to pay a monthly cable bill

[@bryanhoyos5543]

@@akc783 facts]

[@AmberRen]

I may be too early in the video to call this out, but the key word may be “wealth” as in “net worth” versus annual income. Wealth is built overtime, not overnight, which would explain why the gap is getting bigger (see: compound interest). As more people in lower incomes put away 401k, pay off debt, and grow incomes that middle class should grow. Those with debt, even with a ton of income ($200K+ in my mind) may also not be in the top 20% of those with a positive net worth / wealth.

[@marktapley7571]

There is more at work here than time however because all categories are shrinking except the top 10%. Normally a free market capitalist system should lift all boats but this is not the case here because the banking cartel has consistently for decades, depreciated the fiat currency by ap. 50% every 17 years. This process is actually a transfer of real wealth from the producers to the financial insiders at the top. that is why the middle class has been eviscerated.

[@Matt-ww9wv]

@@marktapley7571 America is the consequence of capitalism on steroids and has been since the end of WWII when the world's production was destroyed everywhere else and concentrated in America. Don't lie to yourself as if America has any other ideological master. It's the most pathetic delusion to suggest anything else at the helm of the ship.

[@Courtney-Alice-Gargani]

Good work on the research. How much time do you spend on this?

[@Surfer-727]

Superb Video ! ✨✨✨✨✨

[@nicktheavatar_]

Money isn’t the root of all evil. It’s greed.

[@randomsh-t917]

laziness is the root of evil. Wanting something for nothing. Being entitled. There is no short cut to a six-pack.

[@AmberAwen]

@@randomsh-t917ok bot

[@Wolfhowl20speedruns]

"The American Dream is only for those sleeping."

[@azmi3333]

The answer is simple. Go back to 80+% marginal tax rates, cut corporate loopholes and impose a minimum tax on corporations. At the same time give corporations tax exemptions for higher salaries for non executives and exemptions for establishing corporate pention plans. Lastly end the 3 day strike rule on 401ks. 401ks were established for C levels not regular staff. The 3 day strike rule was there to prevent these c levels from insider trading. Leaving the 3 day strike rule in place puts regular citizens at a disadvantage. Lastly if we don't have rhe fortitude to end the collection, trade and sale of citizens personal information then we should be compensated. Doing something like Andrew Yang proposed and taxing every trade of every piece of our information and passing that back to the citizens.

[@starspaceschool587]

Then eliminate wasteful government spending, terrible regulation and reduce tax rates to 10-20% and you can see some actual improvement

[@brosephbrown9069]

@@starspaceschool587the wealthy run the government

[@davidstewart336]

Great format. Love it!

[@Informedaccount]

Those countries like Denmark at least have strong social systems, safety nets and progressive taxes in order to level the playing field and ease inequality. The USA in contrast is a full on plutocracy.

[@superbutter476]

It’s not that there isn’t taxes on wealthy. It’s that they know how to write off taxes legally while the average American barely knows how to even manage their finance let alone taxes

[@alexfisher1684]

We spend more per cap then Denmark on social services

[@Informedaccount]

@@alexfisher1684 we spend more per capita on things like healthcare but get worse outcomes than places like Denmark because the money keeps going to private companies like health insurances instead of going towards helping the people.

[@mistergolfer7]

Have you seen our progressive income tax system? The top 50% of income earners pay nearly all taxes in America. Government spending on all sorts of assistance programs for lower class individuals is astronomically high.

[@grega2362]

@@mistergolfer7 and the cause of these problems

[@jameslim3850]

Should do a Wealth Inequality in Singapore too!

[@micosstar]

thanks for the video; no doubt it will be a great resource for advocacy!

[@jbusyiii]

damn. Great video!

[@ChewyHighHAD]

Clearly, there can only be one solution to this problem: cut taxes for billionaires.

[@starspaceschool587]

Actually that worked pretty well the Trump tax cuts actually increased tax revenue

[@docbradleydc]

​@@starspaceschool587corporate revenue decreased while income and payroll taxes increased. It also made the debt to GDP ratio worse. The dramatic increase in total revenue post 2020 is due to economic growth thanks to a few large bills designed to cushion the effect of COVID 's economic downturn.

[@starspaceschool587]

@@docbradleydc Please explain how higher tax revenue increased the debt? It didn't out of control spending did. The U.S. government doesn't have a tax collection problem it has a spending problem. Taking money way from people who generate wealth and giving it to people who squander it isn't a good strategy.

[@docbradleydc]

@@starspaceschool587 do a Google image search of "GDP per Capita vs wages". Since the 1980s the growth rate of wages has been increasingly separated from GDP growth. A lot of that income that would have been wages has gone into lower taxed corporate income. If the wages kept up with GDP growth as it did the previous 200 years of the country, there would be less need for social services expansion because the middle class would still be stabilized or grown instead of being squeezed to the lower end by the top 10% of the earners leveraging favorable tax laws via corporate lobbying. If you think putting a disproportionately higher amount of money into the top 10% of earners hands is going to somehow lower spending, you're part of the reason we're here right now.

