roundtable: Re: AT THE STICKING PLACE

roundtable: Re: AT THE STICKING PLACE

Re: AT THE STICKING PLACE

Vigdor Schreibman - FINS (fins@access.digex.net)
Fri, 24 Feb 1995 12:51:31 -0500 (EST) 

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 12:51:31 -0500 (EST)
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: roundtable@cni.org
Subject: Re: AT THE STICKING PLACE
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950219121127.23983D-100000@access2.digex.net>
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950224124603.17895A-100000@access2.digex.net>


Good for you, Jim.  More elaboration on this subject and full 
commentary by participants in this list is called for but
people are woefully constrained by "big Daddy" to get involved.

Isn't this the piece referred to (somewhat indirectly) by Kevin 
Phillips in Arrogant Capital? 

Vigdor Schreibman
<fins@access.digex.net>


------------------------------------------
On Tue, 21 Feb 1995, James McDonough wrote:
> 
> Arthur B. Kennickell, Senior Economist and Project Director of Survey 
> of Consumer Finances of the Federal Reserve board, and R. Louis Woodbum, 
> Mathematical Statistician, published a study on net-worth of U.S. 
> households in April 1992. In that study, they concluded that total U.S. 
> aggregate net worth to $15.1 trillion in 1989. "The wealthiest half 
> percent of the population is estimated to hold 28.8 percent of the net 
> worth," the authors concluded. In 1983, the top one-half percent held 
> 24.1 percent of all household net worth, so you see this group prospered 
> under the Reagan Administration and the alliance in Congress of 
> Republicans and conservative Democrats. The authors estimated the total 
> number of families in the top one-half percent of the population at 
> 477,381. Their figures were further skewed in favor of the elite, when 
> particular assets were taken into account. For example, the top one-half 
> percent of the population owned **60 percent** of all business assets; 
> 59 percent of all bonds, and 34.1 percent of all real estate holdings 
> (excluding a person's principal residence). It is among these 477,000 
> families where you find the origin of **special interests** in America. 
> Their ownership over such wealth (and therefore power) is rarely, if 
> ever, a topic of public debate in America, yet such an imbalance has 
> profound and damaging effects on American democracy. Schreibman should 
> be congratulated for bringing such information into the debate. It is 
> of vital importance.
> 
> James McDonough  
> <epin@access.digex.net>
> 
> 
> On Fri, 17 Feb 1995, Vigdor Schreibman - FINS wrote:
> > 
> > On Thu, 16 Feb 1995 jack@his.com wrote:
> > > 
> > > Vigdor Schreibman states: "Government
> > > data shows that the top one percent of American families have "more 
> > > wealth than the bottom 90 percent of the country" [Phillips, 1994]."
> > > 
> > > This is slightly different than Vigdor's previous claim, which I 
> > > disputed.  In fact, the number of people holding this wealth exceeds 
> > > 9 million people, and although this does not make it equitable
> > 
> > 
> >   Phillips says that the lion's share of this wealth is held by the top 
> > 100,000 families.  What does your "9 million people" refer to, and what 
> > source does it come from, Jack.  vs
> > 
> > Vigdor Schreibman
> > <fins@access.digex.net>

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