Average America vs the One Percent
Americans have increased productivity by 80 percent since 1979; unfortunately, their income hasn’t risen accordingly, if at all.
.. all Americans pay an average of a third of their incomes for housing. The second highest expense of top earners in America is transportation; the rich spend about 17 percent of their income traveling for business and pleasure. On the other hand, the lower classes spend about 17 percent of their income on feeding their families... Rich people are also more likely to pay for private education for their children. The majority of the 1 percent have attended college, and it’s only natural that they want the same for their kids. Higher-income families are able to pay for education expenses, whereas poor kids must rely on academics and hope to earn a scholarship or other financial aid. This means that while it’s not impossible for a child from a poor family to attend Harvard, it will be substantially more difficult for him to get accepted than if his family had better connections and more money... While money often works its way to the upper classes, it very rarely flows back the other way... If the average person’s wages had kept pace with the economy since the 70s, most people would be making $92,000 per year... Inside of the 1 percent, however, the people who make the most money actually pay the least taxes... the top 400 highest earners in the country pay only 18 percent personal income tax... People in the 15 percent tax bracket pay roughly 30 percent of the total tax gathered in the country, and their income tax accounts for more revenue for the government than any other bracket... 57 members of Congress, or roughly 11 percent, are members of the financial elite. Overall, 250 members of Congress are millionaires, and their median net worth accounts for roughly $891,000, or nine times that of the average American.