[@docbradleydc]

It's worthless to look at total revenue when you have a growing population and a growing economy. Why? Because growth requires more public investment. Unless libertarians wanna step up and build private infrastructure, police and fire departments, schools, pay more money in wages, push for public health to decrease strain on healthcare costs and the need for social security. I have my doubts. The tax revenue has shifted from corporate taxes to wage earners. I don't see that as a positive. We have a consumer based economy and taking more from the middle class to give more to the upper decreases what's called the velocity of money.

[@mitchellquartero]

I like this video it gets to the subject people want to ignore ( same for myself ) but overall it’s a very good video 👍

[@Lewis-ec5sn]

how did you finish the video so quick

[@ThaoNguyen-jv4up]

No wonder people in past generations , had revolutions ( and murdered the king, politicians, nobles ..ect )

[@user-lb1hg7yw4v]

What software do you use for the animated portion of the video?

[@MY-kh9hx]

Great video! Keep up the good work! It’s good to have wealth. My goal is to be in the 10-15% group. However, it is worth noting that one doesn’t need huge wealth to be happy. Our lives are more than numbers. Let’s live our life to the fullest while building modest wealth.

[@camaro6810]

The lack of understanding about wealth distribution is not an accident. The ultra wealthy dont want the masses to realize how hard they are being screwed. When you look at CEO compensation, and realize that they make a salary of say $10M and get a $10M bonus and other compensation etc. You will see that in ONE YEAR this guy makes more than the avg hard working guy will make in 100 LIFETIMES, even if he was paid double time and worked 24/7/365...and their answer to that injustice? Well, you've gotta work harder, believe, pick yourself up by the bootstraps and skip the Starbucks.

[@BTrain-is8ch]

You probably didn't mean to but this comment embodies why the wealth gap exists. The reliable mechanism for building real wealth in the US is buying and holding equities for the long term. Index investing over decades essentially. Salaries are not the reason for the gap. The gap exists because some of us grow our money exponentially by investing it and most people grow their money linearly and don't understand why they can't keep up. I will never have a ten million dollar income year or even a million dollar income year but will I end up with an eight figure net worth? There's a good chance.

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

The masses are incredibly stupid and not very productive. You are probably just driven by resentment. People get paid more for more scarce skills. This is actually a driver of inequality as there is a bigger economy and more specialized jobs than in the past. How many average workers can do what a CEO or other specialized elite figure does? Almost none. Even the people that are intellectually equipped (so 125+ IQ for a major company) probably have some profound problem or they wouldn't be an average worker in the first place. PS: On the topic of scarce resources being more valuable, this is why consulting firms make so much money: coordination is a scarce resource. Plus even when the elite are engaged in rent seeking, they get away with it because they're smarter. I would like more group oriented people to have more power, but that is something that will have to take place in a competitive environment.

[@ahmadtkar]

Well done Great video

[@janetyingy]

Great video!

[@mikezerker6925]

Based on these graphs and changes over time since the 1980s it looks like we are trending towards becoming a third world country in the next few decades!

[@helciusferreira6055]

Don't worry about that, my friend. It wont happen in this generation.

[@BigOnAnime94]

We're already there in certain parts of the country. Homelesness is rampant, and in the poorest places like certain areas in the south, they don't even have proper sewage systems. A UN report on US poverty revealed that in 2017.

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

The demographics are certainly trending that way. The US will look like Brazil shortly, but people who whine about muh billionaires because of their own malicious envy almost always support the short term outlook of mass migration.

[@garywheeler9465]

Is there a measure capturing standard of living? If so, how has that changed over time?

[@percivalgooglyeyes6178]

This is a great question, and one that I think about too. Take the average car for example. When I was growing up cars barely lasted 60,000 miles, overheated on mountain grades, and pretty much pieces of junk compared to the reliability and safety of modern vehicles and given the rate of inflation perhaps even less expensive?

[@GMUTaylor6]

Is this an argument for the benefits of extreme wealth inequality? It would seem like progress and extreme wealth inequality don't need to be hand in hand

[@garywheeler9465]

@@GMUTaylor6 Not necessarily. Would you be willing to reduce wealth inequality if such reduction was also accompanied by a reduced standard of living for all groups? "[T]he pie is not constant. So your well-being can grow even when your share of the pie falls if the pie is getting sufficiently larger." Russ Roberts, Economist.

[@starspaceschool587]

Yes for all peoples complaining about housing prices houses keep getting bigger. People live in bigger houses with more cars and technology that really can’t be compared to things 100 years ago.

