How You, I, and Everyone Got the Top 1 Percent All Wrong

It turns out that wealth inequality isn't about the 1 percent v. the 99 percent at all. It's about the 0.1 percent v. the 99.9 percent (or, really, the 0.01 percent vs. the 99.99 percent, if you like). Long-story-short is that this group, comprised mostly of bankers and CEOs, is riding the stock market to pick up extraordinary investment income. And it's this investment income, rather than ordinary earned income, that's creating this extraordinary wealth gap. 

The 0.1 percent isn't the same group of people every year. There's considerable churn at the tippy-top. For example, consider the "Fortunate 400," the IRS's annual list of the 400 richest tax returns in the country. Between 1992 and 2008, 3,672 different taxpayers appeared on the Fortunate 400 list. Just one percent of the Fortunate 400—four households—appeared on the list all 17 years.

DYI Comments:  It appears that human nature has not changed when it comes to income or net worth as individuals will move up and down the economic scale. Also as these Billionaires and Millionaires age many will give large sums of money to charities thereby moving down the economic ladder.  Of course politicians desire high estate taxes so they can give away the money through government programs to enhance their reelection chances (vote buying).

DYI