Net Worth Of Wealthiest 400 Continues To Rise

By Cornelius Nunev


According to Forbes latest list of the 400 richest Americans, the wealth of the super-rich has increased in the last year. In the meantime, as the wealthy get wealthier, the middle class continues to reduce in size, widening yet more the gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Making more money

The magazines released its annual report on September 19. It discovered that the net worth of the nation's 400 wealthiest citizens grew by $1.7 trillion over the last year. That is an increase of 13 percent. Combined, the net worth of the elite 400 is the equivalent of 12.5 percent of the nation's economy, according to NBC News.

The average net worth per person in the 400 is higher than it has ever been at $4.2 billion.

There was a rise in income for 261 of the 400, mostly due to the rebounding real estate market and stock growth.

Same people as always

The list contained familiar and expected names. The rankings of the top five stayed unchanged from 2011, although their net worth had risen: Gates, Buffett, Larry Ellison, Charles and David Koch (tied for fourth) and Christie Walton.

During the last year, Warren Buffett saw his worth rise by $7 billion, which is the same growth as Bill Gates at the top of the list. Gates' fortune is not at $66 billion, and he has been on top of the list for 19 years. A bigger boost was seen with Larry Ellison who saw an $8 billion increase in his net worth.

Exemption seen

A notable exception to the trend of increasing net worth was social network mogul Zuckerberg, who lost almost half of his net worth after his cash cow Facebook went public. This year, he is scraping by on $9.4 billion.

Much bigger gap

In a separate study last week, the Economic Policy Institute found that the gap between the wealthiest Americans and the average family has more than doubled in the last half-century. According to the report, the country's top one percent of earners made about 125 times that of a middle-income household in 1961. In 2010, it had escalated to a ratio of 288 to one.

In the last few decades, there have been decreases in payment for most of Americans while the rich are making more than ever.

While the trend has been active for decades, the Economic Policy Institute report noted that the gap has widened at a more rapid pace since the Good Recession.




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