[@tylerandrew5789]

The problem is consumer debt and student loans have created a massive underclass with negative net worth if you owe 200k on student loans and 50 k on a car worth 35 k you have a negative net worth of 215 k

[@starspaceschool587]

The idea that someone would have a 200k student loan and 50k car loan itself just shows the problem isn’t the economy it’s stupid people

[@AImaniaX]

All it takes is to make 4 million dollars! I just calculated that if you started working at age 20 and made $100,000 a year and you retired at 60 then you would make about 4 million. Sounds like a lot but is it truly worth working 9,200 days, including weekend’s and holidays! Of course it’s not. That’s why it’s good to see what you can do to make that money quickly and then retire early! But keep in mind if your gonna retire than don’t spend more than $100,000 a year. Because that’s where they get you, it’s called consumerism and we were brainwashed from birth to be one. Be satisfied with living off that every year so you don’t have to ever work another day in your life. I’m sure many TikTok Tokers and KZbinrs can do it! Go for it don’t follow suit, make your money and get out!

[@danielmcdougle6925]

I think part of why America's distribution is different could be because we have some large innovative companies like tesla and Amazon

[@TrevForPresident]

In our tax system and expansionary markets, capital is rewarded over labor. You’d only need $290k in the S&P 500 at the average return to have your annual growth beat the median income. Capital growth that would be taxed less than labor in most applications.

[@brainplay8060]

I mean there isn't any mechanism that could tax capital gains without selling that wouldn't crash the system nor be fair to the owners. Like all investments, that money doesn't exist in the real world until its sold. It's imaginary and unable to be utilized until that time.

[@Jay_in_Japan]

And do you understand why that may be the case? What does capital do that labor doesn't?

[@WanderingExistence]

​@@Jay_in_Japan Labor makes capital goods. Wage labor is renting yourself via "self ownership". Employment is literally renting another human being as if they're property. The employer-employee relationship is a very insidious dynamic. Employment is a rental contract, like if you rented capital (say, a chainsaw from Home Depot), you pay rent for the "time preference" (basically the cost of time) for a piece of property. Capitalism is based on a principle of self ownership, which sounds empowering, until you realize that most people don't own enough capital goods to make enough income other than themselves, and must rent out the authority over themselves as pieces of "human capital". This is a process of dehumanization where human beings are valued for their return on investment as capital goods. This is why, at the very least, capitalism needs unions and safety nets (or abolishment), or else the system won't value people for their human value. Importantly we must also think about our sick, elderly, and disabled people, as they can't provide competitive economic return for the investor class to value. We must figure out a way to change this economic system if we wish to value each other.

[@brainplay8060]

@@Jay_in_Japan You do understand that capital works just like a loan. A loan is a liability that allows someone to build with it to make a profit. That includes hiring labor. Labor by itself is worthless. Labor requires thoughtful direction to create anything that might have a purpose. Making a cog, steel beam, or spring provides little use without someone to understand how to make something of value with it. That person then needs to buy the tools, warehouse space, insurance, furniture, etc to be able to use those items. That is business 101. But the laborer never has to worry about the business going under other than a loss of work. They'll never be hit with fees, bankruptcy, nor depreciating assets when the business goes down.

[@TrevForPresident]

@@Jay_in_Japan provides returns in the absence of labor? Not sure what you’re fishing for, enlighten me.

[@edwardperez7183]

We can have equal opportunity but there are no guarantees of equal outcome.

[@Lolatyou332]

It's the patreo distribution. The top 20% of any group usually contains 80% of everything.

[@dachicagoan8185]

The sad part is that we live in the dystopian world just to make the 1100 who are billionaires happy.

[@DE04]

Measuring using cookies “Americans will use anything but the metric system”

[@justsomeguy711]

Thank you for this video

[@jackalenterprisesofohio]

I commented this on the orginal video, but I would have really liked to see the wealth % overlay on the states, like which states had more of the people with money than other states that had less people with less money. I mean for all we know all the money is in New York or Kansas or Alabama or obviously California.

[@psiga]

12:33 "I unfortunately don't have a good solution on how to reduce wealth inequality." The irony of how "Make America Great Again" didn't involve bringing back the midcentury's 90% tax rate for the top income bracket.

[@asw654]

That doesn't help at this point. We are talking about wealth inequality not income inequality. People who are already super billionaires don't even need a salary. At most they could get money from capital gains or by taking tax free loans on their ever growing assets. So all you're doing is preventing lower tier millionaires from getting more money out of spite. Wealth inequality is somewhat fixed with higher property taxes, but the wealthy will of course hide or deflect from that so poor people can attack mere workers like engineers and doctors making 200k instead. Because thats what poor people can conceptualize and imagine.

