WHERE HAS THE MONEY GONE?
Kermit C. Moss
Mercy me, sakes alive, and rich, affluent elephants! Where has the money gone? Maybe a better set of questions would be, at this juncture, who is getting most of the income, and who has most of the wealth?
I have just read an article in the New York Times by Thomas Friedman reporting that in 1980 the top 1% garnered 8% of the income, while by 2006, it had risen to 23%! And we know that in 2006 and 2007 some 25 to 30, perhaps more, CEOs
pulled down salaries that amounted to $25,000 or more per hour. And I seem to remember that in 2006 several hedge-fund managers were paid an average of $540 million per year for their services! Further, in a report entitled Who Rules America, updated to December, 2006, by Professor G. William Domhoff, of the University of California at Santa Cruz, the ratio of CEO pay to that of the average factory worker rose from 42.1% in 1960 to 411.1 % in 2005!
This same Professor Domhoff report shows equally disturbing facts about the ownership of wealth in America. “As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers)”.
Lay on, MacDuff!
Kermit C. Moss
PO Box 1136
Monticello, AR 71657
PH 870-367-2486 - office
870-367-7034 - home
March 1st, 2009
