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As the current U.S. failing economy takes its toll on American families, statistics show that the inequality in the concentration and distribution of wealth in America is increasing. The following are excerpts from:

http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/
Courses/so11/stratification/income&wealth.htm

1. "There is very little data about the distribution of wealth in America. There is one source, the Survey of Consumer Finances, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board, that does provide data from 1983."

2. "These data suggest that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small number of families. The wealthiest 1 percent of families owns roughly 34.3% of the nation's net worth, the top 10% of families owns over 71%, and the bottom 40% of the population owns way less than 1%."

3."The distribution of wealth is much more unequal than the distribution of income, especially when focusing on the bottom 60% of all households. The bottom 60% of households possess only 4% of the nation's wealth while it earns 26.8% of all income."

Recently (March 12, 2009), Emily Kaiser of REUTERS in her article entitled "U.S. household wealth falls $11.2 trillion in 2008," explained that:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. households suffered a record 9 percent drop in wealth and pared debt in the fourth quarter as a deepening recession battered confidence and finances, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday. Household net worth dropped by $5.1 trillion from the prior quarter to $51.5 trillion. For the full year, net worth dropped by $11.2 trillion, reflecting steep declines in the housing and stock markets. The declines in household net worth were the largest since quarterly and annual records began in 1951 and 1946, respectively, said the Fed -- the U.S. central bank. Since a second-quarter 2007 peak of $64.4 trillion, household wealth has dropped by about 20 percent, effectively wiping out four years of gains. That has put a chill on consumer spending and added to Americans' anxiety about their economic well-being..."

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52B58720090312

These observations are made in the recent (September 7, 2009) Huffington Post article entitled "Priceless: How the Federal Reserve bought the economics profession" by Ryan Grim:

"The Federal Reserve, through its extensive network of consultants, visiting scholars, alumni and staff economists, so thoroughly dominates the field of economics that real criticism of the central bank has become a career liability for members of the profession, an investigation by the Huffington Post has found. This dominance helps explain how, even after the Fed failed to foresee the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression, the central bank has largely escaped criticism from academic economists."

Read more at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/07/priceless-how-the-federal_n_278805.html

I guess that, despite all the current "things are going to get better rhetoric," one could argue that both the mission of the Federal Reserve and the net result of their operations are one and the same:

Make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

- Ed Smith, Publisher
The EHS Letter Manual