[@psiga]

​@@asw654 Some half-jokingly say that America itself was a grand tax evasion scheme from the UK, so hiding and deflecting has always been and will always be a concern. I agree with you that it's going to take much more than taxing income alone, especially with the exotic loopholes that have been engineered and found in our lifetimes. It's a constant game of whack-a-mole, and our duopoly in the pockets of billionaires will spend their outsized sums on focus groups and spin-doctors to distract us with the latest _BREAKING NEWS,_ rather than start every single news hour with an infographic like the one featured at 2:09 , to help "the poor" conceptualize how grotesque the imbalance still is.

[@starspaceschool587]

Because 90% tax rates are a terrible idea. Lowering the tax rate actually increases taxes paid. If you want to pay 90% taxes feel free to send the IRS more money

[@asw654]

@@starspaceschool587 people don't see how it's happening on a smaller scale already. Thousands of millionaires left California in the past few years, denying billions of dollars from California's budget and giving it to the red states they hate like Texas and Florida. I'll be honest. If they increased tax rate significantly more like some morons want, I'd leave the state too. They can have fun with a state that has less electoral power and budget to matter on the federal level than in the past.

[@jbobby1841]

Working with nonprofits, this doesn’t surprise me at all. This was a great video but showing the taxes being paid would show a more holistic picture of the price of wealth.

[@travellerswill]

That's funny, they asked people what they thought the pie distribution for different classes. But that's the people who could afford to go to a mall, but not ask the people who sleep on the streets. But good informative coverage!

[@CT-yc4gd]

I make 43k/yr in CA in a rural area. I'd be extremely tight on money to rent an apartment by myself as the only apartments left available are the incredibly nice ones that go for $1700/month with no utilities included. I make about $2600/month. 900 isn't a lot for water, electricity, gas, and food. I was going to hop into IT, but then that field got flooded right around the time I began studying for my certifications.

[@whatrtheodds]

Im literally below the poverty line. Wow thats scary. No wonder i get so afraid sometimes. The older i get the more i realise thst people never earned their spots on merit alone. Hard work is not enough. Now im back at school doing hard things to get out of the poverty cycle but i get so stressed out sometimes.💔

[@ramsaydean492]

This is so well done!!! I love that you just kept it to the facts and left emotion and politics out of it. This is a great video to share with people who you want to get to understand the gravity of wealth inequality in America but their politics gets in the way. Bravo! 👏

[@7towers777]

This has been evident for a number of years yet you hear crickets from mainstream media why is this I wonder

[@jar145022]

Tax the shit out of them. I get that hey work for there money but they will never be able to spend all that. And it would take so much of a burden off the bottom 10%

[@kumamarru5492]

The rich spent decades taxing the shit out of us. Bailouts, Trickle down economics, subsidies. Now it's their turn. It's only fair.

[@ryanwilliams989]

Since Biden took office, there seem to have been more unfavorable results in America. These results include effects on the markets, such as price declines and sharp increases in inflation, as well as bank failures. I wonder if the sudden increase in interest rates will help value investors or if it would be wiser to stay away from the stock and financial markets for the time being.

[@kaitlyncranwick]

@@maggysterling33254 Mind if I ask you recommend this particular professional you use their service? i have quite a lot of marketing problems.

[@BiancaSherly-qt6sb]

Having a portfolio coach has been a great experience, aiding me in daily market decision-making. Their unique skills in both long and short positions have allowed for potential gains and protection against market downturns. Over the past two years with a portfolio coach, I've achieved earnings exceeding $645k, which has been truly rewarding.

[@maryHenokNft]

@@BiancaSherly-qt6sb I'm eager to learn how to connect with an advisor because inflation is eroding my funds. I'm seeking a more lucrative investment strategy to safeguard and grow my portfolio.

[@paulhickman]

I have a working hypothesis that much of this is due to President Nixon taking the U.S. off of the gold standard in 1971. Until then, income increases across the board seemed to track productivity gains, but since then income increases have disproportionately favored the upper income brackets. Thoughts?

[@DeenanTheKemon1]

1995: "Damn that guys a hard worker. Throw him a raise and some extra shifts, we need workers like that around here." -business owners 2023: "Damn that guys a hard worker, wring him dry for excess profit for ONLY MYSELF and replace him with someone cheaper when he invetibaly quits." -business owners

[@rpena0899]

Unfortunately trickle down Reaganomics is one of the main causes of this insane inequality. Deregulation and legalized bribery of politicians has made this even worse. The US is one of the most unequal countries in the industrialized world because of all of this. Things need to change. Higher wages for workers and lower wages/higher taxes on the rich. That would prevent the working class from being overly taxed and would make a lot of people less dependent on the govt for welfare. It's a win win for the vast majority of people but unfortunately propaganda is a helluva drug and the rich are spending BILLIONS every year fighting again these common sense reforms