This isn’t the most shocking data in the world, but in this period of stock market hysteria, it’s worth remembering that the majority of the country doesn’t own any stock. Indeed, the bottom 90 percent of us only own 20 percent of the market. The top 10 percent, by contrast, control 80 percent, with the top one percent of Americans controlling an astounding 36.9%. What’s that you say? You want to see this represented graphically?
See those tiny slivers of checkered pink, blue, grey, and red? That’s where most of the country is.
I had no idea the ownership society was so stratified. And EPI notes further:
Dow’s all-time high inconsequential for most Americans:
For the most part, lower-, middle-, and even upper-middle-income working-age households depend on their paychecks, not stock portfolios, to meet their everyday needs. Typical working families that own stock do so in retirement plans that are costly to turn into cash. Therefore, increasing stock value does little to help them make ends meet at a time when wages for most workers have been stagnant for several years now.
Stock ownership looks good (that’s what most people think of when they think of capitalism). But at the end of the day, stock certificates, assuming you own a stake directly, as opposed to through a retirement plan, aren’t going to put food on your family, as someone once said.