When Obama talks about job growth, what kind of jobs is he
talking about? IT jobs, Engineering jobs, or jobs that MBA's can get? Is he
talking about construction jobs, pipefitter jobs, plumber's jobs, mechanics
jobs or regular day worker jobs? I'm
asking for a reason. The middle-class holds all the jobs I'm talking about.
Where are jobs for the middle class? Let me ply you with some statistics you
may not feel comfortable about.
Let's look at the figures before the crash of '08. Let's
look at the numbers in 2007. This is when the middle class has wealth from
their home values. The figures are startling this comes from The University of
California at Santa Cruz.
Table 1: Distribution of net worth and financial wealth in
the United States, 1983-2007
Total Net Worth
Top 1 percent Next
19 percent Bottom 80 percent
1983 33.8% 47.5% 18.7%
1989 37.4% 46.2% 16.5%
1992 37.2% 46.6% 16.2%
1995 38.5% 45.4% 16.1%
1998 38.1% 45.3% 16.6%
2001 33.4% 51.0% 15.6%
2004 34.3% 50.3% 15.3%
2007 34.6% 50.5% 15.0%
Notice how wealth in the bottom 80% declined over this
period as the top one percent stayed the same. The next 19% had slight gains.
Now this table figures financial wealth in which home ownership is included.
This is Net Worth.
Total assets are defined as the sum of: (1) the gross value
of owner-occupied housing; (2) other real estate owned by the household; (3)
cash and demand deposits; (4) time and savings deposits, certificates of
deposit, and money market accounts; (5) government bonds, corporate bonds,
foreign bonds, and other financial securities; (6) the cash surrender value of
life insurance plans; (7) the cash surrender value of pension plans, including
IRAs, Keogh, and 401(k) plans; (8) corporate stock and mutual funds; (9) net
equity in unincorporated businesses; and (10) equity in trust funds.
Now, look at net Financial Wealth in the country. This may
surprise you.
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