Richest Get Richer

A rising tide lifts all yachts? The Pew Research Center is reporting that during the first two years of recovery, the top 7 percent of Americans’ net worth grew 28 percent, while that of the other 93 percent of the country declined. During those two years (from 2009 to 2011), the average net worth of the wealthiest households grew from $2.7 million to $3.2 million, while the average net worth of the other 93 percent went from $140,000 to $134,000. The ratio between the holdings of the haves and the holdings of the have-lesses rose in this period from 18–1 to 24–1.